Super Worm Friends of Alain Ray

Breeding Superworms - Containerized / Enclosed

2013-05-08T21:00:00.002-07:00

For the past 3 years and so months, we have been transferring beetles from an old basin to a new basin every 15 days. The beetles are counted with each transfer. A portion of the video I uploaded in YouTube below.

I wanted this labor intensive part of counting and transferring of the beetles to become somehow effortless.

I tested with my first container enclosed beetles here...

Top view

Two hundred beetles are in there

Close up from outside

I am not satisfied with this set up. The opening is located on one corner. There were two incidents of escape. Almost half of the beetles were already outside the container. It's a good thing we have a net on top of it.

Then I tried another type.

Trying it for size

Let me show you how I made it with pictures...

I cut the bottom part. Put 4 pieces 1 inch nail and put bottle caps to act as a handle

1 inch nail glued

In the next post, I will be showing the advantage of this project in the breeding of your superworms.

Happy Breeding!!!

Breeding Superworms - Transfer of Darkling Beetles

2013-05-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

In breeding superworms, one of the techniques that I used to ensure steady supply of superworms is to transfer the beetles to a new container every 15 days.

By then, you will be seeing some small hatched superworms.

The advantage being, the beetles will not be able to eat the small superworms and unhatched eggs. You will also have fairly uniform sized superworms.

Happy Breeding!!!

3 Crawling Monsters You Need to Avoid in Breeding Superworms

2012-08-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

During the past three years of breeding Superworms, I have learned to battle with three monsters. They are cunning. They use stealth. One uses an army.

Lizard

Number one on the list is the house lizard. They are stealthy. They attack in the dead of the night. You will know that they are dipping into your Superworms when you see one or two as large as a Leopard Gecko hatchling. That means trouble. Lizards are good to have around the house because they eat insects. Insects like mosquitoes, house flies and small moths. If you have 10 to 20 of these around, imagine the savings that you will get of not having to buy insect killer spray. Sad to say, if you have 1 to 3 of these around your unprotected Superworms, they mean disaster. At first you will not notice what you are losing. Overtime you will see your basin that is usually full of Superworms dwindled to a few hundreds. A typical basin can hold a thousand Superworms. With the lizard monster around, you will be lucky to get 300 to 500 pieces.

Netted basins

My solution is to cover each basin with mosquito net. This is an added cost to your fix assets but this will ensure no entry of these monsters and you can recoup your investment over time.

mouse
Photo credit

The number two monster is the mouse or rat. One or two of these smart monsters mean that you will be on a never ending repair sessions with your mosquito nets.

They can rip through the net. They eat your vegetables if not some of your Superworms as well. Although, I do not have a proof that they do eat Superworms, I do see some beetles out of the basin when the mosquito net has been breached open by the mouse. The beetles may have clung on the mouse and when the mouse goes out, they get to ride out.

My solution is to prepare a sumptuous dinner for them with squash, squash seeds, uncooked rice and used cooking oil laced with Zinc Phosphate. Three days after you will be engaged with a monster hunt. Sniffing, sniffing, sniffing and pinpoint where they rest in peace.

Ants

Number three wanted monsters are the ants. You will be seeing one or two leisurely promenading on the shelf. You will see some on the floor, and others on the edges of the basins. The next time you will be seeing them in one line and they already have an army eating into a morphing worm. The scouts discover the individually kept worms.

Not so lucky beetle eaten by ants

They somewhat wait until this turn into an alien and that is the time they attack, often times when the alien already resembles a beetle. They love young beetle because it is still soft. If not discovered, they can eat all your morphing worms.

trapped ants with chalk type insect killer

My solution is to always keep the shelves and floor clean. Sweep off the dust and bedding particles from the shelves and floor. If you observe that there are many ants around, wipe the shelves with a cloth damped with an insect killer. I also use the chalk type insect killer.

With these monsters controlled, you can be sure of a high and successful production ahead. Happy breeding!

Leopard Gecko Breeding Essentials

2012-08-15T01:58:00.000-07:00

Leopard Gecko by Brian Constantino

Few months ago I fell in love again. This time with a cold blooded animal. Yikes! haha. My wife turns her back just by seeing these colorful reptiles. I love the color mutations. The Tangerines and Sunglows are my personal favorites. I began reading about these beautiful reptiles and got hold of back issue of Reptiles, February 2009. It had a comprehensive article about Leopard Geckos. It was written by Craig Stewart of The Urban Gecko. Let me share this to you. I hope this will really help in your breeding projects of these beautiful reptiles.

Breeding Essentials

By Craig Stewart

Reptiles

February 2009

ReptileChannel.com

Leopard geckos are easy to bred in captivity, but follow these seven essentials steps.

MATURE INDIVIDUALS ONLY. These geckos usually reach maturity once the males weigh 40 grams and females are between 45 to 50 grams. Typically, these weights are reached in about one year. From my experience, waiting until the female reaches this weight helps ensure a productive and safe breeding cycle. In her prime, an average female produces five clutches per year.

OPPOSITES ATTRACT. Sexing leopard geckos is easy. Examine the gecko’s underside, and look just below the vent. If you see enlarged hemipenal bulges, then you have a male. Females can show some enlargement in this area, but it’s smooth without any depression. As an alternative, look for preanal pores located in a V-shaped pattern just above the vent. With males it is obvious. Some females have a slight V-shaped pattern, but it’s not as pronounced.

COOL STIMULATION. I put all of my breeder geckos through a cooling cycle to stimulate the breeding cycle. Before they enter the cooling period, it is crucial their digestive tracks are completely emptied. To ensure this, I stop offering food 10 to 14 days before cycling. Once the cycle starts, temperatures are lowered immediately to the high 70s to low 60s (degrees Fahrenheit). Only water is available during the cycling period, which lasts about four to eights weeks.

WARM THEM TO INTRODUCTIONS. Once the cycling period is over, I gradually return temperatures to normal levels (gradient from low 80s to 90 degrees) within the first week and reinstate a regular feeding program. As soon as the geckos have acclimatized, they become active and feed regularly. At this point, males can be introduced to females. A general rule of thumb is that each male can successfully breed up to 5 females, introduced individually or collectively.

ADD A NESTING BOX. Within six weeks females becomes larger, and their undersides show the outline of developing ova. At this time, I introduce a nesting box with a small entrance hole. This box measures about 10 inches long buy 6 inches wide by 2 inches tall. Inside is a hefty layer of moist vermiculite where the female can bury her eggs. The vermiculite prevents eggs from drying out.

INCUBATE AND REGULATE. Leopard geckos always lay eggs in pairs. Remove them from the nesting box, and place them into an incubator. Although several methods of incubating eggs exist, I have had consistent success by placing eggs atop moist vermiculite in an airtight container. You can control the geckos’ sex through the incubation temperature. Produce males at 88 to 90 degrees, female at 80 to 82 degrees and mixed groups at 85 to 86 degrees. During incubation, open containers twice a week to circulate fresh air and to remove condensation on the lid.

GIVE THEM A BREAK. At the end of each breeding season, separate males and females. The females need a chance to recuperate.

1 Major Benefit of Breeding Superworms

2012-05-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

Unused bedding

One major benefits of breeding super worms come from its waste product.
For several years now, I have been a firm believer of the benefits of composting can give to a plant. That is why, I have have vermicomposting bins around the house.

Composting Bin under a grafter Apple Mango

I started it with two kilos of African Night Crawlers (ANC). I placed in there grass cuttings, kitchen left overs, papers and what have you that can be degraded. However, I lacked one major component and that is animal manure.

Composting Bin under a grafted Apple Mango

Composting Bin

The original ANC may have escaped because I am able to see any large size earthworms in the bin. So what I am doing is to throw whatever earthworms I see on my lawn into the bin.

Fruits

Froggy eating Super Worms

second batch of flowers

Second batch of flowers

Breeding super worms has its waste products. We have dead super worms, beetles skeletal, uneaten and dried vegetable pieces. There is also a big volume of used up bedding.

Used bedding

Close up used bedding

The bedding as we know is a combination of rice bran, wheat bran, skim milk and fish meal.

Close up of the used bedding

Fresh bedding is laid out from the start of the breeding cycle where the beetles lay their eggs. After a couple of weeks, the beetles are taken out and transferred to a fresh bedding.

The bedding will stay there until the super worms grow out and until they are ready to be sold.

I have been throwing these used bedding under these Yellow bell trees. I noticed that they are flowering very well and this is also at the same time.

We Got Sales!!!

2011-10-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

From the last post, I mentioned that we sold all the marketable sized super worms.

Well, with the latest breeding cycle of August 14, 2011 to August 30, 2011, we have a good news!!!

This is how big our new babies look like today October 23, 2011. This is from the breeding cycle August 14, 2011 to August 30, 2011. This is about half of all the available super worms that were produced on this breeding cycle.

The good news is, we got our first sales for breeding cycle August 14, 2011 to August 30, 2011.

What a wonderful hobby!!!

My super worms friends ready to go!!!

Forty Nine Thousand Five Hundred reasons that Makes Me Young Again

2011-10-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is what the sides of my kitchen wall looked like a couple of months ago.

This is what it looks like now.

Yes! All gone and I have counted them all. ah ah ah ah!

I grew up during the Sesame Street era in the nineteen forgotten. Now, I feel like The Count! Young again! And I love to count!

Let us count!

July - one super worm, two super worms, three super worms! ah ah ah (thunder and lightning - sound effect!) .... Fifteen thousand three hundred super worms!!! ah! ah! ah!  (thunder and lightning - sound effect!)

August - one super worm, two super worms, three super worms! ah ah ah (thunder and lightning - sound effect!) .... Fourteen thousand five hundred super worms!!! ah! ah! ah!  (thunder and lightning - sound effect!)

September - one super worm, two super worms, three super worms! ah ah ah (thunder and lightning - sound effect!) .... Nineteen thousand seven hundred super worms!!! ah! ah! ah!  (thunder and lightning - sound effect!)

I love to count. All in all, one super worm, two super worms, three super worms! ah ah ah (thunder and lightning - sound effect!)... Forty nine thousand five hundred  super worms!!! ah! ah! ah!  (thunder and lightning - sound effect!)

We Got Babies!!!

2011-09-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

Two days after taking out the Darkling beetles from the breeding basin, now we got very small Super Worms.

They will be staying here until they will reach 2 inches in length and ready to go.

Indigenous Micro Organism is IT!

2011-08-29T02:09:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I came across an article about Indigenous Micro Organism or IMO. These are beneficial bacteria. Hastens decomposition. I also read that they maybe good for controlling smell. Well, I made my own home made, IMO and forgot about it.

However, when your breeding area with your Super Worms is your kitchen area, all spent or old bedding will smell awful. Yikes! haha.

That is when I remembered the IMO I made several months ago.

I started spraying this to bedding. Lo and behold!!! No more awful smell Mom! I also noticed that the worms tend to shed their old skin frequently. This means that they are growing bigger faster.

Yoohoo!

If you want to make your own IMO, you can visit Sunshine Chicken blog on IMO.

200 Sexually Active Friends

2011-08-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Nah... Not those friends!

These friends....

Here are several pictures of my 200 sexually active friends. All they do is sex sex sex all days.

What would you do if you know you have only 3 months to live?

Comment....

Parental guidance is adviced....

Breeding Super Worms Pinoy Style Final Morphosis

2011-08-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

On day 20, the color of the beetle is already black. This signals that the beetle is ready to lay eggs. All the black colored beetles will be transferred to a basin with 1 inch bedding.

I will allow them to stay in this basin for 15 to 30 days. Then I will be transferring them to a new basin with new bedding.

The small plastic in the basin is cut up cup. I put a wet oats there. Make sure to check this daily as this will become rancid after 24 hours. Now I just put water and spread the oats on the bedding.

For the next 15 days, they will be doing what they are supposed to do. Getting to know you, eat, breed, breed, and breed. Lay eggs all day. Then will have small larvae about 7 days after the the 15 to 30 days and the cycle begins again.

Come Follow!

Pasturing White Chickens

2011-08-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, I came across a post from Sunshine Chicken that Doc Rey will be conducting a seminar on Raising Pastured Chickens. It so happened that my Dad is coming to Bacolod from Capiz and this is an opportunity for bonding.

This was sponsored by Negros Island Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Foundation, Inc. (NISARD).

The seminar room was almost full and the organizer had to add more seats to accommodate the attendees. The seminar conducted by Doc Rey was very informative, animated and lively. The three hours seemed short. It's the first time that I noticed that you can actually put video clips in a Power Point presentation. Didn't know that. Great presentation. So, after 21 days of brooding, the chickens are let to pasture. What struck me most are couple of slides. Pastured chickens will almost eat everything. They will eat worms. The slide showed earthworms being fed to the chickens. I believe they will also eat Super Worms. Yehey!

Buro Buro Calamansi Juice Mint Flavor

I didn't expect snacks will be served. You should check out Buro Buro Springs Calamansi Juice. It was served cold and had a familiar flavor to it. I read carefully the level and found out its Mint Flavor. Very refreshing indeed.

Thank you to Sunshine Chicken.

Breeding Super Worms Pinoy Style Part 3

2011-08-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Success!!! It is day 16 after we segregated the Super Worms to their individual container.

I included the picture I took on Day 15 for you to know what 1 day can make.

I also added a slide show here and the pictures there are the photos I took in the from day 6.

Let us see when this darkling beetle turns to a black color. This will mean that it is mature enough to lay eggs.

Come follow!

Breeding Super Worms Pinoy Style Part 2

2011-07-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

Day 6.

This is the 6th day of our breeding of the super worms. We separated each superworm that we wanted to turn into a darkling beetle.

If you see that they starts to curl up, that is a good sign that it is starting to morph.

This one below is not so lucky. It turned black after 3 days. You will need to get it out from the big container and replace the super worm with a new one and hope it will catch up morphing as well.

J Paul Getty once said, "I'd rather have 1% of the effort of 100 men than 100% of my own effort."

2011-07-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

J Paul Getty once said, "I'd rather have 1% of the effort of 100 men than 100% of my own effort."

Well, for me, I let about a few thousands super worms do it 100% and they about covered 50% of my expenses. Yoohoo!!!

Extra Income? Come follow me and submit your email address.

Tuko Craze is Crazy!!!

2011-07-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Another delivery bites the dust!

It is my rest day today from my day job. Got a call last night for a 3000 pieces delivery. With payday several days ahead, this is an extra income that is very much appreciated.

Counting at the moment and getting ready to deliver them. This Tuko craze is really crazy! According to my customers, this is the driving force behind the sudden increase of volume for super worms as they are being fed to these large lizards.

I LOVE IT!!!

Breeding Super Worms Pinoy Style

2011-07-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

Breeding super worms can be fun and rewarding. Last time, the sales from the super worms paid for my phone bill. I am still smiling from ear to ear thinking about it.

This is also a good source of extra income. This can be done as a sideline if you are still working. It can be made as a main source of income if you are out of work. Actually, I am thinking that this can be done by anybody who will love doing it.

I started breeding super worms with the purpose of selling them to pet shops for extra income. However, when my Dad saw them, the first thing that came to his mind was to feed them to his Tilapias and mud fishes that he is growing out. They are a good source for protein and being used to produce Albumen.

These breeding posts will be done real time. I will be posting as they develop so that I can post the pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words and even if I don’t write well, you get a very good idea out of it. If you happen to drop by today, please submit your email address and come follow me.

This is how I breed my super worms Pinoy style.

1. Get ready with your materials. In order to turn a super worm into a beetle, you will need to separate them individually.

2. Get 2 to 3 months old super worms about 2 inches in length. The bigger the super worms the better as they will morph or change faster into a darkling beetle. The beetle will serve as your parents stock.

3. Place one super worm into each container.

4. Place these little containers into a bigger container. This is to prevent ants and lizards from eating them when they will be morphing inside.

5. Put a note of the date when put them there. The approximate time for morphing is 3 to 4 weeks. However, I check them daily to see that no ants are coming into the container. Set this aside and wait.

To be continued…..

Don’t forget to follow by submitting your email address.

Super Worms Paid for Phone Bill

2011-07-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, my super worms paid my phone bill. Yoohoo!!!

When I started breeding super worms, one of the reasons is to earn extra income. Extra income to supplement the income in my day job. However, this past couple of months, I noticed that the volume increased. It increased 100% based on last month's volume and 200% based on last year's figure of the same month. This can be attributed to the latest Tuko craze.

Who knows, next time it will pay for the housing mortgage amortization.

Yoohoo!!!

Feeding Super Worms Pinoy style

2011-07-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

When I started breeding super worms, I researched what they would be eating. These are what I found out:

You will be needing a bedding. This can be rice bran, wheat bran and some oats. This will be their main protein source.
Just like any other living things, they will need water for moisture. However, putting water into the bedding will drown these friends. I have tried this if you ask. This will cause the bedding to smell. Since my breeding area is in my kitchen area, this is unacceptable. If you will search on the net, the usual suggestions would be carrots, potatoes and apples.

I began with Carrots as this is more affordable than apples and readily available locally. I started getting them for 15 pesos per kilo. Then the price would go up. From 15 to 30, 40, 60 and even 120 per kilo. This was the time I experimented with other sort of vegetables. See below how they love them.


Squash (Kalabasa)


Carrot skin


Pineapple

Sayote


Squash


potato

Carrots


Squash


Cabbage


Pineapple

Extra Income

2011-07-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

When my take home pay can't take me home, its nice to have my super worms friends. They help a lot to get me by.

Emerging from an old skin

2011-07-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

The larvae after reaching a certain size will shed its outer skin. This usually takes only less than an hour to get rid of the outer skin.

First Sales for July 2011

2011-07-04T01:16:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, one of my buyers, YenLen, called to order 2000 pcs of Super Worms.

I was bonding with my Dad, and niece that I promised to deliver today.

Let me bring you to the process how we did it. First, we prepare all that are needed. We have two basins of worms, strainer and extra basin.

This is the basin that we counted. This is about 2000 pcs.

We strained some and counted by fives.

This is what 100 pieces look like.

We are done counting 2000 pieces.

These are placed to two ice cream boxes.

Ready for delivery.

After arriving at the pet shop, the worms are transferred to their container.

Display glass for Super Worms.

What are Superworms?

2011-06-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Zophobas morio is a species of darkling beetle, whose larvae are known by the common name superworm or zophobas. Superworms are common in the reptile pet industry. In the search for easy to raise insects to use as food for captive reptiles and amphibians, superworms quickly moved into the spotlight, and have been a staple feeder insect ever since.

These insect larvae resemble very large mealworms, about 1½ to 2¼ inches long. Once they reach adult size, the larvae pupate, and later emerge as large, black beetles. The larvae will not pupate if kept in a container with many other larvae, where they receive constant bodily contact. Keeping superworms this way is commonly used to hinder pupation.

Superworms are readily accepted by lizards, turtles, frogs, salamanders, birds, Koi and other insectivorous animals. Their hard chitin may make them less suitable for arachnids and some predatory insects. Their nutritional values are similar to those of mealworms, so supplementation with calcium is necessary if they are used as a staple food item. They are odor-free (but the beetles release some odor if provoked), and can be easily contained with little to no risk of escapes, making them ideal for raising at home to feed a collection of captive insectivores.

Source: Wikipedia