Wax Worm Breeding Kits that work!

houseape57

New member
Wanted to share this with you all. This is just great! With the cold weather upon alot of us, getting anything live through the winter months is impossible. I was searching and found this site. I raise my own mealies but from what I have read wax worms are almost impossible to breed........not! This product sounds promising and I just placed my order.
I will let you all know how it goes. Looks like I might be giving alot away too.
__________________
Kathy
adirondackgecko.com
 

WingedWolfPsion

New member
My understanding was that all you need to culture wax worms is mixing up bran, honey, and some bee's wax, and providing them with crumpled waxed paper. Is this method prone to failure?
 

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
The link was removed as these forums don't exist to advertise other businesses for free. If you really have an interest, send a PM to the original poster and ask them for the info.
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
Been there, done that, barely survived. ;)
Complete instructions at this site, easy to do but you do have to be careful that
they don't escape.

University of Kentucky REARING WAXWORMS
Rearing Waxworms | University of Kentucky Entomology

Quote:
Use glass or metal containers such as wide-mouth glass jars, plastic crispers, large lard cans
or honey cans. Larvae will chew through wood and soft plastic. Use 20 mesh wire-screens for lids
or covers.


One thing I would like to add to the info is to be very careful that the screen is of very fine mesh. Freshly hatched waxies can squeeze through your average window screen, and they can climb up the sides of a glass container via the silk threads they'll spin while growing. If the moths or worms escape into the house and/or walls, it could take years to get rid of them completely, even in the far north. I'm in Canada, our winters are frigid cold, but it's not cold enough to kill them off if they're happily tucked away in the attic or wall insulation. It took me over 3 years to get rid of them, the moths fly all over the house to lay their eggs. Lesson learned -- don't trust a waxworm to stay put and behave nice. A friend of mine didn't believe me (even though she saw the odd moth flying around my basement) ... she's now a devout believer and follower of the "let someone else raise them, I'll just feed them off" train of thought.

It's best to use glass jars, larger ones like the candy jars stores use or plexiglass containers. The worms can and will chew through drywall, fabric, important papers sitting on your coffee table as well as the table itself and wooden furniture (personal experience here with all of them).
 

Hibiscusmile

New member
Thanks for the tip on the link, didn't know, now I do!
I have a container I use for them and it has the insect lid so they do not escape, they crawl up, but don't get out! little devils:evil:
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
As long as they can find a place inside that's warm enough to wait out winter escaped tropical bugs, including roaches, can survive. Snuggling along heat ducts and insulation works.
 

ibreedreptiles

New member
Wax Worm Breeding

Hi have managed to get some wax worm colonies breeding successfully,
Now I've got too many worms and they are all spinning cocoons.
Does anyone know the trick to get them to stop spinning cocoons.
I've noticed when I buy from a store, they will eventually pupate, but will not spin webs and cocoon
Any help is appreciated
 
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