Hi ho, Just thought I'd add some encouragement for any of you whose critters like to eat superworms to try and breed yourself a colony. I keep a thriving colony at room temperature in a Rubbermaid-type plastic shoebox with lots of vent holes. They live amazingly well and long in pure wheat bran ($1.79 a box at supermarket), about 2 inches deep. I add sliced carrots and other raw veggie pieces and clean out the garbage regularly.
I also have a 4-cup Ziploc tub, with lots of vent holes, half-filled with a mix of wheat bran and Zophobas food from Walkabout Farms. This is where I gut-load my feeders before they go into the gex cages. This tub also gets a couple sliced carrots. The breeding part is pretty interesting. I drilled little holes in the tops of eight film canisters, and filled each about half-way with wheat bran. Into each one goes one gut-loaded (not necessary, but why not?), good-looking adult worm. The 6 film cans then sit in an uncovered, shallow Ziploc container... right on top of my gex cage, on the vent screen, so that heat escaping from the cage warms the larvae/pupae (spelling?). These guys will not pupate at room temps, as far as I know. It takes a few weeks, during which time I check in on them periodically, but about 90% of the time they will eventually morph into lovely white beetles that soon turn red and then deep black. These beetles go back into the main shoebox housing, and begin their orgies, providing more baby worms; the film canister gets another adult worm from the gut-load tub, and the cycle continues. BTW, I believe that superworms should not be the main food for leos. Mine are a supplement to mealworms (which readily reproduce in their own wheat-bran-and-veggies shoebox without the extra heat to pupate) and crickets. The leos do love them, as they are very wiggly and fast movers, and make for some tail-wagging hunts. - Peter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Higbee: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/pekelooo/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "My friend, Heinrick Zimmer, years ago used to say, the best things can't be told because they transcend thought. The second best are misunderstood, because those are the thoughts that are supposed to refer to that which can't be thought about, you know, and one gets stuck with the thoughts. The third best are what we talk about." -- Joseph Campbell ########################################################################### THE GLOBAL GECKO ASSOCIATION LISTSERV WebSite: www.gekkota.com Archive: [EMAIL PROTECTED]/ The GGA takes no responsibility for the contents of these postings. ###########################################################################
