raising wax worms

okay so yeah i have these wax worms also and i have had them for a while....ive never seen them spin a cacoon however i have seen them go into a brownish colored cacoon that sits loose untop of the substrate. the substrate i use is only oatmeal aka bran which i got for a dollar at walmart....also i feed them fruits instead of hunny which attracts way to many bugs to my room...lol being only 16 i sort of have to keep my room wild bug free....btw i only feed them slices of apples and nectarenes (lol i dont think i spelt that right) dont try to feed them fruits like pears cause they tend to mold quickly...okay also when the moths come out of the cacoon they cant fly immediately but the can hover a little this is when you should transport them into another container with some paper.... i use papertowels however its better to use wax paper ...when moths they dont eat much some say they dont eat at all but i still give them a bit of fruit...the moths lay eggs in a bout a week then die...... the eggs hatch in a couple of weeks like 2 or 3 then are little wax worms....but they can climb! so you need to have the lid of the container be either very well covered or sealed completely with a removable lid..add some oats to the container for them to live in and give them just one or two small slices of fruit with out the peal.... do this once a week until they get bigger then add a little bit more food to accomodate thier hunger and size........be sure to remove any food that begins to grow mold...replace oats whent he old oats are almost completly powder......

Get some fresh ones from the bait shop. Don't try with the ones you've had in the fridge for weeks.They will usually die.Also the ones you get at a baitshop will not spin a cacoon. They will turn brown and hard and hatch into a moth.Keep them around 85 degrees with some himidity in the container...A wet sponge in a small can will do the job..Keep us posted on how you do...
Norm

Hi,

I am new here, but my friends and I are trying to raise a bunch of wax worms. We are using 3 gallon jugs, but they keep filling up with silk type stuf. Is there any way to stop the worms from creating and filling my jug up with silk? Anywone had this problem before?

Thank-You for any and all help offered.

Jim -MN

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimlargecrappie

Hi,

I am new here, but my friends and I are trying to raise a bunch of wax worms. We are using 3 gallon jugs, but they keep filling up with silk type stuf. Is there any way to stop the worms from creating and filling my jug up with silk? Anywone had this problem before?

Thank-You for any and all help offered.

Jim -MN

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I can't remember what site it was at. But the only way to stop the little ones from spinning silk is to put them into the freezer for a while. I tried and killed most of them. Didn't work for me, guess you have to know what your doing.

Anyway, when they spin a silk cacoon, they are going from the larva stage to the pupal stage, after that they hatch into moths. And thats what you want, the moths are what lays eggs. It took me a while but 2 years ago I raise enough to fish with. Feeding them to is not easy, I used ground dogfood and honey, then dried it out and crumbled it.

Bottom line your can't really stop them from silking unless your know what your doing.

ndchan40,

That is an interesting piece you wrote there. Here in Arkansas NO ONE carries waxworms and I get these weird looks whenever I ask for them.

I'm gonna have to try this. Looks like low maintenance to me. Would you please post a photo of your set-up for all of us???? Thanks for sharing your info.

aj