the_cream_man

That makes sense, it's hard to know where the line is sometimes.. I feel like once it's begun the fermentation process who knows what sort of regional microorganisms might have colonized it. I know that's a bit of a stretch and not APHIS primary concern but the laws surrounding all that stuff I think are intentionally vague to cover more situations.

Bugs in cyberspace sells flake soil in the US I'm pretty sure any interstate soil transport is illegal so I have no idea how BIC gets around that (I'm guessing it's not enforced domestically, or maybe autoclaved) I'm also almost 100% sure that international soil import from anywhere would be very enforced and probably include quite a costly fine. This is to prevent the spread of non native organisms

ALSO: omg! I just checked and it looks like I already have one forming a pupal cell-- I think the pressure was a winner for sure (The picture didn't come out well so I upped the exposure to show the soil discoloration around it)

Thanks for sharing your set-up! Do you have any ventilation holes in these at all? Also, love that you've got it down to 5oz cups, I thought I was pushing it with 16oz!

@Goliathus, not super related but my D.tityus also do not have substrate to the top of their container- should these be packed too?

I didn't find any Geotrupidae but I did end up getting quite a few Onthophagus orpheus (Green bronze dung beetle). I took some home and put some of my poop in a deli cup with them. It's all been buried so I'm gonna check for brood balls Thursday or Friday 😅 Thanks for the tip, I might take you up on that 😉💩📬

I've just filled them to the top! Hopefully in the next few weeks I start seeing some pupal cells

@Yellowfin2na that would be a great solution too-- but I'm also out of clay.. I really just don't want to spend any more on this hobby rn lol

No worries, seriously thank you for keeping the thread alive!! Idk why but I haven't been getting notifications on it-- every thing you've posted is very relevant to me as well! From what's been posted I'm starting to think my issue is that my tubs aren't full to the top-- @Goliathus, My larvae are each in a 16oz deli cup and unfortunately I have absolutely no spare flake soil.. how critical is the pressure requirement and would it be better for me to put multiple in one container and reuse the substrate to get a few full? I do have some flake soil early on in the process of fermen

Mine are still doing the same, I've read that this is normal behavior prior to pupation but i put clay down at the bottom in hopes that they would be satisfied when they found it and pupate rather than wandering forever 😢

Hi all, I have some Chrysina gloriosa that I think are starting to pupate-- I only think that cause there is a racetrack around the top of their circular enclosure where presumably the grub was wandering. Should I leave them alone till I see beetles or can I inspect to see if I can find pupa in substrate? Also, how long does the pupal stage typically last?

I expect that there will be a lot in it that doesn't apply to me since I'm pretty far north in Maine. But damn, it's as close as I'm gonna get hahah, just bought a copy (I do have a book called checklist of the beetles of maine but it's literally just a text list of every species ever recorded in the state :c )

Hi all, One of the most beautiful beetles where I live (imo) is Geotrupes splendidus (Splendid Earth Boring Beetle). I set four pitfall traps baited with a mixture of my and fermented molasses/banana goo. So far they've come up empty each time I've checked so I wanted to see if anyone has advice on collecting dung beetles. (Biome/how to check for presence/trees they're near/bait) I'm literally already using my feces so I'm pretty dedicated to finding some 😅 Best regards, Joe

Hi all, I hate posting an amazon Link, but for Chrysina spp. on BugsInCyberspace Peter has this clay listed as a recommended purchase: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L11YDQ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It'd prob work well with Lucanus as well! (How'd the L. elaphus turn out?)

@aspenentomology I agree that it's definitely becoming normalized in the US. I haven't encountered anything in a grocery store yet but I have gotten cricket tacos at a restaurant a while back in California! Also, thanks for sharing that link-- SUPER cool and I love that it was actually designed to be aesthetically pleasing! I'm definitely interested in getting a BSF colony set-up at some point-- though I think they still eat food scraps- which I generally don't have much of thankfully. And that's great to know about dung beetles-- I'm actually getting ready to set some dung baited pit