new to hobby needing some advice.

[bigjohntheiufan]

My 6 year old son and i are going to start a darkling beetle group and I have a few questions about their housing. The species of beetle will be the darklings from bugsincyberspace.com which are an Eleodes species. Here's the question list.

1. From what I have read coconut fiber and/or sand or a mix of the two seems to be the preferred substrate for these guys. What would be the best/most natural for keeping these beetles, and what depth, and what type of maint. schedule should I have for cleaning this?

2. As far as I can tell these are a desert species, which tells me that they live in a very hot dry environment, therefore just how moist should I keep the substrate? It seems kind of counter-intuitive to moisten an animals habitat when it gets only a slight amount of morning dew naturally.

3. If I am correct that these are a desert species then would a light bulb set over the tank to raise temperature be something that I should consider, or will these guys be okay at room temperature (68F-70F). The enclosure will be near a window that is slightly cooler than this but if the beetles don't mind then it don't matter.

I welcome any responses to these as this will be my first time dealing with insects. I have been doing saltwater aquariums for about 15 years and freshwater for about 25 so I'm not new to the exotic pet hobby just to bugs. I have already read The Complete Guide to Rearing Darkling Beetles but the info seemed a little bit too general for me to make an informed decision about habitat.

Thanks

 

[Dynastes]

You had me scared there for a minute (I had to check to make sure I hadn't forgotten husbandry details). Try reading the chapters on husbandy and substrate again if you don't get answers here to your liking. You could use sand but it's not listed for good reason. If you're not trying to rear them then your habitat options are almost limitless.

 

[bigjohntheiufan]

Yeah I'm just used to the saltwater fish/coral trade where each species takes a very specific set of conditions for them to survive let alone thrive. I'm mainly trying to get the beetles to surivive so I don't have a sad little boy watching them pass away one by one.

 

[Dynastes]

Yeah I'm just used to the saltwater fish/coral trade where each species takes a very specific set of conditions for them to survive let alone thrive. I'm mainly trying to get the beetles to surivive so I don't have a sad little boy watching them pass away one by one.

I've had a mini-reef in continuous operation since 1989 and have been keeping marine inverts since 83' (my articles published in the early and late 80's were on marine invertebrates, not terrestrial invertebrates and things like making your own wet/dry filters which I haven't used in nearly as long) and I have to say the trains of thought there are far more varied, there's even natural sponge filtration. These darklings are not nearly so restricted in temperature and water quality parameters mean nothing so they're certainly a lot easier.

 

[jreidsma]

My 6 year old son and i are going to start a darkling beetle group and I have a few questions about their housing. The species of beetle will be the darklings from bugsincyberspace.com which are an Eleodes species. Here's the question list.

1. From what I have read coconut fiber and/or sand or a mix of the two seems to be the preferred substrate for these guys. What would be the best/most natural for keeping these beetles, and what depth, and what type of maint. schedule should I have for cleaning this?

2. As far as I can tell these are a desert species, which tells me that they live in a very hot dry environment, therefore just how moist should I keep the substrate? It seems kind of counter-intuitive to moisten an animals habitat when it gets only a slight amount of morning dew naturally.

3. If I am correct that these are a desert species then would a light bulb set over the tank to raise temperature be something that I should consider, or will these guys be okay at room temperature (68F-70F). The enclosure will be near a window that is slightly cooler than this but if the beetles don't mind then it don't matter.

I welcome any responses to these as this will be my first time dealing with insects. I have been doing saltwater aquariums for about 15 years and freshwater for about 25 so I'm not new to the exotic pet hobby just to bugs. I have already read The Complete Guide to Rearing Darkling Beetles but the info seemed a little bit too general for me to make an informed decision about habitat.

Thanks

The Eleodes from Bugs in cyberspace are Eleodes subnitens, I bought them by the dozen a little while back

1. I use coconut coir/fiber at atleast 3 inches deep

2. I let mine get pretty dry, just so long as a corner of the tank is slightly moist or under the substrate a little bit is moist. Too much moisture and too little air flow will quickly kill the adults and larva.

3. I haven't used any lighting or heating on my tanks of Eleodes, and I have three different tanks of different Eleodes species.But my room does stay around 75-80 degrees during the day time.

Most of that info came from Orin's book (which you said you have read) and a little bit of my own experience.

I also have been keeping fish

I have some giant armored cat fish in a 29 gallon freshwater tank. A brackish tank with three bee gobies and a figure eight pufferfish. A ten gallon with a cory catfish, otto's, and endlers livebearers. A five gallon shrimp only tank. And a tank with two blind cave tetras and a colony of snails that are feeders for my puffers

I have had many different species than those but that is what I have right now.

 

[bigjohntheiufan]

Thanks for the info guys I think I should be all good.