Armored Darkling Beetle Eleodes armata- getting closer!

[BuckRambo]

Armored Darkling Beetle Eleodes armata pupa going on 4 weeks. I started with 14 larva. As far as I can see so far, 3 larva died and never went to pupae stage. One larva crawls around and doesn't want to curl up yet, and the rest I can't see. But I can see one that is doing very well. They are in a mix of sand and coco fiber. I have different mix ratios in different types of containers. Just experimenting, I used a tackle box see through container to place larva in. I punched holes in the top. It holds humidity very well and the sand and coco fiber is holding a great texture and keeping the little cave it made. Around 71 72 degrees. The first picture is almost 4 weeks ago. Each larva was over 1.5 inches. They were then kept in a dark place and now I check once a day on the progress. No food was placed in the containers. substrate is about 2 to 3 inches deep. ( disclaimer - I am by far the least knowledgeable on knowing the scientific names and process of our little beetle friends. But since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated with insects of all types. I just find it relaxing and challenging to try to breed these guys. If I am successful, I will isolate these guys, see how long they live for, and breed these separate from wild ones. I also just bought an incubator and will place my new batch in there.  I plan to do the same thing with Blue Death Beetles once I find a male for my lonely female BDB.  hint hint  if anyone can sell me any type of Death Feigning Beetle.

 

[BensBeasts1]

Me personally I don’t recommend using coco fiber ever especially with beetles that eat the soil, I use dirt from outside (can be baked or not) some sand, white rotting wood, forest mix of leaves, incubator or some heat source, and add some vegetables (carrots) and some protein every now and then.

 

[Hisserdude]

Coconut fiber works fine and is my preferred substrate for desert Tenebs, remember that unlike scarabs, these beetles come from habitats where the soil that the larvae are digging through is devoid of a lot of nutrients and really isn't edible to them, in fact it's often straight up inorganic, so you just need to provide them with grain based foods on top of the substrate, and maybe some leaf litter if you can spare it, and they'll come to the surface to feed, (in the wild they'll do the same and can be found in the soil right underneath accumulations of dried organic debris, the soil they dig through itself is usually a clay and sand mix, pretty much completely inedible).