Maple Syrup Feeding: I'm a newbie

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aquakej

L1
I just got my D. granti yesterday, so I'm still really nervous about doing the right thing. As per the book instructions, I mixed up a 50/50 maple syrup/water solution and put it in a shallow container and a paper towel. The paper towel soaked nearly all of it up. By the end of the day, 3 out of 6 beetles are in the container, presumably feeding. How do I know they are feeding? I can't see them doing anything. Also, they have been in the container for several hours! Is this normal? Are they even able to get any food from a soaked paper towel? How often do you guys feed yours? If they stay in there for several hours at a time, it seems like maybe they don't eat all that often?

Thanks for assuaging any of my insecurities!!

 
i don't get why you dont feed them natural fruits?
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Much easier to tell if they are eating or not.

 
They eat bananna, fruits without the skin, like peaches to induce egg laying get high protein beetle jelly, white lactic acid jelly is the best. When they are feeding, they put their brush like mouth touching whatever they are eating.

 
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The book I got said to do the maple syrup thing; that it doesn't attract mites like real fruit does. That's why I did that. Will try some other stuff too, though.

 
Never heard of a D.Granti passing up a piece of banana, they usally attack it at first sight , lol maybe it's the syrup that's covering the banana scent?

 
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Give it a day or so, because when i first got my granti, they weren't interested in bananas. Next day i checked, they were destroying the banana. Lol

 
I know on page 13 of the book you are referring to talks about maple syrup being better than beetle jelly, due to jelly causing mite outbreaks. Well I have used all 3 types- syrup, fruit, jelly. In my opinion and the beetle breeding community in Japan, China, Korea, which is years ahead of the USA due to the popularity and ease of acquiring all types of species from around the world, They use beetle jelly. The jelly has amino acids, protein, vitamins, and minerals etc..I use beetle jelly and I don't have mite outbreaks because I feed them just enough jelly and if your substrate is sterilized, then the only mites will be the ones that might be on your beetles, they are easy to remove with a brush, etc.. Beetle jelly is the best and most convenient. The problem with maple syrup and fruit is it has low levels of nutrients and is missing the essential amino acids. Insect diets are matrices or dispersions with complex organization that predetermined the insect diets food value and stability. Remember insect feeding biology is feeding stimuli, digestion and absorption, and metabolic frameworks.

But hey you can feed bread to fish instead of the flakes or bread to your cat they will live but not very healthy. This is not just my opinion, just scientific facts. The science of insect diets has been around for the last century, it is nothing new.

 
I feed mostly banana and I have never had a mite outbreak due to feeding with banana over many years of beetle rearing.

 
Aquakej, if you have some beetle jellies they're fine but banana is not the best for Dynastes. It's better for flower beetles.

Larvahunter, you should list the ingredients and nutritional values of the additives you say are in the beetle jelly you use. There are many different brands and types. Which ingredient at what percent in your specific jelly does what?

Most of the rhinoceros beetles have their eggs fully developed and the adult diet should be geared for longevity. Solids can gum up the digestive system of sap feeders and cause premature death.

 
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Matt said:
I feed mostly banana and I have never had a mite outbreak due to feeding with banana over many years of beetle rearing.
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Have you ever had grain mite problems with other invertebrates like centipedes, fruit flies, etc.?
 
Orin,

First lets talk about maple syrup nutrient data provided by USD - 21. First of all, maple syrup has 0% of protein, 0% of amino acids, 0% of vitamins C, D, K, A, E, B6, Folate and B12. The only vitamins per selected serving is Niacin .1mg, Pantothenic acid .1mg and Choline 5.2mg. For minerals per selected serving Calcium 216mg, Iron 3.9 mg, magnesium 45.1 mg, phosphorus 6.4mg, sodium29mg, Zinc 13.4mg, copper .2mg, maganese 10.6mg, Selenium 1.9mcg.

The beetle jelly that I use is from LIDI International Trade Co. Ltd (Kingdom of Beetle Taiwan) they have been modifying and improving the jelly for the last 8 years, testing it with one of the largest breeding program's in the world. The ingredients are fruit juice, collagen, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. The white beetle jelly has lactic acid added to induce females to lay eggs ( You have a picture on page 13 of your book of 2 females and a male eating lactic acid jelly ) They do not give out the specific ratios of ingredients because that is a trade secret. It is made in Taiwan and follows the regulations of the US FDA. They are the best in my opinion. Han Shno manufactures beetle Jelly with the same ingredients.I never used their jelly though.

 
The normal and the stressed metabolism of insects constantly generates ROS and there is a constant need for insects, including that we are trying to rear, to fight off these damaging species of chemicals. Vitamin C is a key component against oxidative stress. Vitamin C is an important component of the synthesis of collagens ( a special protein associated with connective tissues ) the company adds collagen because vitamin c or its derivatives are unstable compared to the other vitamins.

I got the information from a book called insect diets by Allen Carson Cohen, P.h.d. Who is a director of the Insect Diet and Rearing Institute LLC, a private organization dedicated to advancement of insect diets. Dr. Cohen has worked as a research entomologist and a research leader of ARS biological control and mass-rearing research units in Arizona and Missippi. he holds U.S. patents on artifical diets and diet delivery systems, and has more than 150 publications including original research papers, book chapters, and articles in insect physiology, nutrition, biochemistry, ecology, behavior and morphology,as well as numerous papers on insect diets and diet development. For the last 30 years, Dr. Cohen's research efforts have been dedicated to understanding how arthropod feeding systems work and how their functions can be applied through mass-rearing systems that are based on artificial diets.

 
Orin,

I again refer to your book on page 13, quote "Adult beetles feed on sugary liquids, but not all foods are equal. They accept opened fruits like banana, cantaloupe, watermelon, apple, pear, and pineapple, but are unable to get though the skin on their own." This is in chapter 1 titled " Rhinocerous beetles " and in that chapter you focus on Dynastes Titus. Now you are telling me that bananas are bad for Dynastes, that contradicts what you wrote in your book!

 
Orin said:
Have you ever had grain mite problems with other invertebrates like centipedes, fruit flies, etc.?
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I've not kept centipedes, but have had fruitfly cultures - never had a mite problem with these. The only times I have had to manage grain mites was during the rearing of Goliathus larvae, at the L3 stage these guys need to eat a lot of proteins so I feed semi-moist dog food. Getting the "serving size" right is tricky as mite numbers build up rapidly on uneaten scraps. At least with these beetles you can do a complete substrate change without problems, unlike larvae that feed primarily on the substrate.

I think the key is to feed small enough lumps of banana so they are consumed rapidly enough there is not a lot left over. Large Dynastes, Megasoma or Chalcosoma species will get through a lot of banana in a couple of days. The nice thing about banana is that any mites that are around and are attracted to the food get thrown away when you clean out the old banana skins.

 
LarvaHunter said:
Orin,

I again refer to your book on page 13, quote "Adult beetles feed on sugary liquids, but not all foods are equal. They accept opened fruits like banana, cantaloupe, watermelon, apple, pear, and pineapple, but are unable to get though the skin on their own." This is in chapter 1 titled " Rhinocerous beetles " and in that chapter you focus on Dynastes Titus. Now you are telling me that bananas are bad for Dynastes, that contradicts what you wrote in your book!
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In that same paragraph I explained why bananas are not the best food and the alternatives. Bananas are much better than starvation but they can attract mites and fruit flies and those aren't the only drawbacks. The beetles on that page are eating a taro flavored fruit jelly that has no lactic acid or any other added nutrients.
 
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