Strategus antaeus wondering on top of the substrate. Help needed!

Lucanus

Lucanus

Lucanus
Four of my larvae started wondering around
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I've had same problem with my S. aloeus as they constantly looked around for a suitable place for pupation. I managed to get these guys to stop wondering by putting them in clay.

But this technique hasn't been useful on S. antaeus so far. So I switched the clay to sand. This, too, seems to fail as I see larvae still wondering on top of the substrate. Has anyone successfully stopped the S. antaeus from wondering on top of the substrate before?

 
My D.Tityus and both species of ox beetles are also doing this, if you find out what to put them in, let me know
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Oh and will freshwater aquarium sand work??

 
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a.ojala said:
My D.Tityus and both species of ox beetles are also doing this, if you find out what to put them in, let me know
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Oh and will freshwater aquarium sand work??
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D. tityus shoudn't be wondering on the top of the substrate. If they do, it could be the substrate problem.

For ox beetle, S. aloeus wonders around on top of the substrate when they become mature. In that case, you can use soil (that clusters easily like clay) to stimulate them to make pupal cells. I've never used freshwater aquarium salt before and haven't seen it so I don't know if it will work or not.

 
Well most of the wood is towards the top of the container, so the D.Tityus larvae could just be eating. Where could I buy clay from??? Would that be something that could be found at a garden store?

 
a.ojala said:
Well most of the wood is towards the top of the container, so the D.Tityus larvae could just be eating. Where could I buy clay from??? Would that be something that could be found at a garden store?
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Most of the woods? What does bottom part consists of?

I got my clay from forests near my house (red clay is really common in my area) so I don't know if they are sold in garden stores. You might want to google search to see if there are any available online

 
The clay and sand method seems to have worked! After waiting for about a week. The larvae have settled at the bottom of the containers and have built what appears to be the pupal cell
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