# wax worms



## chadbandman (Dec 3, 2007)

Anyone got a good bedding recipe that they've used?


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## Marinarawr (Jan 14, 2009)

I've read that Wheatabix or other shredded wheat cereals broken up with honey and glycerin work really well for both greater and lesser waxworms. I'm having some trouble finding the page that described the exact recipe but I think it was something that you just made a judgment call on based on consistency. If I remember correctly you mix enough to fill the container up about 1/3 of the way, add honey until it's well blended but still crumbly, and then add glycerin (to prevent drying out). The end result should be somewhat pastey but still slightly crumbly... if that makes any sense. 
If you have more patience for google than I do I'm sure you can find the recipe somewhere .


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## gretchenellie (Aug 7, 2007)

The recipes I use, and get VERY good porduction out of is:

Gerber baby cereal
dry oatmeal
honey (anykind)
natural bees wax pellets

Works every time!

here is a link to a video I took of my cultures:

YouTube - young wax worm culture


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## Newt1 (Feb 25, 2007)

what are you feeding the wax worms to


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## hexentanz (Sep 18, 2008)

I use wheat bran, pinches of instant oat and rice cereal, glycerol, yeast, honey and bee pollen. I also drop in a honey comb. 

Always have a good booming culture with this mix.


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## chadbandman (Dec 3, 2007)

Tincs, day geckos, crested geckos about once or twice a month. I use to feed them to my bearded dragons weekly during breeding season.


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## Newt1 (Feb 25, 2007)

I will have to try them for tincs


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## Tadbit (Jul 16, 2010)

I was seeking more information on these so forgive the necro of this old thread (I do try to use the search feature  ).

-What are people’s general experiences with these? 
-Do the cultures typically stink? If they do are the typical anti mold anti smell agents effective in the medium? 
-Will smaller PDF’s like galacts, imitators, pumilio, and other thumbs, for example, eat the smaller worms?
-Are there any general drawbacks to them other than they take a while to get going?
-How easy is it to keep the cultures producing?

I remember seeing a Black Jungle video touching on these and they used to sell them (currently showing that they are out of stock). It appears like you can gut load these will all sorts of good vitamins and it seems like they would make an excellent healthy variation in diet, but they don’t seem to be talked about that much. It got me wondering as to why???


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## nicolerc (Jul 13, 2009)

Well, honey does have antibacterial and antifungal properties, so I suppose that helps. As for why they aren't more prevalent, they do get pretty big, are readily available for purchase and keep well, so I suppose not a lot of people bother culturing them. The smaller frogs probably would eat the baby worms, but they'd be a pain to pick out of the culture I bet. Wax moths web all over everything. As a beekeeper, I've "cultured" a fair number accidentally in an empty hive


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

nicolerc said:


> Well, honey does have antibacterial and antifungal properties, so I suppose that helps. As for why they aren't more prevalent, they do get pretty big, are readily available for purchase and keep well, so I suppose not a lot of people bother culturing them. The smaller frogs probably would eat the baby worms, but they'd be a pain to pick out of the culture I bet. Wax moths web all over everything. As a beekeeper, I've "cultured" a fair number accidentally in an empty hive


And the larva can chew out of a number of containers in search of pupation sites.. they grow very quickly and can quickly pass through the stage for the frog within a few days. 

Ed


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## Tadbit (Jul 16, 2010)

Hmmm, very interesting. Thanks for the insights! 

I'm just weighing the options in an attempt to vary the diets a little without getting into something that's overly foul to cultivate (like I've heard about crickets). 

Perhaps rice flour beetle larvae would make a better, and easier, substitute?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

have you considered bean beetles? 

Ed


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## Tadbit (Jul 16, 2010)

Ed said:


> have you considered bean beetles?
> 
> Ed


I hadn't until now. Looking over information on them I see that they are a substitute for D. Hydei and are fed to the frogs as adults. Do these have a large chitin content?

Also, is it safe to assume that since they are a substitute for Hydei they wouldn't be suited for thumb sized frogs?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Tadbit said:


> I hadn't until now. Looking over information on them I see that they are a substitute for D. Hydei and are fed to the frogs as adults. Do these have a large chitin content?
> 
> Also, is it safe to assume that since they are a substitute for Hydei they wouldn't be suited for thumb sized frogs?


People significantly overestimate the ability of the frogs to handle chitin. A lot of that is left over from the myths about feeding mealworms (see for example Wiley InterScience :: Session Cookies (I tried to find a free copy of the full article but no luck) is not true. One of the things that has come out is that the older nutritional studies underestimated the amount of protien available in chitin. It can run as much as 7 times what was previously thought to occur. I would also take into consideration that diet studies on a number of dendrobatids not only showed a decent level of beetles but many dendrobatids feed on ants in the wild which have a very high chitin ratio... 

It depends on the thumbnails. If they can take larger prey items, you can offer it to them. While not true thumbnails, I do feed both hydei and bean beetles to pumilio and tricolor. 

Ed


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## Tadbit (Jul 16, 2010)

Very insightful! 

Thanks Ed!


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

my tincs readily eat half grown waxworms. And yes, as Ed said, they can be very destructive and can chew through many things when it comes time to pupate. So, do not sit a culture on good wooden furniture or anything of that nature 

One should use glass jars with the stainless steel ventilation lids from AZDR.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Remember too, that there is a big difference is size between the lesser and greater wax worm. Lessers rarely get bigger than an inch long, 1/8" in diameter, before they spin themselves into a cocoon. When they're harvested, lessers average a lot smaller than even that.


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