hardshell Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 so ive been really busy with my plants and school work... seems like i dont have enough time for both bugs and plants... i just checked my larvae and they are all dead so i only got roaches and vinegaroon so i dont think ill be buying beetles or pet bugs soon but ill be selling rugose/ platycerus oregonsis/ ceruchus straitus every spring so i can pay my plant water/light fee seems like everyone is lucky but me... my experience with bugs - diving beetles cybister= i bought 5 cybister from peter and 3 died from fighting issues... few months after i bought 4 more from ken the bug guy which also died because my filter broke and when i fed them, the leftovers were attacked by fungus and all divings died ( also they smell really bad) -rugose stag beetle- the beetle that made me curious about whole rhino/stag beetles i was looking for termites when my sister found one on a rock i went outside every saturday looking for larvae/adults and i got up to 4 pairs and 25 larvae.. i placed both in black fermented oak soil and found them dead a week later... next year i went hiking and found more than 30 pairs and over 50 larvae i sold 2/3 i got and tried breeding them with the wood i found them in.. they laid eggs and hatched but the larvae died right after i split the wood that they were living in... all larvae died for some reason in the wood that i found them in the adults never ate and i found them a little boring because they dont fight - platycerus oregonsis- found one adult with rugose and asked someone what it was... and when i found about them being stag beetles i went hiking and found 10 pairs.. i sold 2 pairs and kept rest for breeding. they were more active than rugose and looked cooler because i havnt seen them before the beetles laid only 5 eggs and the larvae also died when i split the wood that they were in the adults also never ate and were short lived -ceruchus straitus- after finding oregonsis i looked in bugguide about WA beetles and found this very cool lookin species! they looked the coolest and i was really excited to breed them i went hiking for a long time until i found 4 pairs in red colored wood. i remember my hands shaking because i was so amazed! spent 1 hour just looking at them.. ceruchus are the biggest stag u can find in WA and they started to fight ( rugose never fights but platycerus sometimes fights) the adults had brush like mouth parts but they also never ate beetle jellly - granti- got these for my birthday i bought 3 pairs and i read somewhere that males bother females so right after they mated i gave my males to my school friends and left females in the cage... the mistake i made was that i thought only males had to mate few seconds so i only got 15 eggs 2 eggs died from me accidentally dropping them on tiles and 3 dried because i forgot where i put them ( i had them on my desk to take pictures and forgot about them O_o anyway the larvae grew until now which died because i got bad luck - tityus- got them for my birthday as hibernating pair... they both died before emerging from hibernating - hyllus- got them from a youtuber but they died for no reason -elephas stag beetle- ive been wanting this species for a long time and i traded few rugose pairs for one elephaus pair.. the female was slightly frozen but male was awesome! i remember opening my mail the female recovered and kept with my male but i never thought that i needed holes in my cage so they all died -metalifer- one of my faorite stag! i tradded some rugose and platycerus for 4 larvae they grew fast and one pupaed into a beautiful female! the others became a pupae later when female was about to die... one pupae died for unknown reason and the rest pupated. the biggest male mated once before female died... i found 3 eggs in a wood and dropped one on the floor :-( one became a female and the other one died from some worms attacking the other one the female died after from dehydration -termites- the reason why i found rugose in the first place... i wanted them because i saw termites fighting with ants in discovery channel and wanted to see it in real life! i finally found a log with termites and brought it home! i was outside at around 6 collecting termites ( i got bitten by mosquitos like 20 times) when i came home my mom made me release it because she thought they would eat my house... i looked them up and they said they eat only rotten wood and my mom called pest control guy over and the guy said it was safe to keep :-D later i found another termite colony and put them in the same cage. they killed each other and they all died i went hiking and found 3 big colony which one colony died because i had no wood when they ate all wood i gave them i still have 2 colony i think -gideon- they guy i traded rugose for elephaus gave me 2 gideon larvae for free which made me really happy XD they both became adults but they were both males... no one had female so i sold them to buy new lights for my plants -vinegaroon- the best pet i ever had! got 3 for christmas present form peter! the biggest one lost its tail but the other two are doing well i think.... the biggest one became really lazy and wont eat... he got really skinny and i think hes dying -giant tiger beetle- one of my dream species that i wanted! i found a hole which i found a tiger beetle larvae it sprayed me with black smellin goo ._. i found one adult that my dad found while hiking he was a beast killing centipedes but the summer heat killed him and the larvae never seemed to make a trap when i dig them out... only 4 made a trap and one became a pupae! very interesting to see larvae hunt! ( larvae and adults hunt at night) the pupae died for some reason - giant water bugs- very cool bugs that i paid high prices for i got 4 which i placed them in water with live plants, gold fish all 4 ate and did really well but few days later i found 3 of them died... the last one survived for a week until it died for no reason so this was my bug experience i might come back in the future but plants are my thing now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 sorry to hear you had bad luck . i have been having bad luck with even the simplest of inverts lately, but its all part of the learning experience. you will be missed, good luck with your plants, and hope to see you back soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Myers Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck, Hardshell. Hey, if rearing beetles was easy, everyone would be doing it! It's certainly frustrating at times, but patience has its rewards. I, too, have had many failures, but each one has taught me what not to do. illegitimi non carborundum, my friend. Cheers P.S. - I see that you enjoy growing carnivorous plants. Well, I SUCK at keeping venus flytraps alive for more than a month! So, I KNOW you have the patience and perseverance needed to raise beetles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatwun Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 That's terrible to hear about your larvae. I've also had larvae that were doing perfect and growing healthy and all of a sudden they died. It's frustrating but I think it's rare that people have a 100% success rate. Hopefully it will all work out and you can come back to the hobby later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stagtacus Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 ( Even bad luck have speeding limits ) when you decide to come back to the hobby, you can choose any 3 species in my collection free of charge and good luck with the plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardshell Posted January 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck, Hardshell. Hey, if rearing beetles was easy, everyone would be doing it! It's certainly frustrating at times, but patience has its rewards. I, too, have had many failures, but each one has taught me what not to do. illegitimi non carborundum, my friend. Cheers P.S. - I see that you enjoy growing carnivorous plants. Well, I SUCK at keeping venus flytraps alive for more than a month! So, I KNOW you have the patience and perseverance needed to raise beetles! lol did you use distilled water? venus fly traps die without sunlight and distilled water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarvaHunter Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Wow, that's a depressing list of stories. If you start the hobby again, I wish you success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Myers Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 lol did you use distilled water? venus fly traps die without sunlight and distilled water Distilled water? Heck no! No one told me about that! I've been using water straight out of the tap---fluorides and all!!! Sheesh! No wonder they die on me so quick! I always thought I just didn't have the soil composition at the proper pH levels and such. It never occurred to me that the tap water was killing them. Thanks for the info, Hardshell. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardshell Posted January 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Distilled water? Heck no! No one told me about that! I've been using water straight out of the tap---fluorides and all!!! Sheesh! No wonder they die on me so quick! I always thought I just didn't have the soil composition at the proper pH levels and such. It never occurred to me that the tap water was killing them. Thanks for the info, Hardshell. Cheers oh and venus fly traps need soil with 0ph like silica sand or peat moss fertilizer = DEATH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Myers Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Well, I seem to recall that I had about a 50/50 mix of silica sand and peat moss for the substrate. So, I think you're right, it's gotta' be the water that killed them! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarvaHunter Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Thanks hardshell, now I know why over multiple tries over the years my venus flytraps always died. what are their lifespan? Should distilled be used for pitchers and sundews? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade of Eclipse Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 It's unfortunate that you've had such poor luck with your beetles, I hope that once you've finished school you find some more time on your hands to rejoin the hobby. You did choose a few native species whose rearing information and care are not well documented, if known at all. Don't blame yourself on failing with species that few, if any people have attempted to rear. I wish you luck on your schooling and your plants. Thanks hardshell, now I know why over multiple tries over the years my venus flytraps always died. what are their lifespan? Should distilled be used for pitchers and sundews? All carnivorous plants come from environments where the substrate they grow in and the water is either lacking in nutrients or the soil chemistry prevents uptake of nutrients. Reverse osmosis water or distilled water is the easiest way to ensure you don't give your plants fatal cases of fertilizer burn or metal poisoning. Tap water tends to have relatively high concentrations of metals and phosphates--both of which are toxic to carnivorous plants. Flytraps are perennial plants and die by means other than old age. You can also make divisions of one flytrap and keep that plant alive forever by making clones of it. If your plant has a cultivar name, it will most likely continue to exist as a clone in someone else's collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardshell Posted January 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Thanks hardshell, now I know why over multiple tries over the years my venus flytraps always died. what are their lifespan? Should distilled be used for pitchers and sundews? well like what shade said they divide when fed well... like last year one of nursery owner gave me a free fly trap for free! i only fed him few times and now i got like 4 adult plants yes sundews and pitcher plants like distilled water altho people say best way to keep fly trap is outside and this year my giant pot of fly traps froze and died so keeping indoor is the best in my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satanas Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 its ok to tell them that I'm the *youtuber* haha. Anyways hardshell i hope you return back soon ready to try beetles again:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynastes Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I think I could give good reasons for most. How cold did you keep the tityus? I've only used 52 (usually 62) but some people try practically freezing the poor things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 sorry to hear that you're leaving I was about to quit on breeding beetles too until i found traegar grill pellets, so hopefully when you come back to beetle breeding, you use the pellets as the sub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Minard Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Too bad I am returning just as you are leaving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardshell Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I think I could give good reasons for most. How cold did you keep the tityus? I've only used 52 (usually 62) but some people try practically freezing the poor things. i kept them room tempt... soil was nice and moist, enough food, good air going through, etc... idk why ill try using oak pellets next time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Clausen Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I just starting keeping some Aldovandra waterwheel aquatic carnivorous plants. Hopefully they like the sludge I brought up from the stream in my backyard for the bottom of their aquarium. Come back and check in now and then, if only during beetle season in WA which is coming right up again here in about 3 months! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acro Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 About 14+ years ago I kept several species of beetles (one of my first invert pets). I had a crazy mite outbreak that freaked me out and I ended up rehoming all my beetles. At that time, I really didn't know how to get rid of mites. Since then, I've kept almost every other type of invert but beetles, yet I've always loved them. Finally, I am about to try beetles again and I will have some by next month for my birthday (a gift to myself). I'm only going to keep 2 or 3 species of easy beetles, till I get the hang of it and have no mite outbreaks. So hardshell, my point is, sometimes it's good to take a break and return when you are ready. Also, it's sometimes good to focus on just a few types of critters till you have mastered their care, then move on to more. In the past I've had "burn out" from having too many animals but I've recovered and kept the love of bugs! (just my 2 pennies, take it or leave it) ( Even bad luck have speeding limits ) when you decide to come back to the hobby, you can choose any 3 species in my collection free of charge and good luck with the plants. stagtacus, I haven't even got my new beetles yet, but I'll leave the hobby and come back if I get to choose any 3 species for free! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 stagtacus, I haven't even got my new beetles yet, but I'll leave the hobby and come back if I get to choose any 3 species for free! lol Lol I was thinking that too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardshell Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I just starting keeping some Aldovandra waterwheel aquatic carnivorous plants. Hopefully they like the sludge I brought up from the stream in my backyard for the bottom of their aquarium. Come back and check in now and then, if only during beetle season in WA which is coming right up again here in about 3 months! you can find adult rugose/platycerus/ceruchus right now! ill save up my money so i can get ready when i return Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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