Surfacing L3?

C

charx53

Tenebrio
I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I may have to completely change substrate out with new rotted wood I recently gathered. When do L3 Allomyrina Dichotoma stop eating prior to building pupal cell? I found that one had surfaced..not sure why. It lost over 5g since last weighing and disturbing them (which was on 3/18). The substrate could have been more moist than it was..but what other reason for it to surface? Perhaps they need a deeper container?

 
Sometimes when they're not use to the substrate they start to surface. This happened to my larvae in the past. I use to change the whole substrate and the next day my larvae would be surfacing. The key to this is mixing some of the old substrate in with the new instead of starting fresh.

 
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I didn't change the substrate, though. I was thinking of changing it due to possibly lacking food source for them and too much frass. I assumed they stopped feeding at some point in late L3. I thought I heard that somewhere.

 
Oh! Sorry I misread what you wrote. If there is too much frass I would recommend that you change the substrate. Are you able to post a picture of the container?

 
If you do change the substrate, make sure the wood is well rotted and looks like soil.

 
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Ratmosphere said:
Oh! Sorry I misread what you wrote. If there is too much frass I would recommend that you change the substrate. Are you able to post a picture of the container?
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It's a small critter container, filled all the way to the top with a breathable material covering it. Probably 4 inches deep, but surely wide enough.

 
I think you should be good then honestly. Just don't over water the substrate and you'll be fine. If you can, sift the old substrate and get rid of frass. You can add some of the old substrate with the new substrate and be alright. Good luck man!

 
Now is usually the time for late L3's to construct their pupal chambers and thus they may surface due to shallow substrate level. Three of mine had surfaced recently and I rehoused them individually into a deeper and narrower container with compacted substrate and two of them have constructed their pupal chambers. It may be that your substrate level is too shallow and loose for them.

 
All right. I'm going to change the substrate to the stuff I gathered, but I was thinking of not sterilizing it. Just gonna smash it up and sift out anything I see. Thoughts?

 
I always heat treat the substrate just to be safe. Especially if it's found in the woods or outside.

 
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If you don't heat treat wood found in the wild, centipedes or other pests could still be in there and harm your larvae. There's also the risk that an earth worm could collapse the pupa chamber and kill the larva.

 
Ratmosphere said:
If you don't heat treat wood found in the wild, centipedes or other pests could still be in there and harm your larvae. There's also the risk that an earth worm could collapse the pupa chamber and kill the larva.
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Don't want any of that! Looks like I'll be baking the rest of the night!

 
^True, you don't want to risk your pupal chambers collapsing or your pupa being eaten by some critters in the untreated substrate. They can also loosen the substrate that you've compacted for your L3's to pupate and cause the larvae to surface again.

 
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