groovygeckos said:
Not sure about corn, but I wouldnt use anything that has soy in it, it can block the absorption of calcium. Bad news!
I use oats, bran, etc. for meals/supers, though I would like to find out what would be more nutritional.
Oh, jeez, that's bad news.
I am going to past this sticky I found on another forum (I spent MANY hours researching) because it answers your last sentance, Dan. He is talking about full grown super beetles when he says about laying eggs- here goes:
Code Monkey - Half the container is straight dry unpacked peat. Experimenting has shown me they burrow in and lay eggs in the peat. I read a piece of damp cork bark is good, but, have found through trial and error that they actualy avoid the damp stuff in favor of dryer areas and I have a lower mortality rate and No mold. The other half Is oatmeal and other grainy cerial stuff. (All uncooked, dry, a left over packet here, a partial box there.) I get the kids Alot of those quick microwave hot cerials they like them and are great for the morning before school crazy time. I opened a pack of the unflavored cream of wheat, instant grits, and outmeal. Added a container of gutload(I add the gutload for my own tarantula nurtition peace of mind, neither the beetles or the worms need it, just my personal obsessing over giving the spiders good high nutrition pray items), any left over dry unsweatened cerial. (This time cheerios and there is a handful of rice crispies in there too) lat time was rice crispies and a halfful of special K. Nothing fancy. Just anything laying around that won't do to save like this I pour in an empty box and use for this substrat. The dredges left over by a bunch of kids.
The beetles munch at it all, the baby worms Go Nuts in it. Keeping the hydrating foods Off the substrate is a must. An old flat by the sink soap dish did the trick, a few left over vegies and a milk lid of clear water, beetles have all they need. The cover lid for the shoebox is cut out and meshed for lots of ventaliation.
Once the substrate in the beetle shoebox starts to plumet and you dig in a spot and find worms, (The substrate Wriths.) we put the beetles in a fresh shoebox so we don't have them climbing up our arms and don't have to worry about burrying them. I have a third shoebox for another move, and then can dump one worm load into the first and set it up to rotate again once the beetles fill another. So three shoebox's and five, 20 cell hobby boxes for worm pupating are being used. Just stack them in the closet or just about anywhere, I do not heat the worms or beetles, room temp seems fine even in central AC. The baby worms gobble and grow fast, so we add a handful of out left over dry cerial mix to replentish and let them eat and grow, picking out worms for the T's when we need them. Slings Love the babies and they are a Ton easier then dealing with pin head crickets and giving them a pinch before dropping them in is as easy as squeezing a hair. If you don;t like to touch them. (For anyone that doesn't) they are easy to grab with tweezers too.
I throw a piece of potato, carrot or cucumber, whatever left over vegi is around in a lid off the substrat for everyone. Though I have noticed the new worms don't bother with it much so i wil probably discontinue doing that in the baby worm box.
