wax worms

[Guest]

How can you keep wax worms alive? I followed
the directions by refrigerating in a container with air holes but all 500 died
within a month 1/2. any suggestion?

[Matt D]

That's how I've kept my carton of 400 for the last month and the only ones that have died are the ones I've taken fishing with me and been frozen or gotten warm, then cold again. The ones I've kept in the freezer are doin' just fine. Not sure what to tell you.

[Cyberfish]

Keep waxies in a cool place like in your basement. Do not refrig them, it makes em soggy, and then they may die. Only refrig maggies, or they will become little brown pupaes.

Cyb

www.gemfishing.org

[Matt D]

Oops, I said: "The ones I've kept in the freezer..."

I meant the fridge. Yep, freezing them will pretty much be the death knell.

[rap]

cyberfish has it right, keep them against an outside wall in your basement, don't put in fridge..

[Cyberfish]

I hate it when I leave my waxies in the back of the truck, and find em the next day.
All those little frozen bodies
Then you thaw em out, they get soggy, then turn black

Cyb

[jt24]

IMAO!! Thats pretty good. Ya they dont last long when ya do that! I had the same kinda thing happen except it was nitecrawlers. The beginning of the month me and a buddy of mine and my brother went crappie fishin and the picky things didnt want to bite very good so i tried a piece of nite crawler and to my amazement was able to get a couple to bite. One was just about 14 inches so that was good but anyways my brother used them and left them in his house over nite thinking that they wouldnt freeze( ya rite!) and wouldnt ya know the next morning i wanted to use them and couldnt find them. He says well i left them in my house! Got below zero that nite so they were one big block of frozen dirt! poor things! lol

[Guest]

Here is the deal with waxworms. If you buy a 500 count, get some little containers to split them up. If you take all 500 out fishing with you, there is no doubt you are going to kill a bunch if it is cold out. AS soon as the freeze, you better used them that day or they will be black the next day. I buy them by the 500 count, but only take a couple small containers out with me. I leave the rest in the basement of my house or a cool spot, away from a register. That works fine in the winter. In the summer you may need to refrigerate them. I have no trouble keeping them in the refrigerator as long as the fridge is not set to cold. After you kill a couple thousand, you will figure out the correct temp.ScottS

[Jim W]

My Grandpa, use to raise waxies.

He would keep them in a dry cool place in a large cardboard 50 gallon drum. Granted you won't need that much room. He kept them in saw dust etc. Not sure what kind of woodchips/dust etc.

Remember, anything that lives needs to eat!!!
Try taking a cleaned corn cob(no kernals), breaking them in half, mixing them into the dust/small shavings. The waxies will burrow into the cobs feeding on the core of the cob!!

He always had waxies, so now you can too!!

Jim W

[Matt D]

I think Scott S hit the head of the nail I was aiming for in my post...

I've never had a problem keeping them in the refrigerator, if that is:
1) They don't freeze
2) They don't get warm

My guess is that if they're dying in your fridge, they ones that died (or all of them) at some point froze or got too warm. If you buy them and put them in the fridge and only take out the few you need for a trip, the rest should be fine in there.

[dlskills]

i think the best container to carry them out ot the lake is a coppenhagen tin they seem to keep real well in them and you don't have to take the hole carton!!
Dwight

[Guest]

Thats exactly right Dwight, just don't mistake then for the real thing! Yuck!!Scott

[dlskills]

this is true scott but i think the wiggling will wake you real fast..
Dwight

[Cyberfish]

I dunno guys, I have tasted both, and I think the tobacco is far nastier.
Wax worms have hardly any flavor, they taste sorta like, well... wax

Cyb

[Guest]

Jim W, Is that all you need to do to raise wax worms, just buy some, and put them in a container with sawdust, and some corn cobs? How long does it take for them to reproduce?