Lucanus Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regiarbol Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 What species? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ometeo Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Interesting container to keep them in... are you supplying a high wood content in their diet? What is the maximum weight on an L3 larvae of this species? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucanus Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Interesting container to keep them in... are you supplying a high wood content in their diet? What is the maximum weight on an L3 larvae of this species? My substrate is purely made out of fermented sawdust. This is my first experience with this species so I don't have any informations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ometeo Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 The substrate seems too fresh (not decayed). Are you fermenting this? I know what substrate this is, I have tried it as well, but I ferment (decay) mine for some months before offering it to the larvae. Flower beetles do really well when mixing the wood with leaf mulch... much better generally. You could probably get much more substrate (volume) by doing a 70% / 30% mix with leaf mulch being the higher content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynastes Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Try giving them half a gallon or more of substrate each (a 12-15 gallon tote for that group). One of the tricks with getting decent adults is they like a lot of space. Usually with cetonids there are just so many and they are easily kept together so it's difficult not to overcrowd them and then you end up with small, imperfect adults. A friend I know freezes all his extras but that's not something many of us could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucanus Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 The substrate seems too fresh (not decayed). Are you fermenting this? I know what substrate this is, I have tried it as well, but I ferment (decay) mine for some months before offering it to the larvae. Flower beetles do really well when mixing the wood with leaf mulch... much better generally. You could probably get much more substrate (volume) by doing a 70% / 30% mix with leaf mulch being the higher content. I know that the substrate in the picture is too fresh, but I didn't have enough substrate at that time. I will show you the ones that I have finished fermenting. Thank you for the tip. I will go out for collecting leaves (if I hae time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucanus Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Try giving them half a gallon or more of substrate each (a 12-15 gallon tote for that group). One of the tricks with getting decent adults is they like a lot of space. Usually with cetonids there are just so many and they are easily kept together so it's difficult not to overcrowd them and then you end up with small, imperfect adults. A friend I know freezes all his extras but that's not something many of us could do. Thank you for the tips. I will try that when my substrates get settled. Why is your friend freezing larvae? Is there a special reason for that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynastes Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Thank you for the tips. I will try that when my substrates get settled. Why is your friend freezing larvae? Is there a special reason for that? He knows that he can only rear a certain number well. It's not possible to rear everything. Eventually you run out of time, space and food. I usually pick quantity over quality with cetonids but you can't really prove which option is better or even more considerate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucanus Posted January 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 He knows that he can only rear a certain number well. It's not possible to rear everything. Eventually you run out of time, space and food. I usually pick quantity over quality with cetonids but you can't really prove which option is better or even more considerate. I agree with quantity over quality but I also pick quality over quantity aswell. However, unlike that guy I give away some of the beetles to my friends so that if I end up failing to keep some species I can get them from my friends. I hope that the refrigirator guy(?) will do something like that rather than killing unwanted larvae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.