# Feeding wax worms



## Ged

Is there anything wax worms will eat? I've tried lettuce, cucumber, carrot, apple, meat, honey and fish food but they still wont eat anything. Does any one know what I could feed them?


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## Guest

They'll normally take lettuce, so its pretty unusual those didn't.

Generally, when you buy them from a pet shop they're at the stage of their life where they no longer need to eat, so you don't need to worry about feeding them.


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## Ged

Moonleh said:


> They'll normally take lettuce, so its pretty unusual those didn't.
> 
> Generally, when you buy them from a pet shop they're at the stage of their life where they no longer need to eat, so you don't need to worry about feeding them.


thanks


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## SnakeBreeder

Moonleh said:


> Generally, when you buy them from a pet shop they're at the stage of their life where they no longer need to eat, so you don't need to worry about feeding them.


The wax worm is a very good feeder and the lesser wax worm is in fact a pest in the bee industry in some areas of the UK. ( Mostly the wax worms for sale in pet shops are the greater wax worm )
They are the "catapiller" stage of a moth and as such this is the time they eat the most.
So given the right food they will feed readily.
One easy mix is to get some bran and honey- mix it well together, heat it gently- spread it out to cool and set. This mix can then be crumbled and added to the wax worm container. 
Wax worms feed best if kept slightly warm and dark, (25 to 30oC) like in a spare viv or on top of a viv whee they get some extra heat.
Other diets can be found here.
Wax Worms
Hope this helps,
Stephen


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## berksmike

If you wanna breed them I raise them on wheatbran, wheatgerm and ready brek (in proprtion 1:1:1) and brought together with enough honey and glycerol to produce a relatively dry but crumbly consistency. Add some dried active yeast and place in a ventilated container - I use large plastic sweet jars with fine mess glued to lid and kitchen paper under this too.
Add the larvae then they pupate and emerge as moths. These then mate lay eggs and culture starts again. Once you have an established culture you can feed any remaining live moths to your phib or reptile.

Culture container:










View thru the wall of established culture:


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_

If i was to let my tub of 50 wax worms all turn into moths and breed for me, how many more could i expect from this?


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## berksmike

You would get hundreds if not thousands - you would be limited by the amount of feeding medium more than anything. Plus these cultures give off huge amounts of heat and moisrture which can sometimes make mould a problem. If you have an overproductive culture you can split them into two and just add fresh medium.


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## Guest

Just to confirm, as nobody else has picked up on it, my lettuce comment was a joke...


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_

berksmike said:


> You would get hundreds if not thousands - you would be limited by the amount of feeding medium more than anything. Plus these cultures give off huge amounts of heat and moisrture which can sometimes make mould a problem. If you have an overproductive culture you can split them into two and just add fresh medium.



Wow. So it's a good investment to let them turn into moths then....


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## berksmike

Yeah i do - lesser waxworms too. You really can get a lot of worms for the size of culture and the excess moths make good treats too


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## Ged

berksmike said:


> If you wanna breed them I raise them on wheatbran, wheatgerm and ready brek (in proprtion 1:1:1) and brought together with enough honey and glycerol to produce a relatively dry but crumbly consistency. Add some dried active yeast and place in a ventilated container - I use large plastic sweet jars with fine mess glued to lid and kitchen paper under this too.
> Add the larvae then they pupate and emerge as moths. These then mate lay eggs and culture starts again. Once you have an established culture you can feed any remaining live moths to your phib or reptile.
> 
> Culture container:
> 
> image
> 
> View thru the wall of established culture:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> image


My wax worms look different to yours


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## berksmike

These are not full sized waxworms so will fill out a bit on the medium


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## Ged

Thanks for all the advice guys :2thumb:


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