Think its feasable to raise superworms for a good profit?

Onion01

Polypterus
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Aug 8, 2007
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wataugachicken;1134160; said:
my superworm story - i found an injured robin in my yard, and put it in a small box overnight until i could call a nature center/rescue the next day. i happened to have some superworms in the fridge for the fish, so i put them in there so the robin could eat them if it wanted to. the next morning i checked on the bird. it was dead and all the worms had crawled out of their container and were eating it. ugh.
:ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:it took me 5 minutes to stop laughing after reading this :ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:
 

riffraffxl

Feeder Fish
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Aug 21, 2007
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Smertrios;1133722; said:
Profit at least the way I am thinking about profit means I would need at least a $3 gross profit per 1000 and need to be selling 100,000+ per day.
Holy cow...how could you sell 100,000 per day? Maybe to a zoo? But zoos must breed their own, I would think...
 

Smertrios

Feeder Fish
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Jun 18, 2007
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Really not sure how to sell 100,000 but I will make it work. I'm hoping for alot of internet sales from buyers that will want more than 1000 at a time. I'm sure if the price and quality is right thats exactly what I will get.

What I am working on now or rather what I am finding out now is how to make them high quality feeders (more nutritious). So far its looking good as the higher quality food/bedding costs less than the wheat bran I have priced but only because I can get it locally without paying hefty s/h prices.

I was about to get started with a much larger superworm growing setup but was told today I may be moving to a new home so my full scale operation is being put on hold for the time being... *but* this new place has a bit more land and a metal building where I can insulate a room for raising superworms.
 

Smertrios

Feeder Fish
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Jun 18, 2007
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The house looks ok on the outside but its a drug house on the inside! My guess is thats why the price has dropped by $60,000 to less than $90,000 over the last 2 months. Anyway...

My plan to get that 100,000 per day of production is to start 1000 breeding beetles every week. With the adult beetle life span lasting 2-1/2 to 3 months I will get that 100,000+ per day of production! Getting buyers for 36.5 million larvae annually will be the trick =P

I think 36.5 million is tooo many but thats the only way to get a good profit...
 

sncboom

Feeder Fish
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May 12, 2006
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I worked at a pet store that sold a lot of crickets...probably over a 100,000 per week. We sold maybe 20 superworms per week...so...bad investment.
 

Smertrios

Feeder Fish
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Jun 18, 2007
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What was the cost of the crickets and superworms? Thing I like about superworms is their size and 1 year life cycle (max) as opposed to the crickets 6 weeks.
 

Smertrios

Feeder Fish
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Jun 18, 2007
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Adding moisture by misting the bran and adding a lid has increased the growth rate of the superworm larvae *alot* but it also created some mold growth around where the potatoes are placed. I know from reading on forums for reptiles that mold is a killer or rather that it can be a killer depending on the species (for both superworms and what eats them).

I stopped misting the bran and have been using open sources of water to increase the relative humidity inside the containers to around 80-90%. Humidity may still be high but as long as there is no mold growth and the supers are growing fast its good.

This will be sooo much easier to do when I can regulate humidity by controlling an room rather than individual enclosures.
 

Smertrios

Feeder Fish
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Jun 18, 2007
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I bought 2000... they have a faint smell of formaldehyde. I dont know if thats what it is but I remember that smell well from school.
 

Smertrios

Feeder Fish
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Jun 18, 2007
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Just FYI I found the smell and I was playing tricks on myself... it was a fast food cup with some fermenting soda that bloomed on the same day!

These 2000 larvae have devoured 1-1/2 potatoes in 24 hours (maybe 6 ouches)! Healthy appetites for potato but at the price I pay for potatoes and the price I want to be selling supers at potatoes will not work at least not as the sole source of water! They may have been dehydrated from the trip so now that they are in a humid environment with plenty to drink and well hydrated they will not need as much.

Just FYI the "environment" is a 28qt rubbermaid container with just over 1.9 square feet of surface area. Inside the container I get temperature readings that are 3-4 degrees higher than room temp which is usually around 77-80 degrees and relative humidity at the surface of the bran has been steadily rising to 71% (room humidity is too low to get a reading from the humidity sensor).
 
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