My beetle shelves are filling up pretty quick!

JKim

Mecynorrhina
santaeus16oz.jpg

I've been checking up with Strategus antaeus weekly to collect eggs and larvae. Eggs in 2oz container to incubate, larvae in 16oz to feed them. Every eggs I collected are first stored in 2oz container then about two-three weeks later I transfer them into 16oz (when larva is observed). So far, I got 98 confirmed counts for larvae, and about 110 eggs. I already lost about 100-200 eggs and larvae from cannibalism (that I didn't aware of it), but females are still alive and somewhat active. I'm expecting about 100-150 additional eggs from now, totaling around 300+ at the end.

I have two very large shelves, and mostly filled up. It's been forever since I reared (or attempting to do) this many...

 
Dedicated collector! Looking great. I remember these days, a lot of work. 
"Dedicated"
YES, you need some dedication for this type of keeping.. It's been forever since I've done this...lol

Fantastic and organized looking. I'm not ready for that level of commitment myself, but maybe one day. 
Thanks! I've been too lazy for the past decade, and trying to get back to good looking shelves again..

Amazing! How do you combat the cannibalism? Also, where did you find those labels!? 
Thanks. To combat the cannibalism, you just have to set eggs and larvae individually in a container. Single egg in a single container! Pretty obvious, right?

I bought the labels from Amazon (or you can get it from Office Depot, Staples, etc.). Try search for label papers. The product I purchased is from below:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XW7W7FG/

HOWEVER, my product quality kinda sucks.. The width of all papers are less than 8.5 inches, so I have to do a very good job aligning each page into printer feeder tray.

There is an option where you can mass print labels on MS word. Go to Mailing tab on top, and then click for Labels, select and set options (30 labels per page in my case), and there you go! OR you can just go ahead make your own layout with tables. Since the measurements are usually provided on the package or in item description, you just have to draw a table and adjust margins, spaces, etc.

The information I wrote on the labels are pretty simple. I know I'm not going to have enough time to check when each individual larvae becomes L2 or L3 stages, so I only wrote the species name, date and location of collection for its parents, and when each eggs are gathered/collected from breeding setups (with one extra line just in case).

 
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