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admin · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 227

I thought I would try breeding these things . ( Don't ask ! ) .
It takes an awful lot longer for them to go thru the breeding cycle than it says on the packet . Maybe I didn't keep them warm enough Rolling Eyes

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The adult beetles ( Darkling Beetles ) were perfectly happy to stay in their box without a lid for about 6 weeks Very Happy

But tonight the little b*uggers are all over the place . I do hope I can get them out of the cereal before MOH gets up in the mornig Laughing

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GB · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 Location: Ireland

Never try breeding them in a polystyrene box (to keep them warm you know) as the larva eat the stuff and wind up all over the place Shocked

They are also tops for cleaning bones, as long as they arnt from very very small animals. They eat them lock, stock and barrel then.

Oh, and wax worms are super easy to breed, just be VERY VERY VERY sure the lid fits really tight Exclamation

I had them in the hot press and they seemed happy enough in their plastic tub but when the urge to pupate hit they exited en mass Embarassed

There were thousands of the furry little maggots EVRYWHERE Shocked

And its a myth that they need heat and a special diet to breed successfully, all they need is whatever they find including floor boards and cardboard. Eight years in that house and the bloody moths were still a nuisance Embarassed

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wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Excuse my ignorance but, these things do have a purpose, do they?
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GB · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 Location: Ireland

I always used them as food items for exotic animals and mealworms are used for prepairing bones (cleaning off the bits of meat and gristle) for display. I dont really know of any other uses for them but I am sure there are some.
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jon234567890 · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

They're great food for poultry, but surely Maggots would be easier... I mean what do you do with your Meat Kitchen Waste? Has anyone tried this, I'm seriously considering it, found a couple of people that advocate it Shocked

Jon.

blowin · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:04 am Post subject:

GB · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 Location: Ireland

I use to manage a pet store and as you know sometimes things just die. Esp. with exotics as you have no control on prior care so I use to put the bodies in the meal worm box (I was breeding them at the time) and if you time it right they get the bones nice and clean but still all together. Of course if you miss the window of opportunity sifting tiny bones out of the box was a nightmare so I never bothered. I know museums use to use them to clean large bones (like manatee bones) but I dont know if they still do. And I had a friend who used them to clean a sheep she found dead in the bog. You do have to get most of the meat off large bones but small things like little birds and lizards you just chuck in and keep an eye on.
And meal worms and wax worms have one great advantage over maggots........they dont SMELL so in theory you can breed them without upsetting your spouse. But we all know the difference between theory and fact then, dont we Embarassed

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greentree · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:27 am Post subject:

My OH would go feckin mental if I started breeding these things.....

GB · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 Location: Ireland

I got "Oh look, its a moth" for EIGHT WHOLE YEARS from hubby after the wax worm fiasco Rolling Eyes

Hubby isnt bad really about things like that, although I had a room mate that went post office mental when I microwaved the dead bird. But to be fair I had just put a large turtle in the bath and skinned a rat at the kitchen table so maybe she had just had all she could handle at that point Laughing

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wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford