Buffalo Worms

[Savant]

Hi All

Since march i have been trying to breed buffalo worms. I put about 250 in to two containers one with bran in it and one with chick crumbs.

The result is that most of the ones in the bran died they went black and dried up, im not sure if i was feeding them enough moisture but they did start to smell bad. But i ended up with 1 beetle and about 20 worms left.

The ones in the chick crumbs generally did the same although i not to sure if they ate the chick crumbs at all some of the worms looked as if they were missing so they may have been eating each other. But i ended up with 14 beetles 6 pupae and about 30 worms after cleaning them out last night.

So now all the beetles are in the same container containing chick crumbs the pupae are in a different container untill they hatch and the rest of the worms are in yet another different container.

The containers are about 6ins by 8ins is this big enough for them or should they be in a bigger container.

I also fed them on carrots and potatoe putting in a slice about 2ins long once a week, however this seemed to dry up quite quickly.

Any more advice on this from anybody who has bread these would be greatly appreciated.

I hope to end up with about 30 - 40 beetles is this enough to start another culture.

Thanks Alan

[chris]

hi alan,

30-40 beetles should be enough to start a culture, however it depends on exactly how many mealworms you hope to produce. i have around 100-200 beetles going at the moment in a single container and there are loads of eggs, however these are just regular mealworms.

personally i go for a mix of oats/ready brek, chick crumbs, and bran if you can get it. for moisture i feed cabbage leaves usually, and also spinach leaves. (cherry) tomatoes cut in half are very good during warm weather when they need more mositure.

what temperature are the cultures being kept at? buffalo worms like it a bit on the warm side, i keep all my cultures in a heated cupboard, with a heat mat covering 1/4-1/3 of the tub(s)

chick crumb are good for larger worms, but the smaller hatchlings do far better on oats and bran along with the usual greens.

i hope this is of some help anyway

Chris:)

[Savant]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the reply, the worms are kept in a room in the house which at the moment is about 70F to 80F. I have a heat mat that i used to use for wine making i may use that under the container like you suggest.

Ill try the readybrek, bran and chick crumb mix and see how they like that.

The cherry tomatoes do you put them cut half up or down it may sound stupid but i would have thought that the juice from the tomatoes may make the readybrek go soggy.

What size container do you use for your mealworms. At the moment i am just experimenting with small sizes before trying anything to large.

I do also breed regular mealworms but they seem to be a bit more robust than buffalo worms.

Thanks Alan

[Waxbillman]

hello Alan from i have heard buffalo worms are harder to breed than mealworms, i have bred my first worms this year they were easy, in a plastic tank with an inch of dry eggfood and apple every day when you see the tiny work take the out and put moe food in

Matthew

[chris]

hi alan, either way doesn't matter they'll climb to the top if it's topside up, if it's the other way up they tend to eat all the damp readybreak and juice before it has chance to go mouldy

the containers i use are the second size up little critter tanks, cost around £2-3. probably 8 inch by 4 by 3 ish

Chris:wink: