Gymnetis thula (caseyi) flower beetle Substrate

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Cyber-Locc

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Hey guys, So I was wondering what is a good compost for Flower Beetles. I would prefer something I can get my hands on quickly, I ordered some from bugs in cyber space, but not enough for my endgame Viv which is large. The stuff costs too much to fill my large Viv with it. 

I read on here a few times, "general compost will work" but what does that mean? Is their something safe and good I can get at Home Depot or Lowe's? I have tons of oak trees around, so Leaf litter is not a issue, I just need a base. 

 
Leaf litter that's been on the ground for ~6 months works great for them; I use oak exclusively as it seems to offer the best results.  I do mix in some other 'supplements' to the substrate but they should grow great on finely shredded leaf litter only.  

 
MasterOogway said:
Leaf litter that's been on the ground for ~6 months works great for them; I use oak exclusively as it seems to offer the best results.  I do mix in some other 'supplements' to the substrate but they should grow great on finely shredded leaf litter only.  
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Cool, I have a ton of that in an empty lot next door. All oak, I believe it's Gambit oak. 

So mix that with Eco Earth and what else do you use to mix in with? 

Hopefully my beetles even make it. They were shipped USPS express, who has not brought the package.... It's last shown in the big city 5 hours away at 6am. My carrier said you ain't seeing that till Monday. Nevermind the fact we paid 27 dollars for next day, and he dropped off Thursday night. 

 
If you're getting imagoes they won't necessarily eat the leaf litter, but it should stimulate them to lay eggs in it, and it will provide a nice space for the grubs when they hatch out.  I feed my adults banana slices with fish flakes which they relish.  Beetles are pretty hardy, they can certainly go without food for that long; I'd be more worried about temperatures though; they could cook in this heat wave pretty easily.  I use a bit of coco fiber just to give some substance to the leaf litter, I add in about 10% aspen shavings, and supplement heavily with what I call "zoo doo".  One of the perks of working in a zoo is I have unlimited amounts of beautifully fermented/aged herbivore compost mixed with aspen shavings.  My Pachnodas in particular seem to really like it, but my Gymnetis do too.  

 
MasterOogway said:
If you're getting imagoes they won't necessarily eat the leaf litter, but it should stimulate them to lay eggs in it, and it will provide a nice space for the grubs when they hatch out.  I feed my adults banana slices with fish flakes which they relish.  Beetles are pretty hardy, they can certainly go without food for that long; I'd be more worried about temperatures though; they could cook in this heat wave pretty easily.  I use a bit of coco fiber just to give some substance to the leaf litter, I add in about 10% aspen shavings, and supplement heavily with what I call "zoo doo".  One of the perks of working in a zoo is I have unlimited amounts of beautifully fermented/aged herbivore compost mixed with aspen shavings.  My Pachnodas in particular seem to really like it, but my Gymnetis do too.  
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Thanks for all your help. 

So I mixed the leaf litter substrate from bugs in Cyberspace about 30/70 with my own mix. My Mix was 50% Leaf Litter (Gambit Oak, crushed in a blender) with 30% Eco Earth, 10% Sphagnum, and 10% Decaying Oak bark, which I then blended into a slurry. My soil was very chunky, but BiCSs was not, so combined its semi chunky but more soil like, its about 3 inches deep 4 in some areas. Then I added about 1/2-1 inch leaf litter on top. 

I got sexing tips in the other thread, the ones I checked none had a line down the center (I checked 2 of them) and now once placed in the viv they all disappeared into the soil. One came out last night and was crawling around, the walls, the sticks and the screen on top (The Viv has a plastic cover that can go on top of 75% of the screen, its on he was crawling below it. 

 
It's been my experience so far that young flower beetles tend to hang out in the top of the enclosure on the screen, next to the lights. They also fly around a lot more. Once they've mated they spend a significant portion of time underground at that point, especially females, as they're laying eggs in the leaf litter.  

 
MasterOogway said:
It's been my experience so far that young flower beetles tend to hang out in the top of the enclosure on the screen, next to the lights. They also fly around a lot more. Once they've mated they spend a significant portion of time underground at that point, especially females, as they're laying eggs in the leaf litter.  
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Thanks good to know. 

I have now seen 1 yellow and 1 red out and about, the yellow was nowhere to be seen yesterday but the orange/red one popped up. The others are still hiding out. Hopefully they are down there laying :). 

 
I know this is a bit old, but G thula are not picky at all. By all means, go with the best you can give them, but I can confirm that they will do fine multigenerationally on borderline garbage substrate.

Without going into the details, money got really tight, and I ended up raising two generations of G thula on organic top soil from (like $4 or $5 for 40lbs) and just straight-up dried shredded oak leaves. They weren't rotten at all, just freshly collected from the surface that season. The larvae ate the leaf material with no problem, only leaving the steam portions, and went through quite a bit of the top soil as well. The adults came out fine, bred, lived a long time, and their offspring hatched and lived entirely off of that same sub (with a fresh introduction of the same dried shredded oak leaves), eclosed to adulthood the same size and colors as their parents, and similar bred and are currently ovipositing.

Like I said, I'm sure they would do better with higher quality sub, but they do okay on sub-optimal materials.

Somewhat related: the females will lay eggs on a flat barely moist paper towel. #yolo apparently.

 
PowerHobo said:
I know this is a bit old, but G thula are not picky at all. By all means, go with the best you can give them, but I can confirm that they will do fine multigenerationally on borderline garbage substrate.

Without going into the details, money got really tight, and I ended up raising two generations of G thula on organic top soil from (like $4 or $5 for 40lbs) and just straight-up dried shredded oak leaves. They weren't rotten at all, just freshly collected from the surface that season. The larvae ate the leaf material with no problem, only leaving the steam portions, and went through quite a bit of the top soil as well. The adults came out fine, bred, lived a long time, and their offspring hatched and lived entirely off of that same sub (with a fresh introduction of the same dried shredded oak leaves), eclosed to adulthood the same size and colors as their parents, and similar bred and are currently ovipositing.

Like I said, I'm sure they would do better with higher quality sub, but they do okay on sub-optimal materials.

Somewhat related: the females will lay eggs on a flat barely moist paper towel. #yolo apparently.
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Good to know thanks. 

 
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