To set up a superworm colony, you'll need a plastic sweater-box style container--30 qt minimum. Some people prefer to use several boxes, and in fact using at least 2 boxes is preferable for superworms. Put 3 to 4 inches of a cereal product in the box--bran, baby cereal, an unsweatened cereal such as Wheaties (crushed), etc. You'll want to start with at least 20 superworms, and put in a piece of carrot, apple, or wrung-out paper towel or tissue for moisture. You can also use commercial "cricket water", which is a gel substance that is resistant to mold. Don't overdo the moisture, as this can lead to mold which will kill the worms. Superworms create more moisture from their waste than mealworms, and you must be careful not to overcrowd them, as a result. Use cardboard egg crates to provide them with more space, and to help keep water sources off the substrate. Replace the water medium after it's completely dried out. They need less moisture than you might think. I've been extremely pleased with the results of using soaked tissue or paper towel for mealworms and superworms--they will chew the tissue into a froth that will wind up covering the surface of the substrate. It holds in just the right amount of humidity to keep the worms in excellent health, but does not cause mold to grow. You may want to use non-bleached paper towel if you're concerned about chemicals.
Select the largest, fully grown superworms from your colony, and seperate them into small, individual containers. Film cannisters work well, as do old pill bottles (wash carefully), and other similar-sized containers. You MUST seperate the worms from one another, or they will NOT metamorphose. They seem to metamorphose more quickly if there is no food in the container with them, but if yours do not pupate within a couple of days, provide a small amount of food and moisture for them. Once the larvae have pupated, move them into a SEPERATE box, set up the same way as the original box. Do not place pupae in with larvae...the aggressive and voracious superworm larvae will eat them. There is no need to provide moisture until the beetles emerge, but provide the new beetles with a source of water promptly. Superworm beetles will emit a piercing defensive chemical odor when disturbed, which smells vaguely like leather tanning solution. Most reptiles will not eat the adult beetles, though a few species do not appear to mind the odor--skinks in particular have been known to enjoy the beetles.
The beetles will mate and lay eggs in the cardboard egg crate or in a piece of rotted wood. Some people will wait several days, then move the beetles to another container, so that there will be eggs in each container. After what will seem like a very long wait, small superworm larvae will hatch. Care for them the same way you did the original larvae, until they are big enough to use as feeders. Save a good number of them to metamorphose into darkling beetles and keep the colony going.
Before feeding mealworms to your reptiles, you may wish to gut load them with addition foods--move a number of the worms to another container, and provide them with the foods you want to put into your herps, such as fresh dark green leafy vegetables, carrots, oranges, etc. Do this for about 24 hours before feeding them off. Do not give them calcium powder, however. If you do this, the worms will most likely die, usually within a day or two. Some commercial gutloading products contain a lot of calcium--do not leave the worms with this for longer than 12 hours before feeding them off, and do not put them back in your colony after they have been eating it.
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