Anyone here breed carabids? If so, what are their requirements?
Anyone breed carabids?
- Thread starter Triple Supreme
- Start date
JKim
Mecynorrhina
Feeding live insects, slugs, etc. everyday (or every other day). I would suggest to keep them in clay mixed garden soil (or just go get a topsoil without any treatment done) if you want to set up to get eggs. Anything specific than this would depends on what species you are keeping.. This is very general info found from couple friends who studies Carabidae..
Thanks a bunch!
davehuth
L3
Just wanted to say I’ve had success with:
Carabus - freshly dead earthworms, any other soft bodied prey. Occasionally overripe banana. I kept them communally until they laid eggs and produced larvae. Larvae are even more hungry predators and I couldn’t keep up!
sphaeroderus - Thin shelled snails. Amber snails from my yard and those teeny pest snails that infest my millipede tanks. Also kept them communally until they produced larvae.
Scarites - they seemed to eat whatever fit between their jaws! Freshly killed mealworms, earthworms, dead insects, dried mealworms. These I kept separately, so I never got any eggs/larvae.
good luck!
Carabus - freshly dead earthworms, any other soft bodied prey. Occasionally overripe banana. I kept them communally until they laid eggs and produced larvae. Larvae are even more hungry predators and I couldn’t keep up!
sphaeroderus - Thin shelled snails. Amber snails from my yard and those teeny pest snails that infest my millipede tanks. Also kept them communally until they produced larvae.
Scarites - they seemed to eat whatever fit between their jaws! Freshly killed mealworms, earthworms, dead insects, dried mealworms. These I kept separately, so I never got any eggs/larvae.
good luck!
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Hisserdude
Dynastes
Just curious, what substrates did you use for them? And were there any isopods in with the Carabus?
davehuth
L3
A .5 to 1.5 inch substrate of moist coconut fiber with bits of organic matter mixed in (if I remember correctly, it was leftover sub from some failed project I was planning to discard). Leaf litter in top, a couple sticks to climb over and hide under. A few small bark hides.
Not knowing if they’d take down small prey, I put in a few isopods (P. scaber). They ignored the isopods, and I didn’t notice them causing any trouble.
I can’t confirm that the females weren’t gravid when I collected them. But I noticed the larvae after 10 to 14 days and they were very active.
Carabus do indeed love their freshly killed earthworms!
Hisserdude
Dynastes
Very interesting, seems like most hobbyists who've had success breeding Carabus and Calosoma had isopods housed with them... Seems to almost be more important for them than what type of substrate used in terms of oviposition!
davehuth
L3
Wow I hadn’t heard any of that. What purpose could they possibly serve? I guess maybe a food source somehow? Though I didn’t Notice predation. Thanks for mentioning it.
The Mantis Menagerie
Fresh Imago
Would you happen to know more specifics about Dicaelus purpuratus? I would really like to get larvae, so information about sexing and any breeders who succeeded would be most helpful.
Hisserdude
Dynastes
IDK, I think maybe their frass is similar to that of lepidopteran larvae? Which could be the impetus for oviposition, as the isopods themselves don't seem to be their preferred food source.
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Any chance you could ask them if they have SOPs from their lab that you could share? (Regarding breeding)
I really wish info like this was easier to find from labs rather than having to scour materials and methods sections..
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