Worms - Do you use them?? (breeder, store, variety, compared)

skoe · 06-30-2007, 06:11 PM

I know I have talked about my worms before and how much I love them but I have to ask you all a question....

Do you have pets that use meal worms, silk worms, super worms, roaches or any other kind of worm/insect?

Then reason I ask is I have decided to try and open a worm business. For me this is a huge decision because I am a house wife and it seems very unrealistic right now. (Really? There is a world outside of my kids??

)

My first step is to research need, expenses, where do I sell them, how much, stuff like that.

I am coming to my CD friends to help me with the "who uses what". Please tell me what you use and where you buy them.

Oh yes, I am also just starting my king worm colonies and am excited to start other bugs as well. This fall I hope to set up a place in my house for all my supplies.

This is so exciting!

Thanks in advance for any help you all have!

Skoe

midnightbirdgirl · 06-30-2007, 08:52 PM

Skoe, I feed worms to my ducks, they eat about 50 meal worms every couple of days.
Good luck with your new venture!!
MBG

skoe · 07-01-2007, 12:33 AM

Thank you! You are on my research list

Do you buy them from your local pet store or online?

BrianH · 07-01-2007, 01:39 PM

Skoe, if youre gonna sell keep both markets open, online and home / store selling.

prango · 07-01-2007, 02:52 PM

the only worms I use is night crawlers, for fishing...

clawson26 · 07-01-2007, 04:14 PM

I don't (ewww)

but I have an aunt that has lots of lizardy creatures and she drives 30 miles to get them at a pet store. (I lizard sat them once) Now that you mention it I'm sure she would rather have them sent to her via online. She doesn't have a computer but now I know what to send her on X-mas and B-days.

movingoutofCA · 07-01-2007, 06:21 PM

I have a gecko that eats meal worms. She eats crickets too but I rarely give her those. I like the conveince of having worms out in the fridge.

Wal Mart sells worms in the fishing dept., so I try to just add worms to my list, but I do also get them from petco and petsmart.

We only have one gecko, so buying them online has never even crossed my mind.

Depening on where I buy worms, it costs between 2-3.50. Crickets are .10 for the large ones.

mangaandvideogamenerd · 07-01-2007, 10:57 PM

I work at Pet Supplies "Plus" ( no idea why its in quotes ) . There all over the northeast. our crickets are only $0.08 a piece no matter the size and $0.90 for a dozen. I usully recoment feeding crickets to my clients beacuse they are easyer to digest. Meal worms/ Mondo worms/ Super worms (all turn into the same beetle) are a lot harded to digest due to there hard exoskeliton, and in many cases have eaten there way out of frogs, and smaller lizards (usually one that wernt healthy due to poor care, runt, or having been inbreed to much). Wax worms are good, but high in fat and horned worms are way to expencive.

Good luck to your buisness, i think that your main problems will be your reputation compared to other stores like petsmart, petco, and pet supplies plus, and not enough advertisement. Go to reptile shows and advertise there (even check out there prices to see what your going to be compeating with).

Best of luck!

swbtoo · 07-02-2007, 03:18 PM

I tried several pet supply stores, and found them to be smaller quantities than I needed for my bluebird family, and it would end up being more expensive in the long run. I've been buying from Wild Birds Unlimited, at $8.50 or so per 500 (does somebody really count them?). Pet supply stores were around $2.99 for 25 worms (and there were a lot of black ones = dead).

I'd order online.

skoe · 07-02-2007, 03:57 PM

Wow, thanks for all the answers!

I do want to keep it open for online selling (BrianH) but that is a whole other section of research. Shipping, payment etc. By doing that I think I could mass produce.

I have found the pet store near me to have a lot of bad looking worms. Now that I have some experience with the mealworms I can see how they are selling poor quality. Like you said (southward bound) a lot of dead worms, stored in p00p and very small. They also look dark on the inside which shows how they are not being fed very well.

My worms are all fat, happy and have a variety of foods I give them. Very healthy! The breeder doesn't count the worms, they fill a canister to a certain level knowing that is about 500.

I am leaving for holidays tomorrow for two weeks so if more people answer this thread please don't think I am being rude by not answering! I will check in as soon as I get home!