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Nathan

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About Nathan

  • Birthday 05/23/1978

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Central Pennsylvania
  • Interests
    Rearing all Saturniidae and now beetles. Anything involving wildlife and outdoors.

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  1. Mine are pretty much in sync with the wild ones from the same locale. They are eclosing in their pupal cells from September to October. I wait until each fresh adult is well hardened off, about three weeks before putting them into the cold. I hibernate them in my attic, so when they first go in there the temp is usually around 55F. It gradually cools down in there as the outside temps drop. The lowest it ever gets there is about 36F. You definitely do not want to wait for them to emerge from their pupal cells and then put them in the cold!
  2. I diapause my tityus adults individually in 8 ounce deli containers at 40F. I fill them up within an inch of the top with damp, oak sub. About 50 thumb tack size holes are punched in the lid.
  3. Nice looking male! I dig his side horns!!
  4. I just smooth over the surface of the substrate and watch for disturbance from them. I don't put their furnishings in until they've begun to feed. When I see that they've been crawling around I start putting in food for them. It still might take them a week or so until they start feeding. I usually dig them up at that point and put their heads in the food.
  5. If your tityus are freshly emerged adults they may stay buried for weeks even at room temperature. I overwinter my fresh adults from November until early April. They are kept at 45F - 50F. for the duration of that time. In April they are placed in their breeding enclosures and it takes them at least another month before they begin to surface and feed. Knowing where your stock came from will help you figure out what they'll do. I'm assuming yours are fresh adults as I have lots emerging now too. It is that time of year when the wild ones would be emerging and preparing to hibernate. My stock comes from the northern part of their range so they would be dormant inside a tree cavity from now until next Spring. You can't rush them. They will surface and feed when they're ready.
  6. In the last few years that I've been gathering rotted oak I've never once heat treated any of it. I've literally run about 300 gallons of rotted oak through a food processor to grind it up and used it just like that as substrate. So far I've had no problems with pests. Maybe the food processor is killing the pests, I'm not sure. I understand the reasons for heat treating, but I've found it unnecessary and I've saved a lot of time by not doing it. Heat treating may be killing beneficial microbes and other important elements in the wood as well.
  7. After about five months of hibernation they are at the surface and feeding. The males are very vigorous and ready to fight.
  8. Nice one! Now those females will be happy!
  9. The adults in the above photos were captive reared. Their parents came from Prince George county, Maryland.
  10. I received granti ovae at the beginning of November and they've been trickling out ever since. I just had 4 hatch a week ago so don't give up hope!
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