Has anyone ever tried this before

[The wolf]

so there is a very big oak tree in my garden and its the time of year for acorns and i was looking at the acorns and i saw little holes in them whic as it turns out are from acorn weevils and sure enough as i broke it inside was a little grub so I decided to collect some and but them in a container full of dirt and see if any would pupate and afew have buried themselves against the sides so i am now waiting for them to pupate and then emerge as adult beetles and i was wondering if I should keep them outside to replicate winter or if it would be ok to keep them indoors also if anyone has had any success in this do you have any suggestions.


TL;DR how do I keep acorn weevil larvea alive until adulthood

 

[Giant Asian mantis lover]

Be careful with the acorns because you could break their cocoon.

 

[The wolf]

Be careful with the acorns because you could break their cocoon.

They are considered to be a pest also there were hundreds of them so I didn't feel to bad about disturbing the larvea but they do pupate under ground thanks for the quick reply

 

[LittleOddIsopod]

so there is a very big oak tree in my garden and its the time of year for acorns and i was looking at the acorns and i saw little holes in them whic as it turns out are from acorn weevils and sure enough as i broke it inside was a little grub so I decided to collect some and but them in a container full of dirt and see if any would pupate and afew have buried themselves against the sides so i am now waiting for them to pupate and then emerge as adult beetles and i was wondering if I should keep them outside to replicate winter or if it would be ok to keep them indoors also if anyone has had any success in this do you have any suggestions.


TL;DR how do I keep acorn weevil larvea alive until adulthood

No clue what this species prefers, but why not try an experiment? Try keeping some outdoors, and some indoors and see which ones do better.

 

[The wolf]

No clue what this species prefers, but why not try an experiment? Try keeping some outdoors, and some indoors and see which ones do better.

I currently have them outdoors as one decided to hatch but the rest havent pupated yet

 

[davehuth]

I'm fascinated by this trial because these acorns (with holes!) are abundant where I live. The below NatGeo video, despite the goofy narrator, has some amazing images and states that larval period and pupation can take years. I hope you continue to update this forum from time to time to report how your larvae fare, especially what they subsist on in the substrate and how long they take to pupate indoors vs. outdoors. Thanks! https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/weevil_acorn

 

[The wolf]

I'm fascinated by this trial because these acorns (with holes!) are abundant where I live. The below NatGeo video, despite the goofy narrator, has some amazing images and states that larval period and pupation can take years. I hope you continue to update this forum from time to time to report how your larvae fare, especially what they subsist on in the substrate and how long they take to pupate indoors vs. outdoors. Thanks! https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/weevil_acorn

I had no idea they lived this long from what I've seen the larval period in the acorn must exist for less than a year because that is how long they are on the tree and so the pupation period and/or the period spent underground by the larva then must be 3 years but what's interesting is I seem to have accelerated this to a few months by putting them in the high temperatures of my house

 

[davehuth]

I had no idea they lived this long from what I've seen the larval period in the acorn must exist for less than a year because that is how long they are on the tree and so the pupation period and/or the period spent underground by the larva then must be 3 years but what's interesting is I seem to have accelerated this to a few months by putting them in the high temperatures of my house

Interesting. How then do the adults fare? Will they eat readily available foods like beetle jellies or dead oak leaves? Or would you have to provide them with acorns on which to feed and lay new eggs? Will they mate if you put them together? Will larger animals take them as a feeder insect? It's hard to imagine how husbandry would work, especially since they are a pest species of oak trees you may not want to be increasing their population or moving them around. But if temperature were the main factor in accelerating their life cycle or booming their populations, this might be something foresters would want to be aware of (if they're not already) as the planet warms. If you discover other things let us know.

 

[The wolf]

Interesting. How then do the adults fare? Will they eat readily available foods like beetle jellies or dead oak leaves? Or would you have to provide them with acorns on which to feed and lay new eggs? Will they mate if you put them together? Will larger animals take them as a feeder insect? It's hard to imagine how husbandry would work, especially since they are a pest species of oak trees you may not want to be increasing their population or moving them around. But if temperature were the main factor in accelerating their life cycle or booming their populations, this might be something foresters would want to be aware of (if they're not already) as the planet warms. If you discover other things let us know.

Well I only had one hatch and it flew off and they are very hard to find so I have put them in my garage till spring so I can experiment further with the reassurance that I can release them to the wild I will be testing which food source they will eat (thanks to your suggestions ) fruit,beetle jellies,oak leaves,young acorns or possibly other nuts or beans and I will try to do a proper experiment on temperature

 

[arachnoherp]

I did this with aquatic beetles before and majority pupated but never hatched, maybe some seasonal changedls maybe necesary with certain insects

 

[The wolf]

I did this with aquatic beetles before and majority pupated but never hatched, maybe some seasonal changedls maybe necesary with certain insects

Ive heard its quite difficult to pupate aquatic insects as they are quite sensitive as are carabids what beetles were they

 

[arachnoherp]

I tried this with 2 seperate species, the first was a predatory water beetle of some sort that eventually got big and stopped eating and didnt molt so i assumed it was ready, i used moist potting soil and placed it inside and iy began to burrow immediately. It pupated next to the glass and over time the pupa turned black and melted so maybe i made it too moist. The 2nd was a larvae of a more herbivorous beetle that almost looked like a caterpillar with hairs all over it. They fed on elodea and hornwort until they got about less then half an inch and started dying for no obvious reason. I gathered the remaining living ones and just as the other beetle did they pupated and died.