PowerHobo
Chalcosoma
I know my posts run long, and this one is going to cover a couple different curiosities; I apologize in advance.
Anybody use dried wood pellets/blocks at the bottom of their rhino/stag larval containers? Any pros/cons you can share?
I've been watching a bunch of videos on YouTube by a Swiss (I think) gentleman whose name I can't remember right now (and unfortunately YouTube is blocked on my office's network so I can't check), and he pretty much only deals with the larger exotic beetles we can't get here in the US, but he tends to keep larvae together until late L3, checks larvae very infrequently, and experiences very few losses (he's pretty transparent about it when he does experiences larval/pupal deaths). Naturally, I have to wonder if his setup would apply over to US-native scarabaeidae.
Basically, his setup usually consists of larger containers (15-18 gallon) in which he lines the bottom with non-fermented beech sawdust blocks (to absorb excess moisture and potentially provide food later, he says), then a layer of compacted flake soil on top of that, followed by several large-ish unbroken white-rotten hardwood logs, then he fills in between the logs and tops the container with flake soil mixed with rotten leaves. He typically places 10 larvae in one of these containers, even species like Dhh that I often see cautioned as having cannibalistic tenancies, and then doesn't check them for 3 months, or even 6 in the case of some Megasoma spp with longer larval periods.
Now... I know that I'm guilty of over-moistening substrate. I think a lot of noobs make that mistake when they hear "keep it from getting too dry". I also understand why that's bad, especially as I learn more about the decomposition of organic material such as rotten wood. I also know that I live in the overall driest city in the US, so I'm not sure I can get away with leaving larvae unattended for as long as he does without spraying the surface at the least... but would adding a layer of dry oak pellets to the bottom do a sufficient job at drawing in excess moisture over long periods? Moisture aside, isn't turning the substrate every so often to aerate important? I'm currently doing this once per month and adding new sub (on bottom, old sub & larvae on top) as needed. More on this later*.
Also, when he does finally do his checks, the logs are usually obliterated. Either fully gone or damned close to it. He, of course, is dealing with species that are typically very large in L3, with what I assume are proportionally stronger jaws. Are US Dynastes and Megasoma spp capable of dismantling white-rotten logs like this? Or is the effort for the larvae to break them apart too costly compared to the calories they gain from it? The beech blocks are usually completely mixed ground up and mixed in with the sub, which I assume is just from movement, as that would be a very quick turn-around for fermentation, right?
This is all, of course, a little pipe-dream-ish for me, as I have no reasonably easy access to rotten hardwood or leaves being in Vegas, nor do I have enough flake soil (or money
) to fill multiple 18-gallon containers, and keeping a truly consistent beetle-room temperature in an old house in Vegas is a costly pain in the ass. However, if the above method is a reliable way to go about it (obviously modified to individual containers for known cannibalistic spp), I'm happy to start scheming for the future.
*Going back to turning substrate for aeration from here down (in a very long-winded way).
I'm also very interested in this method as this gentleman doesn't seem to have issues with aeration, and I'm starting to believe I do, however, I'm wondering if my current containers are to partially to blame. The reason that I'm starting to wonder is because officially every larvae I've ever purchased from BiC is now dead. My entire cultures of D granti, C gloriosa, and M Punctulatus, all of which were well into L3 at death (I think). I'm being even more critical now because while private seller specimens can sometimes be questionable, I know that Peter sells healthy/quality specimens and sub, and the issues are on my end. Now, without going into it again, I had an AC issue that left my beetle room around 80-84f for some months, during which I lost a total of 17 larvae (12 from BiC, 5 from private sellers). I'm confident that the heat killed them, and Peter and I have speculated that lasting damage from the heat has since killed more grubs (my remaining 4 from BiC, and 1 from a private seller) that survived that period. I only have 3 grubs left that have lived through that period of high heat in my beetle room (plenty of others that have been purchased or hatched), but more on that in a moment.
23 total deaths (58% of my total purchased grubs, including larvae purchased after fixing the AC) is a goddamn lot of L3 deaths for an 8 month period. I'd like to, ya know, make it stop.
I noticed, however, that all 5 deaths I've experienced since The Heatwave™ (the room now lives at 74f) have been in my 32oz individual containers, whereas the remaining 3 that survived, the 14 new purchased, and the 50-60 some-odd hatched D tityus that all appear to be doing fine are all in smaller (16oz or less), shorter containers. In fact, as of this last weekend, every grub I've housed in a 32oz container has died. The 8oz and 16oz containers are definitely the same material from the same supplier for whatever that's worth. My 32oz containers are basically big peanut butter jars, tall and narrow; an absolute to get my hand into when needed. I also realized when I found the last 2 dead during my monthly check that every time one of these larvae has died they've been halfway or further down the container, and the sub of the dead grub feels the same. As in, I can open the container, touch the sub, and say "craaaaap, it's dead" with reasonable certainty. The sub feels compacted (I always leave the top portion loose).
Now... a noobish understanding of physics suggests to me that the larvae traveling creates voids in the sub, which allows sub above it to fall down into said void, essentially compacting it over time. I also understand I may be an idiot, so forgive me (and correct me) if I'm way off base. From what I've learned here on the forum, too much compaction can suffocate larvae. This seems like it wouldn't be as big of an issue in a shallow container, as there's less sub weight above these voids, making this process of compaction take longer (and the process of surfacing easier for the grub; less distance), and in a broader container, the larva has more horizontal travel space, meaning (in my mind, anyway) it isn't compacting such a localized area as quickly. Soooo... I'm wondering if having a tall container with a narrow footprint is causing the sub to compact to dangerous (deadly, in this case) levels within my one-month checkup intervals. OR, am I completely wrong, and the larvae actually aerate the sub by traveling normally, and the reason the sub feels compacted/stiff is because the larva inside has been dead for a week or two?
Ok, I've been typing off and on for a good long while throughout my day, so I'm just going to cap it, though I'm sure I'll have more questions soon.
Anybody use dried wood pellets/blocks at the bottom of their rhino/stag larval containers? Any pros/cons you can share?
I've been watching a bunch of videos on YouTube by a Swiss (I think) gentleman whose name I can't remember right now (and unfortunately YouTube is blocked on my office's network so I can't check), and he pretty much only deals with the larger exotic beetles we can't get here in the US, but he tends to keep larvae together until late L3, checks larvae very infrequently, and experiences very few losses (he's pretty transparent about it when he does experiences larval/pupal deaths). Naturally, I have to wonder if his setup would apply over to US-native scarabaeidae.
Basically, his setup usually consists of larger containers (15-18 gallon) in which he lines the bottom with non-fermented beech sawdust blocks (to absorb excess moisture and potentially provide food later, he says), then a layer of compacted flake soil on top of that, followed by several large-ish unbroken white-rotten hardwood logs, then he fills in between the logs and tops the container with flake soil mixed with rotten leaves. He typically places 10 larvae in one of these containers, even species like Dhh that I often see cautioned as having cannibalistic tenancies, and then doesn't check them for 3 months, or even 6 in the case of some Megasoma spp with longer larval periods.
Now... I know that I'm guilty of over-moistening substrate. I think a lot of noobs make that mistake when they hear "keep it from getting too dry". I also understand why that's bad, especially as I learn more about the decomposition of organic material such as rotten wood. I also know that I live in the overall driest city in the US, so I'm not sure I can get away with leaving larvae unattended for as long as he does without spraying the surface at the least... but would adding a layer of dry oak pellets to the bottom do a sufficient job at drawing in excess moisture over long periods? Moisture aside, isn't turning the substrate every so often to aerate important? I'm currently doing this once per month and adding new sub (on bottom, old sub & larvae on top) as needed. More on this later*.
Also, when he does finally do his checks, the logs are usually obliterated. Either fully gone or damned close to it. He, of course, is dealing with species that are typically very large in L3, with what I assume are proportionally stronger jaws. Are US Dynastes and Megasoma spp capable of dismantling white-rotten logs like this? Or is the effort for the larvae to break them apart too costly compared to the calories they gain from it? The beech blocks are usually completely mixed ground up and mixed in with the sub, which I assume is just from movement, as that would be a very quick turn-around for fermentation, right?
This is all, of course, a little pipe-dream-ish for me, as I have no reasonably easy access to rotten hardwood or leaves being in Vegas, nor do I have enough flake soil (or money
*Going back to turning substrate for aeration from here down (in a very long-winded way).
I'm also very interested in this method as this gentleman doesn't seem to have issues with aeration, and I'm starting to believe I do, however, I'm wondering if my current containers are to partially to blame. The reason that I'm starting to wonder is because officially every larvae I've ever purchased from BiC is now dead. My entire cultures of D granti, C gloriosa, and M Punctulatus, all of which were well into L3 at death (I think). I'm being even more critical now because while private seller specimens can sometimes be questionable, I know that Peter sells healthy/quality specimens and sub, and the issues are on my end. Now, without going into it again, I had an AC issue that left my beetle room around 80-84f for some months, during which I lost a total of 17 larvae (12 from BiC, 5 from private sellers). I'm confident that the heat killed them, and Peter and I have speculated that lasting damage from the heat has since killed more grubs (my remaining 4 from BiC, and 1 from a private seller) that survived that period. I only have 3 grubs left that have lived through that period of high heat in my beetle room (plenty of others that have been purchased or hatched), but more on that in a moment.
23 total deaths (58% of my total purchased grubs, including larvae purchased after fixing the AC) is a goddamn lot of L3 deaths for an 8 month period. I'd like to, ya know, make it stop.
I noticed, however, that all 5 deaths I've experienced since The Heatwave™ (the room now lives at 74f) have been in my 32oz individual containers, whereas the remaining 3 that survived, the 14 new purchased, and the 50-60 some-odd hatched D tityus that all appear to be doing fine are all in smaller (16oz or less), shorter containers. In fact, as of this last weekend, every grub I've housed in a 32oz container has died. The 8oz and 16oz containers are definitely the same material from the same supplier for whatever that's worth. My 32oz containers are basically big peanut butter jars, tall and narrow; an absolute to get my hand into when needed. I also realized when I found the last 2 dead during my monthly check that every time one of these larvae has died they've been halfway or further down the container, and the sub of the dead grub feels the same. As in, I can open the container, touch the sub, and say "craaaaap, it's dead" with reasonable certainty. The sub feels compacted (I always leave the top portion loose).
Now... a noobish understanding of physics suggests to me that the larvae traveling creates voids in the sub, which allows sub above it to fall down into said void, essentially compacting it over time. I also understand I may be an idiot, so forgive me (and correct me) if I'm way off base. From what I've learned here on the forum, too much compaction can suffocate larvae. This seems like it wouldn't be as big of an issue in a shallow container, as there's less sub weight above these voids, making this process of compaction take longer (and the process of surfacing easier for the grub; less distance), and in a broader container, the larva has more horizontal travel space, meaning (in my mind, anyway) it isn't compacting such a localized area as quickly. Soooo... I'm wondering if having a tall container with a narrow footprint is causing the sub to compact to dangerous (deadly, in this case) levels within my one-month checkup intervals. OR, am I completely wrong, and the larvae actually aerate the sub by traveling normally, and the reason the sub feels compacted/stiff is because the larva inside has been dead for a week or two?
Ok, I've been typing off and on for a good long while throughout my day, so I'm just going to cap it, though I'm sure I'll have more questions soon.
