Year: 2017

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Blatticomposting: Composting With Roaches.

This video and article is the first in a series that we will do on Blatticomposting.  Please send us your questions or ask them below and we will incorporate the answers in the followup articles and videos.

I am sure that you have all heard of Vermicomposting, which is composting with worms.  Redworm composting has been used for decades to help reduce household waste and create nutrient rich worm castings which are used to fertilize plants.

Well, times have changed and composting is still all the rage but now we are composting with roaches.  This form of composting is called “Blatticomposting.  Relax, these are not the roaches that infest homes and businesses.  These are large roaches that are from tropical regions.  The roaches that we use to compost are actually a species that cannot climb, so you can actually keep them in a plastic Rubbermaid container without a lid and they will not escape.  The end product of the Blatticomposting process is frass (roach poop) which is a great natural fertilizer.

There are two types of roaches used in Blatticomposting.  We use Pantanal Roaches(Eublaberus sp. “Pantanal”) and Ivory Roaches(Eublaberus sp “Ivory” ).  Both are related as they are from the same genus, Eublaberus.

Both Pantanal and Ivory are burrowing roaches and love to dig in substrate.  We use a layer of coconut coir.  They also love to eat food scraps and will swarm fruits, vegetables and even meat scraps.

These are tropical roaches so they like it room temperature or above, so a kitchen composter or a composter near a furnace will keep this composting team kicking.

I will post more information on the care of both Eublaberus species soon.  I just wanted to send out a Blatticomposting introduction.  We own the name Blatticomposting.com and we will be offering both types of roaches for sale very soon, with free information on making composting units to house them in.

Enjoy the video.

 

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Super Worm Care: The Basics of Superworm Care

Superworms

You order your Superworms, the arrive and then, as you are opening your Super Worm box, that you don’t know how to care for them. You scramble for your phone, search for “Superworm Caresheet” and find a bunch of stuff. You grab some oat meals, throw in some apple s

ces and then put them in the refrigerator. You come back later and they are all dead. Believe it or not, we have had people contact us with this exact scenario, so we created this video and quick post.

Superworms are easy to care for. You just need some wheat bran, a potato and a plastic shoe box.

You don’t put the lid on the shoe box because the heat from the worms and the potato slices will cause the box to sweat and that will cause the worm bedding to mold. This could also cause mites to grow in your super worm culture.

NEVER PUT THEM IN THE REFRIGERATOR.  Cold kills Superworms.

That is all you need to do. Now watch the video where I tell you the same thing that I just told you.  🙂  If you need Superworms or bran please try Wormman.com

 

What can you use besides wheat bran as your superworm bedding?  You can use chicken food.  Egg layer mash that is used to feed egg layer chickens is a good food for Super Worms.  Some people use oat meal or other grains to as a bedding and then feed a variety of vegetables to the superworms to ensure that they get everything that they need.

We have tried various grains and nothing grows super worms the way regular wheat bran does.  We do use small amounts of yeast as a nutrient when feeding our superworms.  They love it and it is good for them and for us.

If you are interested in breeding your own superworms, then you should try our Superworm Breeding kit.

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Live Roach Care Sheet: Red Runner Roaches

Blatta Lateralis, also known as Turkistan Roaches, Red Runners and a few other names, is a very easy roach to house and breed if you have proper temperatures.

Would you like to see 30,000 Red Runner Roaches in one Rubbermaid container? Check out our video.








Turkistan Red Runner Roach

Scientific Name

Blatta Lateralis

 Sizes

Up to one inch as
an adult.  Nymphs are about 1/8″.


Life Cycle

 Nymphs mature at 3
to 5 months. Adults live 6 to12 months

Reproductive Capacity
 Egg cases laid
every 2 weeks.  The 20 to 30 eggs hatch in 1 to 4
months.

Housing

Smooth sided
container with cover and egg crates stacked vertically.

Climbing Habit   

Adults do not
climb but nymphs climb well so Bug Boundary Grease
is needed.

Substrate		 None needed

Temperature

Above 70F. 
85 better for faster breeding.

Sexing		 Males blonde with
wings.  Females red and wingless.
Origin Middle

East

Foods

Dry Roach Chow,
Cat Food, fresh vegetables and fruit. Love bananas and
oranges.

Water

Water gel
recommended.  You can get that here under the brand
name, Cricket

Crystals.

Humidity		 Prefers a higher
than average humidity


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Live Roach Care Sheet: Discoid Roaches

Discoid Roaches, also known as False Deaths Head Roaches because of their similarity to the Death’s Head Roach are very hardy and easy to care for.

 

 

Roach Species:  False Deaths
Head Roach

 

 

Scientific Name and Common Names

 

Blaberus discoidalis

False Deaths Head Roach or Discoid Roaches
 

 Sizes

 

 Up
to 3″
 

Life Cycle

 

 Reach adulthood in 3-5 months and
then will live another 10-14 months

Reproductive Capacity
 Fast
Breeding
 

Difficulty Rating

 

 Easy.
 

Climbing Habit

 

 Non Climbing.

Substrate		 Coconut
Coir substrate and leaf litter.  Also provide hiding
places like small logs or tree bark.
 

Interesting Information

 

Sexing		 Males
and females look similar with the female being rounder.
Origin Southern
Africa
 

Foods

 

 Fresh
fruit and vegetables.  They love carrots, wet dog/cat
food and moist cereal.  Limit wet grain based food to
what they will eat at any one time so that you do not
attract pests like flies and mites.
 

Water

 

 Always keep water
crystals present in a cup.   You can get that here
under the brand name, Cricket
Crystals.
Housing,
Humidity and
Temperature		 Aquarium or plastic
container with air holes and a lid.  High humidity with
good ventilation.  85 to 95 degrees
Pictures

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Superworm Sale

We are offering a Superworm sale Through 8-29!  Get 1000 small, medium or large superworms delivered to your door, via priority shipping for just $23.99.  That’s it!  No shipping or handing charges!  $23.99 and you pick the size superworms that you need!

Get Yours While Supplies Last!

https://wormcompany.com/product/superworm-sale/

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Firebrats! Coming Soon to Reptile Near You

live firebrats

live firebratsFirebrats are a new live feeder on the U.S. market.  Firebrats are related to silverfish.  They require high heat to flourish.  They will not breed at temperatures below 80 degrees and do really well at temperatures up to 105 degrees.  The prefer the higher temps.

This video depicts a small breeding and rearing unit that I made to for our Firebrats.  We keep them in coolers at high temperatures so that the heat and humidity are concentrated.  Firebrats love high heat but they also like humidity, but they don’t like it wet.

We maintain the proper conditions using a heat lamp, a thermostat and some Cricket Crystals.

Reptiles, dart frogs, frogs of all kinds, fish and birds love Firebrats.  We are in the breeding stages right now, but we will have Firebrats by the end of 2017.

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Live Isopod Scaber Morph Latest Sowbug Addition

We have been working on this Scaber morph. Porcellio scaber is an isopod that is usually dark grey in color. I first noticed a morph in some captive bred, dark Porcellio scaber which first surfaced with some orange and gray mixed. I isolated that morph and then breed them down through successive generations, always isolating for the desired colors we were looking for. That original morph created some interesting lines, like a dalmation line, orange line calico line and now this ghost Isopod line. The interesting thing is that the eyes are still dark. I have not seen a morph, in my supply anyway, that has pink or lighter eyes.

I just wanted to share our latest isopod breeding antics. We will have these for sale in a few months. We will also have some other cool morphs and Isopod breeds soon too.

Live Isopod Ghost Morph.
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Live Maggots, Spikes, Blue Bottle Fly Larvae for Fishing Bait, for Feeding Dart Frogs, Reptiles, Chickens, Birds and Fish.

We have been working hard trying to figure out how to breed the biggest fly maggots, get them to be hardy so that they a tough enough to ship and put on a hook for fishing bait and able to last so that you can feed them to reptiles, chickens, dart frogs or whatever you might feed our maggots to. Our chicks and dart frogs love our fat white maggots, but enough about me.

Spikes are the larva of the Blue Bottle Fly. They grow quickly and must be refrigerated so that they do not pupate before you need them to.

We will ship live Spike Maggots year round starting shortly.

Meet our masot, Spike in the video. He is actively breeding and ensuring that we have enough spikes to fill orders so that we not out of stock. I would rather not launch if we are going to be out of stock after launching a new product.

Been there and done that. You can see that by browsing our products. The out of stocks are up because demand is up but that is not the way to do business. Spike will see to that. 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions about our feeder fly maggots or anything else.
Thank you.
Ken

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How Many Worms Do You Need for You Worm Composting Bin?

One of the main questions that we get all year long is “How many worms do I need for my vermicomposting bin?”.  Many people start their Red Worm composting bins using bins that they have in the house, or something that they bought inexpensively and they have no idea how many worms it takes to get their worm composter going.  I have probably answered that question a thousand times over the years.

Now the work is done for us thanks to a site called http://www.howmanywormsdoineed.com  .

The site allows you to choose 3 different types of worms and then input your worm bin demensions by inches.  The site then provides how many worms you will need for your worm bin or worm bed.

The cool thing is that it is simple and easy and accurate.  Check it out and let us know your thoughts.  We will be linking to it on our site too.  We have been give permission to link to the calculator below.  Try it out and then squirm on over and get some worms from Wormman.com.  🙂

 




Worm Bin / Worm Bed Calculator




Result

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Grain Weevils, Wheat Weevils A Great Dart Frog Food

Grain weevils are pretty new to the feeder market, even if they are very old to the pest market.  Mealworms, superworms, fruit flies, and many other feeders are also pests and they are used as feeder insects.

It has taken us 5 months but we have finally been licensed by the USDA to grow, breed and ship Grain Weevils. We have Grain Weevils for sale in multiple sizes, starting at 8 ounces and going up to a 32 ounce culture.

We have to ship in escape proof containers, with our permit in or on the box, and we have to provide a letter instructing customers how to dispose of their Wheat Weevils when they no longer want them.

These are a very interesting feeder.  Our Darts love them.  We have three different kinds of Dart Frogs and not one of them has turned their noses up at these weevils.

They also play dead.  Grain Weevils will pretend that they are dead if you touch them.

Grain Weevils are easy to raise on wheat berries.  We grow ours in plastic containers on wheat berries alone.  They do not drink anything.  We split the cultures every month and freshen the old cultures with new wheat berreies to keep the process growing.

We now have over a thousand cultures, and although I will miss them, it is time for our Wheat Weevils to find new homes. Give your Dart Frogs a snack that they will be talking about for days.

We are shipping 12 ounce cultures with wheat berries via Priority mail.  You can check out prices and more information on our site http://www.wormman.com/.

They are so ugly that they are actually cute.  Check out their snouts. If you would like to discuss Grain Weevils, then join our forum or email me.