Breeding Waxworms

[otb2]

I have recently had a play with breeding waxworms and found it really easy to do so i thought i'd share my findings.

To start with I bought a pot of waxworms, a large container (old sweet tub) and some honey and oats.

I heated up the honey and added the oats and some nutrabol (just to increase the nutritional value of the worms). The consistency should be fairly soft, so u can form peaks of the mixture in the pan.

I poured this into my old sweet jar until it filled the bottom and was about 2 inches deep.

Whilst I waited for this to cool I cut a big hole in the lip of my jar and hot glued some very fine mesh over it for ventilation.

I added some corrugated cardboard vertically for the worms to hide in and finally dumped the whole pot of worms in there and stuck them in my incubator (I have also had success sticking them on top of a hot viv or on a low wattage heat mat).

They turn into cocoons in a 1-2 months then turn into moths. After this the moths lay the eggs and then die, make sure they are all dead then take out all the bodies and unformed cocoons. (Dont do this any earlier as your moths may just do a great escape on you!! )

Wait 1-2 months and you'll start to see little tiny white worms, hey presto!

To keep these sustained make sure your always starting a new colony every few months.
I found one pot of waxworms produces enough waxworms to spoil my lizards for a couple of months.


Hope this is useful to someone!!

[otb2]

woop! my new colony are starting to emerge as moths!
pretty good timing too! few weeks and i may be able to start feeding off them!

hope my info above has helped!

[Spence1]

Could you please supply a photograph of the setup so I can copy it exactly?

Thank you

Alex

[Patthecat12]

Yea can you post pics this sounds like something to do

[otb2]

will do shortly!! cheers

[ackie123]

i found this on the net and am also doing it.only started it on Sunday tho so nothing yet.fingers crossed tho

[Spence1]

Originally Posted by otb2

will do shortly!! cheers

Thank you

Alex