New England [Maine] Future Beetle Breeder

[the_cream_man]

Hey all,

I usually lurk on any forum i'm part of but what the heck, here's my intro.  I live in Maine and work in a genotyping lab focusing on lab automation (not SUPER techy but I like to tinker).  Got 5 L2 Dynastes tityus grubs off Bugs in Cyberspace and have a few of Orin McMonigle's books on Beetle breeding.  Very interested in breeding for novel mutations/colors if I can get a colony established. 

I've read a lot about the hobby in Japan and have watched a lot of videos by 'Beetle Breeding Daniel Ambuehl', as I am also very interested in insects as a sustainable food source.  Particularly interested in detrivores that are used as food in existing cultures.  A lot of entomophagy is focused on things like mealworms and crickets.  Since those eat things people can eat they aren't super exciting to me, though I do have a Tenebrio molitor colony--.  Would love to find some species that eat leaves or dead wood that have edible stages of the life-cycle.  Excited about finding like-minded people potentially near-by!

Would also love to learn about how to make the beetle hobby sustainable, exited to read about making things like oak-flake soil at home so I don't need to spend wild amounts of money on ground up leaves! 

Also very interested in the isopod hobby.  I have a handful of species but nothing that is TOO extravagant.

 Joe

 

[aspenentomology]

I'm very late on replying to this, but on the topic of entomophagy, I think it's interesting to see how it's slowly becoming more widespread and normalized in the United States. Although many instances are simply novelty items like scorpion lollipops, I've been to a bulk store which sold "barbecue crickets." They weren't very good, but hey, it's a start.

And the black solider fly definitely fits the bill as an edible species which feeds on decaying matter. They've become so popular, it seems, that somebody decided to invent this: http://www.livinstudio.com/farm432/

I've also heard of people eating dung beetles, although I don't see that becoming too popular in the Western world any time soon (imagine buying a bag of dung beetles at the grocery store)!

 

[the_cream_man]

@aspenentomology  I agree that it's definitely becoming normalized in the US.  I haven't encountered anything in a grocery store yet but I have gotten cricket tacos at a restaurant a while back in California!

Also, thanks for sharing that link-- SUPER cool and I love that it was actually designed to be aesthetically pleasing!  I'm definitely interested in getting a BSF colony set-up at some point-- though I think they still eat food scraps- which I generally don't have much of thankfully.

And that's great to know about dung beetles-- I'm actually getting ready to set some dung baited pit-falls this weekend.. though I definitely think it's safer to err on the side of caution with that haha.

 

[aspenentomology]

Also, thanks for sharing that link-- SUPER cool and I love that it was actually designed to be aesthetically pleasing!  I'm definitely interested in getting a BSF colony set-up at some point-- though I think they still eat food scraps- which I generally don't have much of thankfully.

Ah, I just knew they were used in composting and I didn't fully think about the implications of that. I took that as them feeding on decaying material, but I suppose it just means food scraps really as you're saying.

And that's great to know about dung beetles-- I'm actually getting ready to set some dung baited pit-falls this weekend.. though I definitely think it's safer to err on the side of caution with that haha.

I can't recall exactly where I saw it (it may have been one of Daniel Ambuehl's videos), but the process seemed to involve leaving them in a container of shallow water for a period of time to allow them to vacate their bowels. However, I agree with you; that's not something I'll be trying anytime soon haha.