Darned if I know, lol. They are in a mixed species desert tank and I just pick out random larvae that look ready to pupate and set them up in an incubation chamber, since my original post I've gotten 4 more Nyctoporis and have 2 pupae that should emerge within the next week. Be curious to see what they are. Hoping for more Nyctoporis, just love the little guysHow'd you do it?! I have like 40 Nyctoporis sponsa, I'd love to breed...
What substrate do you use in your desert tank? What is your typical "incubation chamber" setup?
I just use the desert substrate from Bugs in Cyberspace 1 1/4" deep with a small amount of moist cocofiber covered with a curved piece of cork bark in one corner. I keep them at room temperature. I've noticed that all of the beetles will hang out in the moist corner on occasion even the Death Feigners especially now that the heat is on and the air is dry. I keep a shallow water dish with gravel in it full at all times also. When I notice larvae in the moist corner I keep a piece or 2 of cat food buried there and change it out every day and a half, I also sprinkle some oats and roach chow over on the dry substrate when there's a lot of larvae. I have even seen a larvae rise up out of the substrate and grab a piece of food out of the dry food dish and sink back down,lol.Nice, was wondering if these could easily be bred in captivity!
Sounds like a typical desert Tenebrionid setup then, glad this genus, (or species at least) breeds pretty easily under those conditions!
Thank you very much for sharing this information!
You're welcomeSounds like a typical desert Tenebrionid setup then, glad this genus, (or species at least) breeds pretty easily under those conditions!
BTW, the E.osculans larvae might want a pupation substrate that's either half or completely composed of sand. Or they may not be big enough yet.
. I have Orin's book on darklings so I knew that about the E. osculans, the problem is the larvae look so much alike I can't tell the difference. I just moved one out of the pupation chamber into a setup just like what you described because it had been in there a while and hadn't pupated. It had a bite to eat and promptly buried itself. I feel kind of bad now though, poor thing. I'm going to have to inspect them under magnification, there must be some way to tell the difference.
How long have you had yours and how do you have them set up? You could always try setting up a dry sandy area if you are keeping them in a more moist environment and see what happens. I think the eggs take quite a while to hatch.Interesting... my Nyctoporis were collected far from any sort of desert so I doubt that sort of set-up would work. Great job though!
Were they found in an arid habitat at least? Scrubland or something? If so, I don't see why they wouldn't breed under the same conditions as @draconisj4's.Interesting... my Nyctoporis were collected far from any sort of desert so I doubt that sort of set-up would work. Great job though!
Nope, swathe of oak forest near a river... far from arid haha.Were they found in an arid habitat at least? Scrubland or something? If so, I don't see why they wouldn't breed under the same conditions as @draconisj4's.
Huh, interesting! I'd keep yours more on the moist side then, (but still very well ventilated), and with coconut fiber and leaf litter as the substrate instead of sand.