Blue death feigning beetle setup and breeding progress

[indyana207]

Hi, all! I've been a bit of a long term lurker since I started keeping blue death feigning beetles (Asbolus verrucosus). I recently dug some pretty big larvae out of my terrarium. It was unintentional, but the result is that I got some cool photos of them to share.

I'm currently trying to incubate them; I sort of crushed my own dream of getting these to pupate in the terrarium.



I will try to post some more photos from the past here later, but for now I'll just toss out a link to a thread I've been keeping over on GeckoForums. https://geckoforums.net/threads/blue-death-feigning-beetle-vivarium.108220/

 

[indyana207]

Moving backward in time, these are from August through September 2018. The larvae were already pretty large when I saw them, so they must be ten months or older currently.



Videos

 

[Aquarimax]

Moving backward in time, these are from August through September 2018. The larvae were already pretty large when I saw them, so they must be ten months or older currently.

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Videos

Congratulations! Best of luck incubating the larvae! Interesting that you keep Armadillidium vulgare with your BDFBs. I guess it works because you keep a damp area under that cork bark. Obviously a successful setup for getting larvae to grow up. Well done! I have a very new, similar setup, and am hoping to see larvae soon.

 

[indyana207]

General setup info

• Humid mix in corner and sublayer - 1 part coir, 1 part organic potting mix, 1 part sand
• Mid layer - 2 part sand, 2 part clay, 1 part organic potting mix
• Top layer - 1 part above mid mix, 2 part sand (has been mixed with sublayers some by this point)
• Plant mix - organic succulent potting soil and horticultural pumice
• Plants - Haworthia
• Large aquarium gravel in planted area
• Leaf litter (oak)
• Companion/custodian species - collected pill bugs, psocids (book lice)
• Cork bark tubes and flats
• Buried cork bark and carrots
• Small side heater

Feeding: Repashy Bluey Buffet, Repashy Bug Burger, Repashy Morning Wood, carrots, hard and summer squashes, greens, occasional berries, mango, or papaya, occasional Repashy Chicken Pot Pie or fresh dog foods like Billy + Margot / Fresh Pet.

 

[snellos]

Best of luck to getting them to pupate, I hope someone figures out a good way. I know a zoo just recently did it.

 

[DancingHare]

I just learned about these guys and they seem really cool! I hope you post more pictures of yours!

 

[indyana207]

Progress this season:

• lost both giant larvae that I tried to incubate
  Disturbed them too much? Didn't provide enough humidity? Too much humidity?!
• more small larva are appearing from this season's breeding and egg laying
• lost an adult female this week
• somehow gained another adult?!

Basically, I've just been checking up on my six adults all summer, so imagine my shock when I when I still found six live adults after removing the female that died. No photographic proof, and no idea where it pupated, but it happened. I would think it would be another larva from last year that overwintered and emerged this summer versus a larva from this year growing and pupating that fast...?

Overall, can't wait to keep observing these guys and figuring out more about their lifecycle and preferred conditions. Here's the YouTube vid with visuals (sorry, forgot to snap photos at the time I had them all out).

 

[indyana207]

Updating this same old thread so all the info is in one spot. I got another new adult out of the same enclosure this summer. I dug out the entire cage and found no more pupae, but I did recover six large larvae. These ones, I put into individual deli cups with a mix of dampened soil, sand, cocofiber, and jungle substrate and stuck in my incubator at 89 F.

Three died, but 7-8 weeks later I finally have one that has pupated. Still monitoring the other two...

YouTube:

Adult that emerged in the enclosure earlier in summer.

With my other females (it's the darker one coated in red clay)

A few days later, developing her blue coating.

 

[indyana207]

Update on the pupa in the incubator. It took about two weeks to change to beetle and then another week after that to harden and emerge. It's male, so if it does well in the colony enclosure, I'll have a breeding group next year.

 

[Steph04]

General setup info

View attachment 310155 View attachment 310157 View attachment 310158 View attachment 310159

• Humid mix in corner and sublayer - 1 part coir, 1 part organic potting mix, 1 part sand
• Mid layer - 2 part sand, 2 part clay, 1 part organic potting mix
• Top layer - 1 part above mid mix, 2 part sand (has been mixed with sublayers some by this point)
• Plant mix - organic succulent potting soil and horticultural pumice
• Plants - Haworthia
• Large aquarium gravel in planted area
• Leaf litter (oak)
• Companion/custodian species - collected pill bugs, psocids (book lice)
• Cork bark tubes and flats
• Buried cork bark and carrots
• Small side heater

Feeding: Repashy Bluey Buffet, Repashy Bug Burger, Repashy Morning Wood, carrots, hard and summer squashes, greens, occasional berries, mango, or papaya, occasional Repashy Chicken Pot Pie or fresh dog foods like Billy + Margot / Fresh Pet.

This is awesome! I have a group I'm hoping to breed as well so thank you for the info!
Can I ask what specific soil you use? Most potting mixes have some type of fertilizer in them but I assume you'd want to avoid anything like that..?

 

[indyana207]

This is awesome! I have a group I'm hoping to breed as well so thank you for the info!
Can I ask what specific soil you use? Most potting mixes have some type of fertilizer in them but I assume you'd want to avoid anything like that..?

I was okay with using both generic, unenriched topsoil from local chain stores or potting mixes with only organic fertilizer components, like Dr. Earth brand or similar.

 

[InvertsandOi]

This is such an amazing thread to come across! I've been inactive on these forums for a few years, and fairly stagnant (but not inactive) in the hobby until recently, due to life circumstances. Anyway, the last I heard nobody had figured out captive breeding (to adulthood) for this species. So yeah, this is exciting news! Unfortunately, I'm down to just one individual at the moment, but I'm looking forward to trying my hand at breeding them ASAP. @indyana207 thank you for sharing!

 

[indyana207]

Okay, I have been majorly slacking, but long story short, I continue to produce one adult a year. This year is looking up, and I may see two!

I mostly just fling pictures on Facebook and videos to through YouTube channel, but I am still around if anyone has questions or comments!

Photos:

https://www.facebook.com/indyana207/posts/3010362292584980