Trying to breed Stenolophus comma
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Hisserdude
Dynastes
Try feeding them dog food, most of the Harpalini I've kept have loved the stuff, as well as pre-killed insect prey.
Breeding Carabids is really tricky, and I don't know of anyone who has come up with a method that works to rear and breed any Carabid species for more than a couple generations. Carabid larvae generally have extremely poor survival rates in captivity, and can be quite picky when it comes to prey.
I'd keep yours very moist, offer them food and wait until you see eggs, (they usually lay many of their eggs at the very bottom of their enclosure, so if you have them in a see through container, you should be able to tell if they are laying or not). If/when you do see eggs, remove and isolate them, as the resulting larvae are cannibalistic. They aren't good at taking down most prey items by themselves, so you're gonna have to pre-kill all their prey, and unlike adults, they will not eat dog food, only invertebrates. If you can get any to the third instar and they've stopped growing, put them in a deli cup with moist, compressed coconut fiber, and hopefully they'll make a pupal cell.
Hope this helps a bit!
Breeding Carabids is really tricky, and I don't know of anyone who has come up with a method that works to rear and breed any Carabid species for more than a couple generations. Carabid larvae generally have extremely poor survival rates in captivity, and can be quite picky when it comes to prey.
I'd keep yours very moist, offer them food and wait until you see eggs, (they usually lay many of their eggs at the very bottom of their enclosure, so if you have them in a see through container, you should be able to tell if they are laying or not). If/when you do see eggs, remove and isolate them, as the resulting larvae are cannibalistic. They aren't good at taking down most prey items by themselves, so you're gonna have to pre-kill all their prey, and unlike adults, they will not eat dog food, only invertebrates. If you can get any to the third instar and they've stopped growing, put them in a deli cup with moist, compressed coconut fiber, and hopefully they'll make a pupal cell.
Hope this helps a bit!
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Hisserdude
Dynastes
This should work for the Harpalus and maybe Poecilus, I was able to get eggs out of Harpalus pennyslvanicus and rear a single larvae to the pupal stage, never got any further than that though.
Chlaenius are much more finicky when it comes to breeding, they lay their eggs in mud cells they create themselves, which they then supposedly attach to the undersides of low growing vegetation or other objects. They do eat dog food though, but prefer freshly killed insects.
I think Scaritini arr more picky when it comes to food choices, they seem to like live prey the most, dog food may not work for them, it doesn't work for Pasimachus at least. I've never heard of anyone getting eggs out of any member of that family except for Pasimachus, and there are only two reports of that ever happening...
Haha, I wish there was a book on how to breed Carabids, but like I said, no one has really figured out any good methods of repeatedly breeding any Carabid species, (with the possible exception of some Tiger beetle species). Orin McMonigle's "The Ultimate Guide To Breeding Beetles" has a small section on keeping Carabids, he's gotten Calosoma to lay eggs and has even reared some larvae to adulthood, however the number of individuals he reared was less than the amount he started with, so most of the info in the book is just about keeping the adult Carabids. It's got great info on breeding Tenebrionids though, along with info on breeding the popular Rhino, Stag, and Flower beetles. It's one of my favorite books, definitely worth getting if you don't have it yet!
Hisserdude
Dynastes
Cool, apparently many Carabids will snack on fruits from time to time, Harpalini in particular are usually omnivorous, and will eat a variety of plant and animal materials!