Help me out here, with my darkling beetles...

[CustomNature]

Hi guys, I am hoping someone might be able to help me here with their own experiences or knowledge. I have 8 of the really large darkling beetles from Texas. Eleodes Sp. I believe. Anyways, I've been trying to breed them for about 7 months now and I'm still not seeing any eggs or worms or anything. What am I doing wrong?? I have them in a tank with a peatmoss bedding and a food dish with plain rolled oats. I also have another small dish with water-gel for their water source. I keep the substrate very dry, and I provided a half of a flower pot for a hiding spot. I see the beetles mating quite often; and at the last reptile show I put one in a deli cup to sell, and when I took it out upon arrival, there were eggs everywhere in the cup... so I know they're producing eggs. What do I do from here, also WHAT should I be looking for, and WHERE should I be looking for it? Any info would be greatly appriciated! Thanks! :?

 

[packer43064]

The worms will be really small, like microscopic, but for 7 months you should have seen somethign by now. It might be too dry maybe, living in texas probaly makes it badder too. Do you ever try looking for them like digging through the substrate and look for them.

 

[CustomNature]

well I dont actually live in Texas. I live in north east Pennsylvania, it's just that the beetles are from Texas I think. I have looked a few times in the substrate for them but didnt find any movement or life or anything. I figured it might have been too dry as well so I kept it a bit more humid.... then I ran into more problems. I was burrying some of the oats in the substrate so the worms would have something to feed on... but when I upped the humiditys... the burried oats all got moldy. Should I take the oats out of the soil??

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

try old leaves and dirt and a log and only feed dog food on top of the dirt not under it larvae will find the dog food on the surface and oats aren't the best thing and I'm guessing you don't have Invertebrates-Magazine Vol.1 Issue 1 with an article detailing how to rear big darklings good luck