CULTURING FOOD ITEMS..
Tired of buying tons of crickets, waxworms and mealworms at the store, only to run out a week later?
this page will be dedicated to recipes for growing food items for your pygmie's ( and other herps too).
this will cover small scale breeding, not commercial.
covered items will include:
fruit flies
Waxworms
mealworms
Lobster roaches
Pill bugs
springtails
( and others that i am working on ).
( eyeing her choices..........waxworm or mealworm.... she LOVES mealworms )
(yep............loved them )
HOW TO BREED WAXWORMS:
to start, you will need to purchase one medium tub of waxworms from a supplier. either Wamart, Petco, Petsmart, etc.
next, you will need a glass mason jar.
cut out the center of the mason jar lid and place a nylon sock over the lid. this will allow for proper air exchange.
for the medium:
1 box Gerber's Mixed Cereal,
100 ml honey
100 ml glycerine.
2-3 long, thin pieces of corrugated cardboard.
Mix honey and glycerine in a container and pour into cereal. Mix with a spoon until all cereal is moist.
the medium should not be sticky. it should hold its shape when squeezed in the palm of your hand, but crumble very easily.
line the bottom of the mason jar with 1-2 inches of the medium.
place the corrugated cardboard vertically in the jar. ( take off one layer of the cardboard so that the corrugated center is exposed)
place in the jar the wax worm larvae.
replace lid
place mason jar on a shelf in a closet or somewhere similar. the jar needs to be kept warm but not hot.
check the jar often. in roughly 2-3 weeks you will start to see eggs hatching and small larvae.
there is no need to feed or water the jar.
once the worms reach the size you want, remove them and feed to your animal(s).
you will need to start a fresh culture every 2 weeks or depending on the rate of usage.
***UPDATE 11/22/08 ***
This is another VERY successful method of breeding waxworms that was shared with me by a fellow pygmy lover..
this is straight from a very successful small breeder of waxworms:
first, get 150 waxworms to start off with.
the temps in the room are at 80 (85 in the breeding cage),humidity is 80% in the room (about 90-100% in the breeding cage.
one very (good) mistake i made was the cage i bred/are breeding them in.
every care sheet you find will say to keep their cage highly ventilated.
i have mine hardly ventilated (other than a few cracks near the top).
for their cage i use a plastic shelf thing that you can slide in and out (i got it from someone that was moving out). you can see it in the video/link.
next thing is the food.
this is what i use-
(Photo provided by : Gottee Guy )
(honey, cheerios, all bran, plain wheeties, honey bunches of oats)
my mixture--
crush up all the wheeties that there are in the box.
mix them with about the same amount of "all bran".
next,put in a 50/50 of crushed up and not crushed up cheerios (about 100 pieces altogether will do).
then heat up and add 1 teaspoon of glygerine, and if you don’t have any, wax will do.
then add a couple tablespoons of "honey bunches of oats".
when you have all that mixture in a bowl, add lots and lots of honey, until you can make a ball with the mixture.
add the mixture (also called the medium) to whatever cage you have to keep them in.
add strips of cardboard that are cut in the middle, so it makes columns (you probably know what I’m talking about).
also add pieces of crumpled wax paper.
the waxmoths will lay their eggs in the waxpaper and the cardboard strip columns.
then put in all 150 waxworms.
i waited about 5 weeks before i started getting tons of waxies.
( Photos provided by Gottee Guy )
HERE IS A LINK FROM GOTTEE GUY:
A BIG thank you to Gottee Guy for this very helpful information.
Join Gottee Guy and Myeslf on Repticzone.com today and chat with us about pygmy Chameleons!!
HOW TO BREED FRUIT FLIES:
Fruit flies are a perfect feeder insect for smaller reptiles or hatchlings such as baby chameleons and frogs.
Fruit Fly cultures can be kept at room temperature (around 72 degrees F).
try to avoid freezing temperatures and temperatures above 100 degrees F.
Use the following recipe for making your own medium:
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 teaspoon agar (available at health food stores)
1 tablespoon molasses
1/8 teaspoon calcium proprionate
1 package baking yeast
combine all ingredients into a blender and blend until finely ground..
place half of contents into small glass jars, plastic bottles or pre ordered fruit fly cups.
place a secure lid on top. make sure that there is a way for fresh air to enter. you can achieve this by removing the center of the lid and hot gluing fine mesh inside, or by plugging the top of the containers with a piece of fine foam, cut to fit.
add a small amount of fishing line, wax paper or thicker thread for the adult flies to climb on.
after the medium has cooled to room temperature, add roughly 50 adult fruit flies to the container.
DO NOT feed from this container.
let the adults establish themselves for a week or so. you will then start to notice tiny larvae crawling on top of the medium and up the sides of the container..
you DO NOT have to feed the growing culture.
the larvae will begin to pupate.
they will then hatch into fruit flies.
once the culture has established itself enough, and there are numerous fruit flies, you may then begin to feed from the container.
use the same method above to start a new culture in 1-2 weeks. or depending on how fast you go through the flies.
CULTURING SPRINGTAILS:
They are soil and/or litter dwellers main food supply for them include fungi that decompose organic matter.
To start, you will need some potting soil. many people suggest using mixes formulated for African Violets.
place a good amount in a microwaveable container.
cover the soil mixture in water and allow it to hydrate for 10 minutes.
after hydrating the soil, drain off the water and microwave the soil until hot.
after the soil has cooled, place a few inches in an air tight tupperware container and add water making depressions in the soil to create areas of "pooling water"
you will then introduce your starter culture of springtails. ( starter cultures can be purchased through online suppliers).
food for the springtails will consist of high quality fish flakes. ( if and when the flakes start to mold, do not remove them. this becomes another source of food for the culture. )
mist the container to keep the medium moist.
new cultures will need to be set up depending on the rate of usage.
keep all cultures at room temp. never exceeding 80*F
CULTURING MEAL WORMS:
to start, you will need these items:
1. Plastic containers with good lids.
2. Bran flakes
3. Carrot and potato slices
4. 30 to 50 larger not small Mealworms or 10 Tenebrio beetle's
5. A warm dark place
take some wheat bran and spread a layer 1-2 inches thick along the bottom of the container.
place a few slices of potato or carrots on top of the medium. this will be the food and moisture for the mealworms.
replace the slices when they start drying up.
place a medium sized group of mealworms into the container and replace the lid.
keep the container in warm, dry, dark place.
in the coming weeks you will start to see the larvae pupate.
take the pupae out and place into a spearate container.
this separate container is set up similar to the first, except that there is no need to feed them.
After about 18 to 24 days the pupa start to hatch and young adult beetle appears, watch out for the new beetle's and remove them as quickly as you can, so they don't start feeding on the other dormant pupae's.
you will need a third container to hold the beetles.
place the beetles into the container that is setup like the previous two.
place pieces of carrot and potato into the enclosure.
the beetles will start to mate and deposit their eggs into the medium.
every second day, you will need to sift through the medium using a fine strainer. this will allow for the small eggs to fall back into the container with the meal worm pupae.
the sifted medium will then need to be placed into a fourth container set up like the previous three.
cover the medium with a piece of white paper or Hessian cut to fit.
replace the lid
Then place the container somewhere dark and warm for 30 to 40 days, you must spray water on the paper or hessian every day to keep the whole culture moist.
It then starts all over again.
CULTURING PIIL BUGS (SOW BUGS, WOOD LICE )
to begin culturing wood lice/pill bugs/sow bugs, you will first need:
1 small or medium sized sterilite /plastic shoe box container
10-15 pill bugs collected or ordered from pesticide free areas.
1-2 inch of organic potting soil/coco fiber or peat moss
2-3 good sized pieces of egg crate
1 medium can or fish flakes or leftover veggies..
Step 1.)
first, take the sterilite container and punch out a row of 4-5 small holes along one end of the lid.. this will allow for a bit of air flow
Step 2.)
Place 1-2 inches of your selected medium into the container and add your pieces of egg crate..
you will notice a few pieces of old egg crate to the left.. these will need replacing every few weeks..
Step 3.)
take you collected/purchased pill bugs and place them into the container....
Now, seed your container with fish flakes or left over veggies...
the medium will need to be sprayed down until the surface is moist but not drenched.. once a week, lift the lid and spray down one side of the container.. this will ensure that there are two degrees of moisture in the container and the bugs can go to either side they like..
Replace the lid and keep the container on a shelf that receives moderate but not direct light.. and stays at room temp or up to mid 70's.
**estimated time a colony becomes established under optimum conditions = 2 - 2.5 months **
CULTURING LOBSTER ROACHES...
starting a colony of these awesome food items is not hard at all.. in fact they are the least involved ( and least smelly )of all of the food items i have mentioned here.
keep in mind that while these are an excellent source of food for most reptiles and amphibians, and they do not bite or fly, they can climb. a small strip of petrolium jelly or cooking oil placed on the inside lip of the container will prohibit them from climbing out..
in my opinion, these are the best species of roaches to feed pygmy chameleons. the nymphs are very tiny and can be easily consumed by hatchling pygmy's.
**NOTE**
these are a tropical species and will not infest your house or establishment !!
to start you will need:
1 order of lobster roaches ( mixed sizes nymphs/adults )
1 large sterilite container ( with perferated holes in the lid for ventilation )
fish flakes/bran meal/and left over veggies and fruits
1 can of either petrolium jelly or cooking oil
1 warm place to store the container ( top of fridge, garage, etc )
Step 1.)
take your ordered starter culture of roaches and place them into the container
Step 2.)
place a small ceramic dish with either fish flakes, veggies , bran meal or any combination of those items into the bin
Step 3.)
replace lid.
Step 4.)
set container in a warm area. the warmer these creatures are kept, the faster they will breed and the easier it will be to feed from your colony once it becomes established..
**estimated time a colony takes to become established under optimum conditions = 1.5 - 2 months**
MORE TO COME...........
