[Yukidama's mama]

So back in the summer I started breeding superworms as my boy absolutely loves them. I successfully bred 5 beetles and now have probably hundreds of baby superworms! ^^

I just wanted some advice to make sure I'm raising them properly so they can eventually be feeders for my hedgie and not cause him any harm.

1. Do baby superworms need to be fed bone meal for calcium to grow properly, alongside fruit, veggies and cat food?

2 I've had a couple incidences of mold growth in the substrate, which was originally the beetle container but I transfered the beetles to a fresh container and left the babies in there to grow a little longer (until they were big enough to transfer and also give time for eggs to hatch). Is the mold harmful to the babies or are they ok? I had no dead ones in about 200-300 babies. They're in a new container with fresh substrate and I can't see any mold but any fruit or cat kibble I put in there goes moldy by the following morning, which I then always remove.

I've tried researching online for answers but all posts are quite old (as well as posts on here) so be good to discuss with other members who raise their own colonies to get updated advice and tips. Thanks in advance!

Here's some pics of the superworm babies (I'm strangely treating them as new pets haha!) :lol:

 

[Yukidama's mama]

[sorry I can never seem to upload more than one thumbnail at a time! ><]

Last pic... Taken 5 days after the first pic ~ they're growing so quickly! ^.^

 

[Riley7]

I do not believe any insects NEED to be fed calcium. that is primarily for the consumers benefit. as for the mold, I've found mealworms aren't harmed by a little mold, but it's always good to remove it when you can.

 

[Yukidama's mama]

Thanks for your reply!

So they aren't contaminated once they've had exposure to mold? There was quite a lot of mold in the bottom of the container, causing the substrate (oat bran, wheat germ and a whole grain mix with a little flaxseed) to clump together and turn greyish green. Most the worms weren't on it but some were crawling around or even inside it (I guess the beetles laid eggs in it before it clumped).

The baby worms are in a new container but already it smells quite strongly when I take off the lid and food goes moldy in less that 24hrs ~ so I'm not sure if this is from their previous mold exposure and they aren't safe to feed eventually?? Or is it because there are so many of them (a couple hundred perhaps) and they're just producing so much frass?! They've been in the new container for 3 weeks now.

Another issue ><
We also fed off one of the beetles the other day because it had lost a couple legs so we wanted to put it out of its misery as the other beetles started attacking it. Our hedgie ate it straightaway but later that day he vomited from it and the sick was all black and lots of bits of exoskeleton and wings were on his bedding from the sick. He ate most of the sick (before I realised he was sick and could clean it up) but it smelt so bad (not sure if this was just from the beetle smell they can give off as a defence mechanism or because the beetle's insides were bad, possibly from the mold exposure?!). Hedgie seems ok, very active on his wheel all night and ate all his food every night since (he has once or twice before vomited from insects that we've fed in the day so not sure if it's his stomach is just too full to eat anymore?) but his poos are very small and thin, and are very dark (basically black) so now I'm worried he's constipated??

It's been 4 days since the vomit and his poos are still like this. Going to try buying and adding a little cooked fresh pumpkin to his food or I have squash baby food I could try? He's never had any either before and probably won't like it!

Anyone have any advice on all this? Thank you and sorry for the long post! ><

 

[Yukidama's mama]

We also reduced his insect intake to just one superworm a night again (since the night he vomited) in case it's the insects causing the constipation (we normally feed either 1 dubia roach, a superworm pupae (alien) or 1 wax worm a few times in the week as extra treats, he's only ever eaten a beetle once before and was not sick from it but we fed it at night time and it was also a newly hatched beetle whereas the one he vomited was an adult beetle, could this have anything to do with it?).