JunkaiWangisme
Tenebrio
For some reason one of the species I had the most problems with is Lucanus elaphus. I had a consistent issue of getting eggs from females… Out of all the species I’ve posted about and worked with, I dreaded breeding them the most. I thought I’d give them one last hurrah this summer and aquired females from Auburn, AL (for those who know where literally all the bugs from Auburn, AL comes from, I’m sure you know who was the awesome person that took me to their elaphus spot).
I set them up in extremely arid substrate, the level of which I breed my longhorn beetles in, because I have tried logs and normal flake soil already (I know it works for some of you but it just never did for me, nor didn’t the magical potting soil).
They bred readily in the drier sawdust and I aquired enough larvae for another generation. I’m extremely shocked at how dry they needed the substrate to ovaposit in at least my captive conditions. Other Lucanus like placidus and capreolus have no issues laying in my normal flake soil, along with a large set of other beetles I work with. I hope this helps some people that have weird issues with elaphus breeding. But if they’re just doing fine for you on a normal basis then keep doing the good work! Hopefully one day all the beetles in the hobby will be cbb.
I set them up in extremely arid substrate, the level of which I breed my longhorn beetles in, because I have tried logs and normal flake soil already (I know it works for some of you but it just never did for me, nor didn’t the magical potting soil).
They bred readily in the drier sawdust and I aquired enough larvae for another generation. I’m extremely shocked at how dry they needed the substrate to ovaposit in at least my captive conditions. Other Lucanus like placidus and capreolus have no issues laying in my normal flake soil, along with a large set of other beetles I work with. I hope this helps some people that have weird issues with elaphus breeding. But if they’re just doing fine for you on a normal basis then keep doing the good work! Hopefully one day all the beetles in the hobby will be cbb.