Goliathus substrate for cell preparation

[PapaGottlieb]

Hello, All. I have L3 Goliathus goliatus and, of course, my mind is occupied with preparing the proper substrate for the day they go a-wanderin' before cell prep. Karl Meier (http://www.naturalworlds.org/goliathus/manual/Goliathus_breeding_4.htm) has it 60% sand/ 40% peat; however, I know that some use red clay. I would be interested in others' formulae as I am developing mine.

[Oak]

I know that most people in Taiwan use loam, which works really well. 

[PapaGottlieb]

Using loam is interesting. I am contemplating a sand-peat-clay mixture, where the peat, of course, would be replacing the silt that is present in the loam. I am not certain, either, that it would be in the 40%-40%-20% ratio of the loam. Seems like there will be some backyard experimenting in my future. 🙂

[JKim]

Loam, is mostly composed of sand and silt, then very small portion of clay, so it is basically similar to what you already know. Red dirt, or clay should work fine. I use clay to aid stag beetles and rhinoceros beetles to make their pupal cells. Most of rhinoceros and stag beetles are known to not needing that, but it still is very helpful for them.

[kevink]

someone has suggested to me andisol or inceptisol type soil,  I have used the red clay, mixed with sand, and it did work. I've tried looking for pupation medium

for sale, and kind of expected to find it, even from overseas. I've got 3 L1 going now, and plan to reuse my red clay and go down to our oceanside cliffs

to collect some of the material there, and mix it in with the clay. I suppose silt out of the estuary might work , but cleaning the salt out of it is something I'm

not sure about...perhaps further up the river, I  remember working in some very fine material  that might dry out to be usable.

Pictures of pupation cells I've seen on the web from Asian breeders look very uniform and almost machine made.

[PapaGottlieb]

Well, I had a larva go walkabout in January (actually breaking free of his box and leaping, apparently, from the table) and so tried a mostly peat & clay mix (roughly 60/40, with just a wee bit of sand for good measure). Yesterday, curiosity finally caught up with me, and I uncovered the pictured cell.

While not, of course, rock hard, it is firm enough. This one is something like 6x9cm, and time alone will reveal if the Goliathus survives.