Jodykersten Joey 
45 Posts
Hi guys here is a treat on breeding your own waxworms at home:
The waxworm larvae will chew through wood or soft plastic. Make sure you use glass or metal wide mouth jars, thick plastic material like plastic crisper or critter carrier, and or large lard or honey cans.
For the top you can use 20 mesh wire screen.
Start with no less than 50 worms. Select the largest and plumpest specimen.
In nature, the larvae feed on pollen, honey and bees wax in honeybee combs. Therefore, you will need to layer the bottom of your container with an ‘edible bedding.
You can use bran flour mixed with whole oats and a drizzle of honey. Stir the honey into the dry bedding. Crumble any globs and stir until your bedding is a dry mixture.
You can also use one box Gerber mixed cereal, 7 Tbsp of honey, 7 Tbsp of glycerin and 7 tbsp of boiling water. Mix the honey, glycerin and water, and pour into the cereal. Mix until the cereal is moist. Allow to stand one day before using.
Keep at a bout 86°. It takes 6 – 7 weeks to complete the cycle from egg to adult.
Before the mature larvae pupate, they crawl into a crevice or hollow place. In this type of substrate, they will burrow into the bedding.
If any of the worms turn black and are soft, remove them. This means they are dead.
The waxworm pupa is hard and has a deep redish-brown color. The worms remain in their pupal state for about ten days.
To reduce further development, you can keep the pupae in a cool area for up to two months. A temperature no lower than 60°.
Once the worms have pupated, crumple several pieces of waxed paper and place them into your container.
The moths will emerge after approximately 2 weeks. They will mate and live about a week, feasting on the wax from the wax paper.
The female moth will lay her eggs in the folds of the wax paper. Two days after she has laid them, you can collect them by placing a razor blade under one side of each egg and lifting. You can now put the eggs in a jar and keep them cool to hatch at a later time.
When ready to hatch the eggs, place them in an escape-proof container with a layer of the edible bedding underneath the eggs. Your worms should hatch within two weeks and will grow fast kept at room temperature and the honey/bran mixture as a substrate.
They have 7 instars during feeding, with most of their growth in the last two stages.
Once the worms hatch, place a very small orange slice in the container for them to drink from. Leave it in the container for about a week, then take it out. Repeating every three days. Be very careful when doing this, that your new babies don’t run off.
Once the new worms are big enough to be feeders, you can choose to refrigerate them, or being the “Breeding Cycle” again. Depending on the amount of worms you end up with, you could choose some as breeders and refrigerate the rest to feed to your gliders.
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