Tityus Cells and Mites

D

Daniel J. R.

L3
Today I went to look at my two Tityus larvae to see how they were doing, and while I was inspecting the first one I stumbled upon a pupal cell that unfortunately popped open and out came a small female pupa! It was really exciting since this is my first time rearing beetles. <3 She seemed really healthy and thankfully her cell popped in such a way where the bottom half that was still in the container had stayed perfectly intact, and it was just large enough to continue holding her for the rest of her cycle.

However, the other larva I had is still a grub and looked as if he had started packing some substrate but didn't really have anything going yet. By the time I checked him out he bit the brush I was using to carefully move dirt around (which he's been known to do a number of times) and started pushing around the dirt and destroyed whatever he may had started. I'm glad I pulled him out because I found a ton of little red mites crawling in his folds and mouth parts, so I used a very very soft brush to get as many off as I could and put him back in. He dug down to the very bottom and hasn't moved much since, so right now I'm freezing a batch of substrate so I could possibly replace his current batch. It's hard to tell if he's ready to pupate like his neighbor, and I'm not sure if I should put him in an artificial cell or just leave him alone. I don't want to stress him out much more.

 
I would suggest minimal disturbance at this stage. Because more energy spent on rebuilding the chamber will resulting in a smaller adult.

After he becomes a pupa, then move him to artificial chamber. There's a high chance that the pupa chamber will be on the side or the bottom of the container.

Usually the more protein or additives, the more mites will be in the container.

 
Pewrune said:
I would suggest minimal disturbance at this stage. Because more energy spent on rebuilding the chamber will resulting in a smaller adult.

After he becomes a pupa, then move him to artificial chamber. There's a high chance that the pupa chamber will be on the side or the bottom of the container.

Usually the more protein or additives, the more mites will be in the container.
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Yeah, I'm just gonna leave him be for now until he pupates. Even if he's smaller, I don't mind much. I just want him to be happy and healthy. I haven't added anything to the substrate but this is the first I've seen of the mites before. The female had some critters in her substrate but no mites. Thanks for the advice! I'll keep this updated.

 
Depends on the color of your larva, if it is yellow then it's approaching its prepupal stage in which it will start to construct a pupal cell. If the pupal cell were to be damaged the larva will construct a new one, at the expense of energy and it will eclose as a medium or a minor. However, once the larva loses mobility, it will not be able to construct another pupal cell and you will have to place it in an artificial pupal cell to ensure proper eclosion.

 
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