Remove frass or not?

Re: Remove fraze or not?

Use this search page, instead of the little window. http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php?action=search;advanced Type in Frass instead

 

Re: Remove fraze or not?

I gladly admit ignorance, what is fraze??

 

Re: Remove fraze or not?

if he is talking about frass,its beetle crap according to george

 

Re: Remove fraze or not?

It is actually beetle exoskeletons. The only way that insects grow is to molt, or shed their outer skin, then grow to a slightly larger size, then this process repeats. A colony of beetles will accumulate several inches of frass over a season.

 

learn somethin new every day lol---here I just thought it was more scum and scuzz that needed rinsing off!!

 

Frass or fraze, I didn't know either.

 

Frass is insect debris. So it's Poop, molted skins, egg cases, and even uneaten food. Cleaning frass can be a pain at times, as there is often eggs and newly hatched grubs in it. I've used 2 sizes of screen to clean my bugs with, the larger one catches most of the exuvias/molts and the larger grubs. Then the smaller one lets most of the poop through but catches the smaller grubs. Just shake back and forth gently as to not injure you smaller new generation. I also use a clear plastic sweater box to catch the stuff that falls from the last sifting. If you only do small amounts of the frass at a time, it will leave the discard layer rather thin in the box and you can often see the tiny 1st instars and even eggs and remove them gently with a small paint brush into a spoon and add back into the colony. I also will leave about the bottom ½" of frass on the very bottom of an enclosure, or if starting a new colony include some of the frass in the new home. There are almost always eggs and hatchlings living and feeding from this. I've found in raising roaches and phasmids that the new born often need to eat so of the adults dropping to get the helpful bacteria used in digestion

 

mysebringjx...that is a very informative reply...thanks!

 

Thanks guys! I've been raising and breeding tarantulas for about 15yrs, raising food bugs for them, and the stick insects (phasmids), mantids, and some millipedes. So I've got some experience with just about everything other than crickets. Those are the smelliest, noisy, and will kill each other and predators if they are in a weakened state like molting. I buy those from the fishing bait shop when I need them. I got the 2 different sized screen idea from raising mealworms, and found it does very well with the dermestids too. I have colonies of non climbing live bearing cockroaches as my main feeders, and learned that they and other 'omnivorous' insects in their 1st and 2nd instar need to snack on the adults waste to get the gut bacteria they need to thrive. Certain species will die before their 2nd molt without the poop even. Now, admittedly, I've not raised dermestids more than 8-9 months, but with the couple paragraphs of a caresheet that came with them, I started using things I've learned from my other feeder insects with them. I've even given them something the roaches almost have to have to produce young regularly, that is a slice of orange. I lay a slice in the dermestids about every 2 weeks after they've had a dry period. It's just enriched water for them... I take it out within 24hrs, don't need to let it dampen their home, just a drinking source. I really think the vitamin C helps in egg production. You could probably dust they use for reptile food on the bones you're cleaning though, as the skulls do gather moisture and dusting would remove the chance of the orange slices making the enclosure overly damp.

Anyways, if anyone has bug questions, I will try my best to help out.

 

Why not just discard a third of the bedding once a month? Sure, you throw out some grubs, eggs etc. but you still have plenty in the rest of the bedding to carry the colony.