Osmoderma feeding/ care?

Z

Zephyr

L3
I collected 4 Osmoderma sp. from a rotting log yesterday. (The first log we found had them in it and every single other one in the entire forest had NOTHING) I saw a picture on bugguide of them happily on about 1/4" of substrate munching on dog food. I'm paranoid because I don't want to kill them. lol I have them on about 1.5" of coconut fiber, vermiculite, sphagnum moss, and cypress mulch that is very fine and powdery. I have a few pieces of the wood I found them in in each segment of their container. I put a piece of dog food on the other side. I don't think they've touched the dog food.

Can I do the more bare-bones setup mentioned beforehand? Will it kill them? Is dog food alright for them or should I stick with the wood?

Thanks!

Here are some pics of the container:

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Stick with rotten wood, these guys are very easy if fed rotten wood. If not fed wood they will do poorly or die.

 
Orin said:
Stick with rotten wood, these guys are very easy if fed rotten wood. If not fed wood they will do poorly or die.
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How rotten should the wood be to support these guys?Its funny I've been

contemplating on starting up with these beetles.

Thanks guys.

noel

 
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I'm no expert in wood decomposition but they were in red, somewhat dry (definitely not powdery dry) wood. I've been soaking some cypress and maple chunks in a container in the sun for a few days and I'm seeing if they'll take them. If not, I have a few big chunks of wood from where I collected them.

Keep your fingers crossed!
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Buggnout said:
How rotten should the wood be to support these guys?
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Almost anything soft enough for them to chew into. They can chew into wood you can't break by hand but if you can't make a hole easily with a metal tool they can't touch it.

 
Orin said:
Almost anything soft enough for them to chew into. They can chew into wood you can't break by hand but if you can't make a hole easily with a metal tool they can't touch it.
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They've decimated one piece of wood I put in with them. This is a good sign!

One of them seems to prefer the wood from where I collected them but hopefully he'll switch soon.

 
O. eremicola are much more common and I'd bet money that's what you have. I've found the two species on opposite ends of the same log.

 
Orin said:
O. eremicola are much more common and I'd bet money that's what you have. I've found the two species on opposite ends of the same log.
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Two of them were very close together near a split at the trunk of the log where it had fallen over, the other two were on the side of the log near the hole where one could easily dig into it. What surprises me is that they're supposed to take 2 years to mature and overwinter in pupal cells; However, the ones that I dug out of the same log last year (none of which survived due to carelessness on my part, unfortunately) were definitely L3, so these guys must be taking even longer to grow!

 
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Just wanted to write a quick note that I'm really enjoying your recent contributions here, Zephyr, and very interested in your trials with this species. Please continue to update us for this species!

 
Orin said:
That's in the wild. At 75F with decent food you can get them to cycle in ten months.
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Excellent!

They seem to be eating but show a preference for the paper towels I re-lined their enclosure with, and the wood I originally put in with them. They do seem to take some chunks out of the silver maple branch pieces I put in (these were dry and would crack into powder before I soaked them) but haven't touched the soaked ash bark I put in.

 
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