Preparing materials from forest for various beetles

[polskifil]

Hey Guys,

So i collected some material from a mostly chestnut oak and beech forest, for the most part they were oak though.

You can see in the picture below, at the bottom is what i think is "white wood" and easy rip apart with oak leaves next to it.

The middle is basically other oak pieces that were easy to crumble but were not white.

At the top are pieces laying on the ground that are kind of moist and have a nice orange brownish color and also very easy to rip apart

at the bottom out of site there is a pile of black soil collected from the middle of the oak trees openings that were towards the ground.

My question is first would these be suitable and how would i best prepare this for say Dynastinae (Tityus) and Dorcus?

Appreciate any advice!

-Fil

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[polskifil]

Any advice guys?

 

[Shade of Eclipse]

White rot fungus eats primarily lignin and some cellulose, leaving the wood a lighter color and stringy. Brown rot fungus eats primarily cellulose and leaves behind the darker lignin and material that's gritty.
You'll find white rot wood turning more brown over time as white mycelium dies, things oxidize, and as tannins are absorbed. Keep in mind that after white rot fungus finishes consuming what it wants from a piece of wood and declines, brown rot fungi can colonize and take over the process to complete the breakdown of the wood, leaving behind a fine compost.

The rotten wood pieces just sound like white rot wood in various stages of decay. The darker pieces might have some brown rot fungus working on it, too. You should be able to crush up the pieces of rotten wood to use as substrate for stag beetle larvae. You won't want to use it for rhinoceros beetle larvae without adding leaf compost. The soil-like material is likely a mixture of very well-decayed wood and frass from detrivores. It may be usable in a mix for rhinoceros beetle larvae.

I stick whole pieces of rotten wood into buckets and fill them up with boiling water and submerge them to cook whatever might be living in them. Larger pieces are usually flipped over and new boiling water is used to heat up the parts that were missed. After they've cooled, I use my hands or tools to crush the wood into a fine substrate. I spread it out and leave it to dry if I'm storing it for later use. If I'm using it immediately, I squeeze the excess water out with my hands first.

 

[polskifil]

Thanks for the info! Now that you mention it I do see frass in the material collected from the inside the tree. Should I sift out the frass or will it provide good bacteria for the beetles?

 

[Shade of Eclipse]

I prefer to heat treat my materials so as to not introduce unwanted organisms to my colonies, so I can't say if it might have any beneficial bacteria. It is just as likely to contain pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoans, fungi, and invertebrates.
You could sift out the frass or leave it. If there's a lot of it, it might be better to sift it out.