Ew-w-w-w, Super Worms!!

[Yvonne G]

When people turn in their turtles and tortoises to me they sometimes also give me any supplies they have on hand. Consequently, I have two tubs of "super worms" on my kitchen counter (they're not supposed to be refrigerated).

I have a baby YF, Manouria and box turtle, and I give them all a super worm occasionally, but these worms are fast, and I'm afraid most of them get away because the babies don't move that quickly.

So this a.m. I lifted the food tile and waterer to take them to the sink to clean them and this is what I saw under them:



These things are about an inch long. Can you imagine the size of the beetle they're going to turn into? I just hope they don't fly. This enclosure is in my house!

 

[spud's_mum]

If I found that in my house, I think I'd move out
I get extremely freaked out by wiggly grubs

 

[Rue]

Those are the beetle pupae. They are soft, you can feed them too. But yes, superworms turn into rather large beetles.

I've never seen one fly...but I imagine they could...I should check!

I have a tub of them at home too...that I'm rearing for the tarantulas. I don't know why I bother. The T's don't like them.

 

[MPRC]

You can feed the 'aliens' (pupae) to the critters and they actually have less hard to digest chitin. My beardie always went for the white ones first.

Also in my experience the beetles never flew, but they were really darn hard to breed. Mealworms multiplied like rabbits, superworms on the other hand had no interest in making babies.

 

[lisa127]

Superworms will not turn into pupae when kept all together in the tub. Also, i take my turtles out of the enclosure when I feed supers. I don't like them to get loose in there because they are biters.

 

[wellington]

I would find those a lot of times in my bearded home when I had him. Both the pupae and the Beatle. I don't think they can fly. I had found one in the house after it got out of the cage. As I was trying to get it, it never tried to fly

 

[Rue]

Just did a super quick easy search...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zophobas_morio

So they can actually fly.

I never really checked up on them before. I just rear them like I do the mealworms - I did notice they're not nearly as prolific - which is fine by me. Now I know why. LOL.

 

[Loohan]

With my first batch of superworms, i bought 100 rather small ones last winter. My turtle was small, so they lasted a long time. Several of them did turn into pupae right in the little tub i got them in. A few even turned into beetles! The turtle ate all stages.

Then in late summer i separated a few of the largest worms from a tub of large ones i had bought. 4 turned into beetles and i tried to get them to breed, with no luck, but then i suspect that was because i kept them too cold. They are supposed to be kept warmer than i can conveniently manage in winter.
Now i have started feeding the beetles to the turtle. I have not seen large beetles from these. Even these ones several months old are not that big.
They can climb out of containers if there is no lid.

 

[tortadise]

When people turn in their turtles and tortoises to me they sometimes also give me any supplies they have on hand. Consequently, I have two tubs of "super worms" on my kitchen counter (they're not supposed to be refrigerated).

I have a baby YF, Manouria and box turtle, and I give them all a super worm occasionally, but these worms are fast, and I'm afraid most of them get away because the babies don't move that quickly.

So this a.m. I lifted the food tile and waterer to take them to the sink to clean them and this is what I saw under them:

View attachment 167805 View attachment 167806

These things are about an inch long. Can you imagine the size of the beetle they're going to turn into? I just hope they don't fly. This enclosure is in my house!

Have you ever tried giving these to your pardalis? You'd be surprised.

 

[naturalman91]

Superworms will not turn into pupae when kept all together in the tub. Also, i take my turtles out of the enclosure when I feed supers. I don't like them to get loose in there because they are biters.

yeah a friend of mines bearded dragon got a pretty good bite from one

 

[lisa127]

With my first batch of superworms, i bought 100 rather small ones last winter. My turtle was small, so they lasted a long time. Several of them did turn into pupae right in the little tub i got them in. A few even turned into beetles! The turtle ate all stages.

Then in late summer i separated a few of the largest worms from a tub of large ones i had bought. 4 turned into beetles and i tried to get them to breed, with no luck, but then i suspect that was because i kept them too cold. They are supposed to be kept warmer than i can conveniently manage in winter.
Now i have started feeding the beetles to the turtle. I have not seen large beetles from these. Even these ones several months old are not that big.

They can climb out of containers if there is no lid.

Are you sure you don't have mealworms?

 

[Loohan]

Are you sure you don't have mealworms?

Yes. I bought mealworms before i bought superworms. But then i read that mealworms have gnarlier exoskeletons than superworms, so i never bought more mealworms. Nor did the mealworms i had pupate by the time i used them up.

I have bought superworms several times since, from different places, and they all were the same type of critter.

 

[lisa127]

Yes. I bought mealworms before i bought superworms. But then i read that mealworms have gnarlier exoskeletons than superworms, so i never bought more mealworms. Nor did the mealworms i had pupate by the time i used them up.

I have bought superworms several times since, from different places, and they all were the same type of critter.

But superworms s will not pupae if kept in a group.

 

[Loohan]

But superworms s will not pupae if kept in a group.

Sorry, you may be right. Maybe i had a senior moment there. I looked up pics of mealworm beetles, and i think that is what i had. The pupae look very similar in both species, but i seem to recall that the pupae i got back then looked bigger than the mealworms themselves did.

BTW i don't think my little guy ate the superworm beetle i fed him a few days ago, after all. I had put it in his box, he snapped and chased it and i assumed he eventually got it. And haven't seen it since, but i suspect it escaped death and is hiding somewhere.

A little while ago i offered the turtle a 2nd one. This time i put both on the floor. He snapped and chased it a bit, but gave up when he could not get a purchase on the slippery varmint.
My boxie is about 2 &3/8" long now.
Still i would not consider these superworm beetles large compared to wild beetles around here. But they are larger than mealworm beetles. At least now at several months old.

 

[Loohan]

Given that mealworms are easier to propagate than superworms, but have harder exoskeletons, maybe it makes sense to breed the mealworms but only feed reptiles the pupae and small brown beetles...

 

[Rue]

My superworms pupated. Perhaps density is the issue. I have a low density colony.

 

[Onidara]

I dumped like 100 of these in with 19 redfoots, they went crazy on them. 2 weeks later I found like 12 - 20 black Beatles so I just killed them and put them in front of some and they ate them