Odontolabis siva Larvae Die-Off

V

vinegaroonie

L3
Hello all,

I've been raising Odontolabis siva larvae (l2-3) for 2 months now and most of them have died off. They all started burrowing and eating and they grew quite a bit, and then one of them started hanging on the surface. I was concerned, and the larva started shrinking and died within days. Since then the other 3 have done the same, leaving me with two (male and female). Now the female is doing it. I have tried spraying, rearranging the wood and even hand feeding the larvae (and they ate, surprisingly) but none of it has worked. While they were on the surface, they wiggled around and waved their legs around but otherwise nothing, and then they turned yellow and died. I really want to save my female, what can I do?!

 
Did you try changing the substrate? Maybe move them to somewhere big so they can pupate?

I changed these two things for my Prosopocoilus giraffa larva and they seemed to burrow back in the sub.

 
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Changed the substrate and added a bit more coco to make it easier to burrow in, and put them in containers double the size. Both have burrowed down! Thanks, will update if it happens again!

 
I wouldn't add coco, it just ruins the sub.

Just dont put any next time.

 
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What else can I use to make it easier to burrow in? Before I had all rotten wood flakes and chunks and it seemed impossible to burrow in, much less make a pupal cell in xD I have it right now with coco and wood chunks and flakes (white rotten). I also don't have enough wood to fill the bigger containers enough.

 
Just found recipe for fermented substrate. What I was always told was that rotten wood is all that they would need XD. I don't have time to get fermented sub unless the larvae can live off of what I have, which I doubt. Would the best option be to try and get a hold of premade fermented sub and have it shipped overnight? What should I do?

 
No one really sells "premade fermented sub" or fermented sub because no one makes substrate in huge amounts

The best you can do is to make them your own. Instead of coco i would rather use organic potting soil.

 
Odontolabis Siva is really afraid of disturbance. frequent disturbance will make them refuse to eat.

The larvae likes to stay in one spot, usually does not like to move around. Multiple larvae should not be in the same container, they will fight and maybe eat each other. You can add more subs into their tunnel every few months. but remember, do not break their tunnels! when the larvae can not maintain its tunnel, it will climb up to the surface because it doesn't know what to do.

 
Coco fiber should not be added to substrate that is meant as a food source. Larvae have to pick through that inedible filler which wastes their energy or they have to ingest it with edible substrate and end up gaining less nutrition than normal. Imagine having no choice but to eat a mouthful of cardboard every time you ate some food. You'd be full because your gut can fit no more, but you're not getting much nutritional value from your meal and end up starving.

If you're not using whole logs, you should be processing the large pieces, chunks of wood, or flakes into a fine fiber similar in texture to coco fiber. If you cannot easily process the wood into a fine substrate, you're not using wood that has been sufficiently decomposed.

 
The sick one had since resurfaced and looks smaller and a bit crumpled. The sub is now fermented wood and potting soil, so what's wrong?

 
Check if its eating first(is there dark stuff in its body). There are many reasons that they will refuse to eat, too dry, too hot, parasites...etc.

But if its already crumpled like you said...its really hard to save it at this point.

I really do think its the tunnel problem, especially at L3. When you change the substrate, only take out up to 50% of the old substrate, then add new substrate.

 
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