Dubia4life
L2
So I visited a fellow blacksmith/knifemaker about two or three weeks ago who lives out in the boonies of Arkansas, I told him about my interest in beetles awhile back and told him to grab any unusual beetles he could find. When I got up the driveway he was standing there with his neighbor holding a plastic 5 gallon bucket I had a nervous feeling about the situation because they both looked rather cheeky. I went up to them and low and behold- the bucket contained 6 phanaeus vindex dung beetles! They said they found them on what they thought was wild boar droppings. I gladly accepted and took a bucket of pig dung from the neighbors pet potbelly pig. Back to present day Ive been keeping the beetles in a plastic tote in the guest bathroom with dirt from my backyard that I sifted thoroughly. And the females made four brood balls, two of which were covered (and pretty much filled with) small white worms I accidentally broke one of the wormy ones open and found no egg, I figured the other worm riddled brood ball would have the same result so I tossed it, my questions are- I am pretty sure the worms came from a bunch of small flies that looked a lot like fruit flies, how do I prevent them from laying eggs in my beetle bin? The bin has minimal ventilation and is kept at around 68f. How do I speed up egg laying, I have two males and four females so I figured there would be at least 8-10 brood balls by now, but that was just a guess. More heat? Change dung more frequently so its fresher? I took the last bit of dung out because it started to get moldy and got covered in those fruit flies and worms. How should I keep my current two brood balls? Do I need to keep them warm? If so how warm? Should I cover them in substrate or place them in a empty container? I read the dung beetle section in orins ultimate guide, but Im going to go over it a few more times and see if there is any tips I missed. Thanks.
