Goliath beetle

Keep them in rotten leaf substrate, some sand as they get older, and supplement feed them. I usually use a turtle hatchling formula for flower beetles.

 
Young larvae will need a rotten leaf/wood substrate, but after a few molts you can keep them on just coconut fiber, their main diet from there on consists of protein, dog food or live prey work well.

 
They need some sand to make good pupal cells, and it can’t be too humid/wet. Breeding is (according to Orin) very easy, and females have been known to lay eggs in 1/2 inch of substrate (though I would recommend at least three inches)

 
AlexW said:
Also, what “serial”?
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I think it's either short for serious, or he misspelled serious and autocorrect changed it to "serial".
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Adult females do well laying in similar substrate that you would use for Dynastes. I add crushed leaves into the mix and a layer of whole and crushed leaves on the surface.

 
More info..

- Don't house males in egg laying containers with females

- Don't use coco fiber as a larval substrate unless you wet it first, let it sit for a few days, then freeze it for a few days

- Don't house larvae together

I have the correct and tested pupation substrate available - possibly the only place in the world selling it right now. It is ready to use, can be reused many times and will stop them from wandering.

 
I went through a few different "batches", testing out different substrate mixes - and I seemed to end up with around twice as many mites in the substrate where I used coco fiber. This could have been coincidence - I need to test more, but my thought was there may have been mite eggs that survived desiccation that were already in the purchased substrate (the coco brick type). Wetting them should cause them to hatch then kill them by freezing. This could be overkill, but I dislike mites..

Soil (yard) or organic potting soil should work just a well, but again you should heat or freeze treat it first..

 
Beetle-Experience said:
I went through a few different "batches", testing out different substrate mixes - and I seemed to end up with around twice as many mites in the substrate where I used coco fiber. This could have been coincidence - I need to test more, but my thought was there may have been mite eggs that survived desiccation that were already in the purchased substrate (the coco brick type). Wetting them should cause them to hatch then kill them by freezing. This could be overkill, but I dislike mites..

Soil (yard) or organic potting soil should work just a well, but again you should heat or freeze treat it first..
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Ah, OK! I haven't had any mite problems using coconut fiber for my inverts yet, even if I did though, I've got both springtails and a couple other, less harmful mite species that usually take care of any grain mites I get in short order.

 
Nah, Hisserdude.

You just keep too many desert darklings for the arachnids' safety!

(just joking, I know you keep Lanxoblatta in a steamy cage)

On a more serious note, could a few mites or their dormant stages have hitchhiked on the goliath grubs unnoticed?

 
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Hisserdude: Nice! Again, I'm not sure if this is what happened but it seemed like it. With the high protein diet for the grubs (and feeding every other day) I was having mite explosions.

The springtails would be cool, I do have to change the substrate frequently though, because of all the protein - it goes sour quickly.

AlexW: Possibly so, but they were turning up more in the containers with coco fiber. I actually just thought of a test, I could wet some coco fiber by itself, then add some protein just to see what happens. I would keep it away from the grub area to try to minimize cross contamination..

 
AlexW said:
Nah, Hisserdude.

You just keep too many desert darklings for the arachnids' safety!

(just joking, I know you keep Lanxoblatta in a steamy cage)

On a more serious note, could a few mites or their dormant stages have hitchhiked on the goliath grubs unnoticed?
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Funnily enough, my Tenebs are one of the few inverts I own that frequently get grain mite infestations, on account of their enclosures being just a little too dry for the springtails and other mite species to do well in, but just humid enough to allow grain mites to breed. That, and the fact that the larvae drag food down into the substrate creates grain mite heaven.
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Most of my really humid roach enclosures are so full of springtails or other mite species that there's no way grain mite populations can ever take a firm hold.

Beetle-Experience said:
Hisserdude: Nice! Again, I'm not sure if this is what happened but it seemed like it. With the high protein diet for the grubs (and feeding every other day) I was having mite explosions.

The springtails would be cool, I do have to change the substrate frequently though, because of all the protein - it goes sour quickly.
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You should get some Sinella curviseta, they are as prolific as all heck and can help with mold and mite problems. Admittedly though, I'm having grain mite problems in some of my Pyrophorus larvae enclosures, as they are very messy eaters and even springtails can't keep up with all the leftovers they leave in their tunnels.

However, there's a mite species in my collection that is almost the same size as grain mites, and take up the exact same ecological niche as them, but are dark red, and lack a phoretic stage. I've noticed enclosures with these mites are usually completely lacking in grain mites, so I've begun introducing them to my Pyrophorus enclosures, (as the only reason grain mites disturb them is because of their phoretic stage).

I think these have some serious potential as a grain mite deterrent, as they lack the harmful phoretic stage grain mites have, and are very secretive, burrowing down into substrate when disturbed rather than scaling whatever comes across their path, like some other mites. Alongside springtails, (which keep their numbers in check), they seem to really work well to keep grain mites at bay.
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Be cautious, perhaps maybe those red mites are not as harmless as you think.

Also, as I have stated, the only moisture in my own two-teneb cage currently comes from their food, and I serve that on a toilet-paper "plate" to avoid wetting the cage
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I kind of doubt that even a dermestid larva could survive in there!

 
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