Emerging adults, they are all deformed and dead

[jreidsma]

Hi everyone

Every single one of my Eleodes acuticauda are emerging as adults severly deformed and dead shortly afterwards. Their elytra are not fused, their legs are not formed correctly, they are bent over, just deformed.

One emerged last night, but this one is still alive today, not the healthiest beetle ever, but it is still alive. It will probably not be going in with the other beetles though, I hate to do it with a community species and the little guy but I am worried that it will dehydrate quicker, won't be able to breed, or may even be cannibalized from the soft tissue being exposed.

The last two have been much worse off than this one.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on? Under pretty much the same sort of pupation set up my obscurus did fine, no deformaties at all.

 

[hardshell]

well did you put the pupae in the cup? if it doesnt have any soil or anything, it might have trouble turning it self over and stuff...

 

[a.ojala]

It could be due to a lack of nutrition to the larvae or impact damage to the pupa, it's hard to say though.

 

[Ryan Minard]

Not lack of nutrition at all. I'd say dehydration (to the extent of making it hard for the pupa to emerge as an adult) or actual cuts the pupa/late L3 before pupating.

 

[a.ojala]

Really? The top reasons why beetles come out deformed are 1) larvae where poorly fed 2) impact damage on pupa 3) or humidity problems. Here are two snapshots from: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?87059-deformed-darkling-beetles

that show how nutrition can play a role in deformed adults.

 

[jreidsma]

What humidity should Eleodes be at during pupation? I have tried and tried to get this answer and I cannot get it.

My first batch of larva didn't do to well and died as I didn't know what humidity to do them at and I did it too high. This time I scrapped that set up and redid it with pretty well bone dry substrate but wetting one corner every once and a while and I had three or four obscurus emerge perfectly. But maybe the humidity needs to be a bit higher?

I was warned that having substrate against the pupa would kill them. Perhaps I could keep the substrate in the cups bone dry?

I put all the large larva and prepupa in cups, then once they turn into pupa, I let them sit a few weeks then flip them over as softly as possible.

I keep carrots burried for the larva, and now potatoes. I also try to keep some dry foods in the reach of the larva. Oats, cat food, cuttlebones, hermit crab foods, that sort of things.