Advice on my artificial pupal cells

[arizonablue]

I had to remove two of my M. punctulatus pupae from their containers -- one had mites and the other one had mold working its way into the cell. I removed the mites and the mold doesn't seem to have harmed the pupa, but this is the first time I've had to remove pupae from their cells so I'd love some input on whether I'm doing this right.

 

The floral foam I got doesn't seem to hold moisture at all, so I'm not sure if I did something wrong there or if I just got crappy foam. :/ I surrounded the dry foam with moist coco fiber to keep some humidity in the container but I'm not sure if that's going to keep the pupae from drying out. On the other hand, I don't want to try to moisten the foam and have them get wet, which I can't imagine is good either.

 

Any input would be much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Beetle-Experience]

Arizonablue, it looks like the cells might be a bit wide for the pupae you have. The length doesn't matter as much but sides should be pretty close to them

[Ratmosphere]

Agreed.

[DynastinaeLucanidae]

I agree with Beetle-Experience on the dimension of the chambers. I'd like to add that you can also use wet paper towels, peat pots, and wet toilet paper roll to construct artificial pupal chambers.

[arizonablue]

The sides are actually tighter than the photo makes them look, I had a light right overtop of it for the photo. But I agree, I think I made them a bit too wide. I'll give it another shot. Thanks!