Gymnetis Thula Tips and Tricks + breeding

Ryan1207

Ryan1207

Egg
I just got 4 Gymnetis Thula from Peter at bugsincyberspace. I have them on compost with a lot of dead hardwood leaves mixed in with beetle jelly in a cup. Does anyone have a foolproof breeding method? I just plan on leaving the 4 in there and looking every one or 2 weeks for eggs and larvae. Also when I store the larvae I heard they are communal so 1 or 2 per cup would be okay, right?

 
I personally raise larvae individually as they can act cannibalistic. If you have limited time or space, then I would advise to sell/freeze larvae and keep a manageable number, so the remainder get better care. I use deli cups, which do not take up much space. They do not stack well, but you could put the deli cups inside plastic shoe boxes that stack better. 

 
The Mantis Menagerie said:
I personally raise larvae individually as they can act cannibalistic. If you have limited time or space, then I would advise to sell/freeze larvae and keep a manageable number, so the remainder get better care. I use deli cups, which do not take up much space. They do not stack well, but you could put the deli cups inside plastic shoe boxes that stack better. 
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Thanks for the info. Mine came in orange and black. Is that normal?

 
AlexW said:
The larvae were orange and black?
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I was a little confused by the first post initially, but @Ryan1207 ordered adults. 

Ryan1207 said:
Thanks for the info. Mine came in orange and black. Is that normal?
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I have never seen this species in person, but I know many beetles can look lighter or darker depending on the humidity. It is also possible that these individuals are from a population that is more orange. Regardless, I cannot think of anything harmful that could be directly related to this more orange coloration. 

 
The Mantis Menagerie said:
I personally raise larvae individually as they can act cannibalistic. 
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G thula are highly communal, and only cannibalistic if severely overcrowded and out of food. They're an absurdly easy species to keep. As an example: at one point I had 8 adults and about 130 larvae in a 3-gallon tank with maybe a gallon-and-a-half of sub (not by design) for about 2 weeks until I received ordered containers to rehome the larvae; I counted again when I rehomed and I was at 160+ larvae.

As for fool-proof breeding methods:

  1. Have G thula adults of both sexes
  2. Place into container with some kind of semi-moist sub.
  3. Done.
Seriously. That's it. G thula will oviposit on moist paper towel... and the grubs that hatch can live a week or so on it somehow.

Your setup sounds just fine. Depending on the size of the cups, there's no need to limit it to 1-2 per cup. I'm currently keeping about 100 larvae per 7-quart container (2 containers). I'm only checking them once per month, and I've lost a grand total of 6 larvae between those two containers in the last month.

 
If they're very moist, they can actually appear dark green and black.  Mostly, this is seen immediately upon emergence from the pupal cell.  As they dry, the yellow areas become quite vivid, though - 

View attachment 1387

 
Been meaning to ask, @Goliathus, is there any correlation between sex and the gloss to the elytra? I've noticed some of mine are almost matte while some are glossy, and it looks like that may be the case in the picture you posted above, as well.

 
Both sexes are matte, but moisture can sometimes make them look glossy.  As adults get older, they seem to lose some of the efficiency of the nano-structural coating that repels water, which can make them look more shiny when moist.  In dried, preserved specimens, oil seeping out from the abdominal fat store can also make them appear glossy.

 
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