Hisserdude

No problem, happy to help!

Alrighty, lotta questions LOL, I'll try and answer the best I can. 1: Substrate. Depends heavily on the species, Asbolus, Cryptoglossa, Ceronopus, and Edrotes will all do best on a pure sand substrate, or sand mixed with a very small amount of coco fiber/peat moss. Whereas with Eleodes it depends on the exact species, but most will lay in a 50/50 sand/coco fiber mix, and most Embaphion prefer just straight coco fiber. As for the substrate depth, at least one inch will be needed for breeding. 2: Keeping methods for larvae. Ideally you will want to be keeping each species separate, as larvae of different species will eat each other and outcompete one another. And the larvae of all Asbolus and Cryptoglossa are actually very cannibalistic towards their own siblings and need to be housed in separate deli cups from a young age if you want decent larval survival rates. 3: Food for larvae: All of these should take dog food as a staple diet (Tenebs are pretty protein hungry), and you can supplement with root vegetables and/or hardwood leaf litter. The only ones I'm unsure of are Edrotes since no one has ever bred those... But I am rearing larvae of a related genus and they take dog food just fine. 4: Leaving larvae in with adults. Not recommended for Asbolus/Cryptoglossa since the larvae are cannibalistic and actually need to be removed from the breeding container as soon as they start hatching to prevent them from eating each other. The rest of these species do fine with the larvae kept communally in the same breeding tank as the adults, though you'll have to isolate them all for pupation unless you have a very deep substrate with a vertical humidity gradient (humid at the bottom, dry on top). 5: If not, what size container to house larvae in? For Asbolus/Cryptoglossa I use 2-4 oz deli cups, which seem to be big enough to rear them to maturity in. I use the same size delis for pupating the larvae of other appropriately sized Tenebs, filled with humid compacted substrate for them to make their pupal cells in. Hope this helps!

Yeah, I've reared large Elaterids before, their larvae definitely have a very good chomp on them as they get to be large LOL! 😄 Fun to watch them destroy darkling beetle larvae lol! Thanks, they should be relatively easy, mine are already eating the pre-killed roaches I gave them!

WOOHOO, after a mere 21 days, I have successfully bred my Alaus cf. lusciosus! The eggs of this species are actually quite large, so I can actually see them in the substrate, there are a TON in there! Their L1 larvae are the largest hatchling click beetles I've ever seen, about 3 mms long! (Tiny, I know, but for comparison most of the bioluminescent click beetles I breed hatch out at 1 mm or less). Guess it makes sense they'd be so large in comparison, considering this species is likely the second largest US click beetle species (my females are both about 54mms long). Since my gals have been pretty prolific, I have excess groups of small larvae for those who are interested in them, see my classifieds ad! The larvae of this genus are fully predatory as soon as they hatch, and apparently only feed on live or pre-killed invertebrate prey. Since they are fully predatory, what I take the time to isolate out from the breeding setup in the immediate future is all that's gonna be available for a long while, the rest will cannibalize each other. So if anyone is interested in getting a group of this species, don't wait! I've isolated what larvae I've found so far into 2 oz deli cups filled with a thin layer of moist coconut fiber, and am feeding them pre-killed Compsodes schwarzi, which I've buried partially so the larvae can easily access them.

From what I hear they live much shorter lives than normal on just a jelly diet, and don't lay much without host plants to feed on... At least that's what I've heard, @Lucanus knows more I'm pretty sure.

Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy it here!

Cool, let us know how it goes! Their seasonal peak is August, so you may find some there yet! Be sure to catch lots of them if you do, would love to help establish them in culture, as I have had great success with Pyrophorini.

Cool, hope you can find some! It's worth noting though their season in the wild is probably over by now, so you might not be able to catch any until next year. Thanks man, I have a thing for bioluminescent inverts lol! Hoping to try breeding fireflies next year...

So far so good, they are growing well and some are quite large already! So far I've noticed no difference in terms of care compared to the other Pyrophorini I work with.

Never had an issue microwaving rotten wood or leaf litter, kills all the nasties and still works great for what you are feeding them to.

Like @Dynastes says, F12 means inbred for twelve generations... If you add new blood to the culture you have to start over and mark them as F1 since you have added wild blood to the culture and are essentially starting all over again genetically.

Honestly I feel like the "inbreeding" effects have more to do with long term husbandry issues and lapses in care than actual genetics, happens way more often than you'd think, especially to keepers that collect many species and don't necessarily baby species they've been breeding for a while. Most insects can take an incredible amount of genetic depression, and even cousins bred back to each other would probably all that is needed to restore any genetic diversity lost...

Generally Pyrophorini live at least 3-4 months as adults, sometimes up to 6 months depending on species and ambient temps.

Video of one of my Ignelater glowing here:

Most adult female insects you find outside will already be mated TBH!