Manure and Compost

B

Beetle Time

Egg
For raising Gymnetis thula is compost the same thing as manure? All of my local stores do not have organic compost, but they have manure. Though there might be a mixture of compost and manure. Is the compost even needed? My substrate will consist of decaying ash wood and hardwood leaves. Is that sufficient for raising the larvae?

 
I haven't heard of Cetoniine scarabs feeding on animal dungs. Probably can for protein supplement, but manure only? not sure... They are mainly feeding on plant materials, substrate when we keep them, or dead rotten trees (or compost soils near live trees) in nature. If you don't have any substrate in hand, try find "organic potting mix" from any garden stores and hardware/home improvement stores including Walmart Garden, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. They carry all kinds of soils from organic soils, topsoils, compost, manure, etc. It is basically same thing with organic compost you have looked for, just a different term. I used organic potting mix for multi years, and had no trouble feeding this to my scarabs including Dynastes tityus, D. grantii, Strategus aloeus, S. antaeus, Gymnetis thula, etc. If your substrate is fermented completely, yes, using ash is fine.

 
Organic top soil (like $4 for a 40lb bag) does the trick quite nicely with some rotten oak leaves ground up and mixed in. Actually, if we're being honest, G thula does just fine if you just have some dried oak leaves mixed into the top soil. They'll eat what they need and push the rest to the surface. I'm on my 4th generation raised like this, as I almost never have rotten oak leaves available where I am.

Your local store likely has organic compost in very small bags somewhere near the registers in the garden center. It can be very pricey, which is why I use the above.

 
In my experience, 6 to 7 months (under consistent temperature and substrate conditions).  As with most beetle species, thula's larval duration can be compressed or expanded, depending on environmental conditions.  An overly extended larval period should be avoided though, and is usually the result of poor substrate.

 
@Goliathus thank you for the reply! What can I do to speed up the process? Right now I have a good amount of wood and leaves blended into the soil. I wouldn’t say it’s lacking food. But what about temp? Should I go warmer? 

 
If you can keep them above 70 F, that will help keep their metabolism consistent.  I wouldn't keep it any higher than 78, though.  If you can maintain an average of around 75, that's ideal.  Another thing that can speed up the larval development is to place some thinly-sliced pieces of apple under some flat tree bark on the surface - the larvae of this species will readily eat apple.  In the wild, thula larvae live in the compost of material that forms inside of tree holes - they're generalist feeders on whatever organic detritus ends up in the holes (mostly decayed wood and leaves).

 
FunSizedZoo said:
@Goliathus thank you for all the info! This is my first gen that I’m raising. I have some tubby L3’s that id like to see pupating sooner than later. Best wishes! 
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I'm sure they'll do just fine - thula is an extremely easy species to keep.  I wish we had more species of Gymnetis native to the US, but thula is the only one.  There are nearly 40 other species found in Mexico / Central Amer. / South Amer., such as the "panther" Gymnetis (G. pantherina), and "tiger" Gymnetis (G. stellata) - 

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@Goliathus I really do love how many flower beetles there are and how great so many of them look. I feel so limited in general sticking with USA native species. But we do have some pretty cool stuff, just not quite the variety you can find elsewhere 

 
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