Wax worm breeding

[Brandon montgomery]

I want to start breeding wax worms and was wondering on how to do it. If you have done this succesfully can you tell me how to do it

[John C Watson]

Check out YouTube they have a few good videos. I did a search on Google about raising maggots and didn't like the results so I am trying was worms. I have a batch started. I put them in a plastic container about half gallon, the bedding is basically bran, honey, and glycerin (buy from drug store). Put some crinkled was paper in with some wax worms. Keep them in a warm place, I keep mine in the laundry room. Put a stocking or something breathable over the top so they can get air but the moths won't escape. The worms will pupate, turn into moths and then lay more wax worm eggs. I am at the stage of adult moths so far and am away on vacation. I hope to return to some larvae when I get home.

[Brandon montgomery]

Do they have to be in the dark

[John C Watson]

Not that I know of.

[Brandon montgomery]

How many eggs does each female moth lay

[John C Watson]

My experiment went bust. I got some adults but there was no evidence of egg laying. I ordered some more wax worms and will begin again with more worms to breed and fresher stock.

John

[Brandon montgomery]

Don't the eggs take a while to hatch? They might not be done

[John C Watson]

I looked pretty good and didn't see anything. Not that I know what the eggs look like. Anyway, too late because I disposed of the first attempt. As I said, I will be trying again.

Hope you have better luck Brandon.

John

[Brandon montgomery]

I got back from camping yesturday and discovered two moths in the cage. So it's going pretty good.

[John C Watson]

Just got a shipment of 500 wax worms in today and put 50 in a new breading medium. Hope this time thing will go better, these were very fresh/lively so they may do better. I'll keep you posted.

[John C Watson]

This time I got some babies. It takes a while but using enough healthy wax worms to start with helped as well as being patient. They are small at this time and as soon as they get full size I will start another container to breed a second batch. I hope to have about three batches going at all times to keep bait. Don't know how this will work in the winter. I have been keeping them in the utility room which isn't air conditioned and stays warm. I guess I will have to keep them in the heated portion of the house in winter to get them to pupate. I guess I can keep a drape over them as they are light sensitive.

[bluegillboogieman]

I want to thank you for reporting on this. I have been following it since you started, just curious and hoping it worked out for you. I'm a cricket man, and I umbrella fish, not ice fish. They do look like a gill would find them tasty and I ain't above trying them myself. Keep up the good work of letting us know how it's going. Real information like this is one of the best things about this site.

[John C Watson]

I took a few pictures of my setup. This is a tall plastic container that comes with a lid that I bought from a grocery store. It is covered by a piece of my wife's old stocking to keep the moths in the container when they hatch.

The substrate is rice baby cereal, dampened with honey and glycerin with shavings of bees wax. They are growing quite well. You can see the folded wax paper in the container where the moths lay their eggs. The worms eat the wax paper and bee wax. About a week ago they were only about half inch long and thinner than a pencil led. They are four times that big now and will soon be transferred to a container and placed in the fridge for keeping until ready to fish with.

Hope this helps some of you start. I want to have about three setups going soon to keep me in bait. They freeze really well. However, don't take out more than you think you can use because they turn black after several hours out of the freezer. Use what you take or feed the rest to the fish when you leave, they won't be any good the next day. Fish don't seem to care if they are dead.
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