Hi,
I am using a dermestes colony for the first time and I am having problems getting them to reproduce. They are in a large plastic tray with a piece of glass on top. The substrate is woodshavings and my owl specimens (most flesh removed brain left intacte) are on gauze or in small containers. I have put damp paper towel in for moisture. The adults are eating well, but with no larvae coming through the process is very slow. They are at a warm room temperature, though not warm enough to fly. Can anyone suggest where I am going wrong?
Many thanks,
Rhiannon
PS I'm in the UK and have relevant permissions for the owl material.
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I cant see anything you are doing wrong. I had woodshavings but didnt put my skulls on anything when they were doing their work. Remember, the larva prefer dried meat. But my bugs loved moist meat. As for reproducing, the conditions have to be just right. Right temp, humidity, meat that can last 3-4 days so the new larva have a chance to hatch... thats the key component for reproducing. Dont take meat out to early, as there are probably eggs on it.
Hi Chris,
thanks for the reply. I put in some moist papertowel to raise the humidity and a lot of larvae appeared, but most died within a few days. It has also started to get mouldy so I'm wondering of a lack of ventilation is the problem. May try another container.
Rhiannon
I have recently acquired dermestid beetles as well and it was quite a fight figuring out how to get them satisfied, so to speak. I have them in a 20 gallon aquarium with a plexi-glass top with three smallish holes in the plexi-glass to ventilate (ventilation is key). I also used dog food for substrate (I heard wood shavings would also work, but I find the dog food works great!) and I have my specimens in a cardboard box on top of the dog food. I find that the beetles tend to burrow into both the dog food and the cardboard box to pupate, so these are things you might want to try.
As far as temperature goes, I find that my bugs like it at around 70 degrees and I have read that the humidity should be around 50%, although I think my bugs like it better at around 70%. Moisture can be bad because it can cause things to mold inside the container and introduce mites and such which could kill your bugs (or cause them to stop eating altogether).
As far as the damp paper towels go, I read that this is a good idea to do, but I found that my bugs worked more quickly when I stopped doing that. I guess it all depends on what works for you. Good luck!