Jump to content

Best Way To Mix Leaf Litter And Rotting Wood For Substrate?


Recommended Posts

Hey, guys. Overly-cautious Hyperdistortia back at it again with the substrate questions.

Ok, so I know good A. dichotoma substrate needs to be mostly leaf litter and rotten oak or beech wood.

It also needs to be VERY fine as to allow the larvae to consume it faster so they can spend less time chewing and more time just growing (I think).

 

So, once I go Into The Woods and find some rotten or decaying pieces of oak and lots of dead leaves, how do I mix and grind them to a fine substrate?

Do you guys usually go to a sawmill place and ask to use their wood chippers or something?

 

Again, thanks for all the info, guys. I really want to make sure I can actually go through with raising larvae into imago and that I'm not inept, haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gotcha. I'm gonna be doing the wood/leaf collecting tomorrow.

The wood needs to be rotting and should come apart by hand pretty easily, right?

And the leaves have to be broad-leaf, but I'm not sure what color ones to get.

Are the freshly fallen orange ones ok, or do I need something that's been dead for a couple of months?

And what was that ratio again?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, I have some Bob Red's Premium Soy Protein Powder.

I've heard mixing this in with the substrate is good for growing big beetles/major males (I'm not quite sure about this, though).

But that if you have too much in the substrate it will attract mites.

Should I even bother with the stuff? Will it yield good results?

 

https://imgur.com/a/rogeq

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...