waxworm cultures

[chris]

Hi here's something i've dug up that i wrote a while back, a simple way to culture waxworm although you will obviously have to buy some waxworms to start off with!

waxworms escape very easily! place the waxorms in a tank with a tight fitting lid. for food offer this mix (honey, some warm water, bran/oats, and i add calcium supplement) dissolve about 2/3 tablespoons of honey in some warm water, then keep adding the bran an/or oats untill the mix is very thick and only very slighly sticky. either leave this for a few days to dry out a bit before offering it, or put it in straight away if you have the mix so that it isn't very sticky at all, almost crumbly. the waxworm will feed off this for a few weeks, then they will pupate. take out the pupae and place in another tank with a fine net lid, or some kitchen roll and tape or elastic band. these may hatch in a few weeks or take upto a few months!

the moths do not feed, and lay their eggs around the rim of the container.
either remove the kitchen roll/netting after a week or wait for the moths to die (don't leave it too long as they will get everywhere when they hatch!)

place the eggs in a container with a very tight seal! and with the same food mix i mentioned earlier. the hatchlings can climb anything and will get out of the smallest gaps, so be warned! THE BEST CONTAINERS FOR THIS ARE THOSE USED FOR KEEPING BABY SNAKES IN, simply tape over the mesh until the waxworms are large enough so that they cannot get through the mesh. mine took a few months to grow, but they wee kept quite cool, so if they are kept in a warm area then this should be quicker. be warned, if they get out they get everywhere! including your favourite breakfast cereal!


Chris:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

Great post mate, I will try your recipe alongside my own and compare results.:grin:

I don't use water in mine but I do use Honey, Glycerin, Bran, Wheatgerm and Baking Yeast.

The origonal recipe I was given included all of the above and Maize Powder (the same as you buy Magotts in from Tackle Shops), I dropped this as part of the recipe when I noticed it was left at the bottom of the finished cultures.

I have passed on my recipe to other people such as Jono from Dendroworld, he is experimenting by leaving out the Glycerin from my recipe above, and I have also mixed up large batches leaving out the Baking Yeast and still having great results.

I like the idea you had of including a Calcium Supplement:grin:, we also try out recipes including Vionate or even Pro-Biotic, what do you think?

I have lost broods of Japanese Waxwings and Gold Breasted Buntings at around five days old on a number of occasions, these Medicinal Waxworms could prove to be the answer to success with both Species?

Paul.:wink:

[laurab]

This seems like a long process:? I am not knocking it, but I guess it is why most of us pay (loads-a-money) for these little critters!

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,

If you can afford to sacrifice an area for a cupboard to breed them it can go some way toward saving a few quid in a year towards your Livefood bill, but I have found that I'm still buying Waxworms through the year as well.:roll:

But if you are heating a Waxworm cupboard in your Birdroom it also saves you money on heating the Birdroom through the Winter:grin:.

Paul.:wink:

[chris]

Hi laura,

i'd have a separate cupboard for the waxworm cultures as i have had many an experience where the little critters have got out, once infesting the corner of my bedroom (dont culture in your bedroom:lol: ), and the second time infesting the shed. however since i am about to start using the little snake hatchling containers for this i can't see as i'll have many problems in the future.

Paul,

i like the idea of medicinal worms! honey already has an antibacterial property to it which could possibly cause problems with the probiotic? but then again the probiotics are spores and only grow int:wink: o bacteria inside the animal/worm so it could well work. we could also try an antibiotic product with another culture, this would work two fold firstly by preventing/reducing bacteria growing in the culture and secondly as a treatment for sick birds that eat the worms.

i'm unfamiliar with vionate so don't know what that is.

the main reason for me adding a calcium supplement to the culture was to help correct the problem with all livefoods, that being lack of calcium and loads of phosphurus. with calcium in the food mix there is no need to sprinkle calcium supplement of the waxworms when feeding.


Chris:wink:

[kenny]

hi all

has anyone had experience of dried mealworms or crickets i saw some in a pet shop for wild birds and i just thought i wonder if the mealworms were as good if you sprikled them with some minerals or some such

ken

[chris]

Hi ken,

the dried mealworms, crickets and waxworms that i have seen for sale have mostly been enriched with vitamins and minerals so don't need any extra supplement, although i bet the birds would prefer the real live thing to dried. the birds should eat them as the insect mixes i bought for my quail have always been eagerly consumed by not just the quail but the other birds. infact i was considering buying dried crickets etc to add to my quail mix but have never got round to it.

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

i too have seen these dried mealworms, for sale, where i work, and think with them being dry, only certain birds will take them. for instance, most waxbills tend to bite the heads off to get to the inside juice, they then disgard the outer coating, some waxbills don't even do as much as that, they just rip the heads off!

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi all,

Chris,

I'm pleased you like the idea of Medicinal Waxworms, maybe a similar method could be used for Mealworms, Crickets and Fruit Flies?

Have you found out yet that Waxworms are easily capable of chewing through plastic (provided there is a starter hole)?

Although I have had this problem with the Commercial Greater Waxworm, I have found the Lesser Waxworm to be less of a problem, I don't think Mother Nature blessed them with the jaws of their larger Cousins.:grin:

Vionate is a Vittamin supplement available in powder form that adheres to Livefood very well, I would reccomend this product to anyone who feeds Livefood to Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians etc (but not Fish, I mean it's bound to wash off isn't it?:roll:).

Everyone else,

Personaly I don't see the point of dried Livefood of any kind, I would assume that any nutritional value would have been lost during the drying process, to any meat lovers out there, would you rather eat an over cooked dry Rump Steak or a lovely juicy medium rare Steak?

Matthew,

I know full well what you mean with some Birds just biting the heads off of Mealworms, that's why I sold my group of Pearl Headed Silverbills years ago, to go and top up the Mealworm dish and find a nearly full dish of black headless Mealworms makes you wonder why you bother, especially when they never even hatched a single chick.:-|

Paul.

[chris]

Hi paul,

i currently have a mealworm culture going with all life stages and sizes so i could try throwing in some ground up cuttlefish for calcium. i could also try out some probiotics.

now, what do you think of adding carophyll red to a mealworm culture as my red factor canaries do eat mealworms. or maybe i'm taking this too far:lol:

Chris:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi mate,

I'm glad you have brought up the subject of Carophyll Red for Mealworms, this used to be fed to Mealworms intended for Carmine Bee-Eaters where I used to work, we would add Carophyll Red to Bogena or similar, feed the Mealworms on this and then feed the Colour Fed Mealworms to the Carmines with pretty good results.

Paul.:wink: