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Wax Worms (Galleria mellonella & Achroia
grisella) These worm or grubs are the larva from a moth that invades beehives, especially weak or old hives.
- Wax worms are a good food source to fatten up frogs. Due to their high fat content wax worms should be given as treats, rather than as a staple food. These insects are hardy, odourless and easy to rear.
- Most companies that sell these grubs often only stock the bigger sizes that are more suitable for medium to large dendrobatid frogs.
- This leaves us with a problems of trying to feed froglets and juveniles and this is where culturing comes in. These grubs are easy and almost self-sufficient, but it will take a good 2 months to begin harvesting your grubs.
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The greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella) both go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult. |
| The life cycle from egg to adult is about six to seven weeks at temperatures of 86°F and a relative humidity of 75 to 85 percent. |
| Larvae pass through seven growth stages (instars) during feeding, with most growth in the last two stages. Mature larvae spin a cocoon and pass into the pupa stage, from which the adult moth later emerges. |
| Larvae in nature feed on pollen, honey and beeswax in honeybee combs. In cultures, granular dog meal is effective. |
| The best larvae are Achroia grisella, the lesser wax moth, the larvae of which never get too big for darts. |
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Temperature Range:
Keep the culture in a warm dark place between 77° - 87°F (25° - 31°C)
In order to slow down production, place the culture into a cool area to reduce further developments.
At temperatures near 60°F, larvae will not pupate for two to three months.
| Do not put into a refrigerator, as this is too cold. |
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METHOD:
What you'll need:
large wide mouth pickle jar (3.5 litres) or small fish tank both with lids
dry baby cereal
honey glycerine (can be obtained in Pharmacy)
bowl & a sturdy spatula
paper (heavier stock)
starter culture
also see Wax Worm Diet
What you'll do:
Place about 2-3 cups of baby cereal in a bowl.
Add enough honey and glycerine to make the mixture come together to form a ball, but add more honey as opposed to the glycerine. The ball should just about hold together!
Place the mixture on one side in the jar or tank.
Get your paper and fold it accordion style and place it next to the medium. The moths prefer to lay in crevices and will use this paper.
Add your starter wax worms and close the lid.
Place the jar/tank in a warm, dark place, at least 80°F.
Check your culture on a regular basis for dead worms, dispose of these because they will start a bacterial infection, which can kill the rest of the culture.
Add medium as needed. The used up medium will look like rough and flaky.
To harvest, sort through the medium and pick the size of the worm that you would like to use.
Put a tightly squeezed ball of kitchen towel (paper) into the medium. When you want the larvae gently prize open the paper over a dish and the larvae will drop off with only a very small amount of medium.
If you’ve got a small ball of culture and they’ve eaten most of the medium just gently squeeze the ball and the grub will crawl out
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To Feed:
Offer the worms in a petri dish or upturned jam jar lid, this will stop
them crawling under the substrate and help to keep them dry until they are
eaten
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Housekeeping:
Use glass or metal containers such as wide-mouth glass jars, plastic crispers, large lard cans or honey cans. Larvae will chew through wood and soft plastic. Use a very fine wire mesh screens for lids or covers
Don't be too concerned about the fungi that develop in the boxes--you can still use the eggs as long as they do not have fungi on them. Over the course of a year the cultures are stressed by bacteria, this normally happens during spring and autumn. This usually passes without creating any major problems.
- Proper cleaning and sterilization of cages will help to reduce disease problems as well as growth of bacteria and fungi.
- The media can become over grown with these organisms or may become infested with stored product pests such as grain mites.
- Parasites or diseases may kill developing larvae.
- Keeping several, rather than one colony, will allow you to discard any in which problems develop without shutting down production.
- It is best to discard containers with these serious problems rather than attempting to clean them.
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Wax Worm
Diet:
Diet 1:
Use 7 parts dry dog food mixed with 1 part water followed by 2 parts honey. Mix the ingredients and let them stand for 1 day. The granules should be soft but not sticky. The mixture should somewhat stick together when compressed in the hand. Too much honey and the tiny worms seem to get stuck and die, too little and they seem to dry out.
Diet 2:
Use 1 box of Gerber's Mixed Cereal, 7 tablespoons of honey and 7 tablespoons of glycerine and 3-ln tablespoons of water. Moisten the cereal with the liquid mixture to mould a ball that crumbles easily.
| Try both diets to determine which is best for your situation. About
750g of diet mix should be sufficient to produce about 500 usable mature larvae. Wax worms thrive in dark, warm (about 85° F), poorly ventilated areas. A colony can produce larvae year-round. |
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