The 2" length is to ensure they are old enough. If you put a worm that is not old enough they will die as they are not ready. It's like taking a 6 year old kid and making him go out and get a job to support the family, he's just not ready at that age. So back to the worms, pick worms that are around 2", plump and very squirmy when you pick it up. Get ones that have just eaten a bunch of apple or whatever you are using for moisture, because they have to go a long time before they drink again. As far as how long it takes, it depends on different things. What temps are, how old the worm is, how healthy it is etc. In general it takes a few weeks. I've had some take only 1 week and some that took 6 weeks. Here is my set up.
I've got more tubs full of beetles now, but you get the idea.
Are you talking about the small containers that I force the worms to pupate in? I got everything at Walmart. The small containers were in the sports section, fishing/tackle box. They were less than $4 I think. I got the small boxes and they have 24 sections in them. I have 4 boxes pupating at once, so 96 pupae at a time. I don't need to do this too often because the beetles live for several months. I drilled holes in the lids of all the sections, like 6 holes for each section. Maximum air flow with no possible escape. I do have a heating pad but I'm not using it now, it's hot enough in my house right now. I do keep a temp gauge in the room to keep monitoring temps. Unless you keep your house really cold, mine is set at 80 degrees and it's hot in here. That pic was in february and it was cold here.
i guess i have my whole setup ready now i just bought a 4 drawer thing for all of my worms but cant wait for them to turn into beetles and start making some babies i think it is going to take me about 3 months to start seeing some worms
i will keep everyone updated on my progress i know just about everything to know about super worms and i cant wait
Hey, you're welcome. One thing I want to add is after you have beetles I would move them to a new drawer after a couple of weeks. Because once the baby worms start to grow even though you can't see them very easily, they will chow down on your beetles. I lost quite a few breeders to this. It took me a long time to figure out what the heck was going on.
The babies are white and they may be the same size as silkworms, but mixed in with the substrate it's hard to see them. You may see an egg every now and then. I'm old and my eyes aren't as good as they used to be so I can't see the small ones.
I dont bother changing the beetles to a new bin until I see tiny supers (and they are SMALL). I keep adding bran, oats, etc and small pieces of carrot, other veg and fruit after I remove the beetles to their new bin. I also sometimes use fish flake food for the little ones growing.