Mysterious Larva Death

PowerHobo

PowerHobo

Chalcosoma
Just had my first larvae death experience, and Im pretty bummed about it. 1 of my 4 Dynastes granti was already completely decomposed, with only its head capsule remaining. I found a couple small bits of mold in the container that I think may have simply been part of its body.

The 3 remaining larvae are fine, and all members of my other species appear fine, so Im curious if theres anything I should be investigating as a potential issue, or if its just a case of bad luck with this one.

All of my larvae are in 32oz containers filled 3/4 of the way with oak flake substrate from BiC. Substrate is compactible if squeezed but far from wet enough for any water to drip, with a few pumps from a spray bottle being applied to the top every 3 or 4 days.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Were the larvae separated or together? If they were in separate containers and there's nothing obvious (lots of nematodes, mites, lots of mold growth in the sub, etc) it's probably just bad luck. I've had larvae die for apparently no reason. Sometimes you can figure it out (I had one that was killed by a tachinid fly maggot inside it, that was interesting) but most of the time, who knows.

 
arizonablue said:
Were the larvae separated or together? If they were in separate containers and there's nothing obvious (lots of nematodes, mites, lots of mold growth in the sub, etc) it's probably just bad luck.
Click to expand...
All of my larvae are in their own containers, but prior to last night I admittedly haven't been even remotely careful with washing my hands between containers when handling their substrate to avoid any sort of fungal or bacterial cross-contamination.

As I said there were a couple small bits of mold, and I think they may have been parts of the larva's body, but I can't be certain. The mold bits were spread out in an area a bit bigger than I would expect from a larval body, and unfortunately, it took me a while to find its head capsule, so I'm not sure if it was there with the mold bits.

I'm going to clean the container out with hot water and vinegar, maybe boil it for a few minutes to sterilize. If I were to dry/boil/microwave/freeze the substrate could it be considered reasonably safe to use for another larva, or is it best practice to just throw it out? Obviously, even after all of that I'd test it out on one of my recently-hatched L1s.

 
If the body of the larvae was gone, that's probably your mold problem. Mold is a pretty natural occurrence so unless it's taking over a container I wouldn't worry about it too much.

You could sterilize the sub and use it again with probably minimal risk, but I don't like to take chances, haha. If it were me I'd pitch it, just on the offchance there was something growing in there that would make it through freezing or microwaving. If you've got a bunch of L1s though, it might be worth it to try, since sub can be pretty spendy.

 
I always have a few deaths with small larvae, seems like it's normal.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top