LucasDarklingz
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2022
- Messages
- 15
Hello,
This is my first post on this forum and I'm French so forgive me if my English vocabulary and spelling are awkward...
In mid-May, I bought some WC Pimelia sp. from a keeper (Polyped). Actually, this is the second time I've bought Pimelia, and knowing that they're extremely rare beetles in the hobby, I once again jumped at the chance and this time set myself the project of breeding them and producing my own adults.
For breeding, I took inspiration from this document (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21686351.1970.12278016), which explains the life cycle of pimelias really well, and from the work on breeding BDFBs by Dean Rider and Aquarimax Pets.
I'll start by presenting the adult setup, then continue with my method of collecting eggs, how I incubate them and hatch them relatively quickly, and the setup for the larvae.
So this is the setup for the adults :
For the substrate, I basically decided to do one side with 100% sand and the other with a mix of sand, coconut fibre, sphagnum moss and humus, but I'm beginning to realize that I should have layered the substrate instead, putting the sand on top and the mix underneath.. Well, I don't think it's a big deal, considering that the adults are in great shape and live very well on the current setup.
I placed a root to give them shelter at night, knowing that they are diurnal animals and I also installed a ceramic lamp to warm up the installation and they seem to really appreciate it as they spend most of their day slumped in the sand just below.
I feed them mainly with wet bread and kitten food (richer than cat food) and it seems to suit them really well.
I've noticed that my adult females only lay eggs in the sand basically like turtles by moving the sand with their legs, so every 2-3 days I sift the sand and collect the eggs, which I push into a spoon with a brush. You have to be as delicate as possible, as the eggs burst very easily.
I then place my eggs on filter paper covered with a fine layer of sand, and place them in a perforated cricket box, which in turn is placed in a larger airtight box where the humidity is brought close to saturation point. The box is also placed on a heating mat to keep everything warm. With this technique I can hatch eggs in an average of 12 to 14 days, which is surprisingly good to me.
For better understanding, here is picture of it :
Now the setup for the larvae, but first, take a look at my very first larva and other larvae that have subsequently hatched :
I placed the larvae in another, smaller tank. The substrate contains much more organic matter than in the adult tank. There's more coconut fibre and more humus. In two corners of the box I placed plastic tubes to keep everything moist.
I'm more and more reluctant to make another, larger tank with even more organic matter like compost and dead leaves in addition to the current substrate, and perhaps reduce the amount of sand.
That's it, and now the next objective is to grow the larvae and, once that's done, buy a real incubator and start experimenting with pupation.
In any case, I'll try to keep you up to date on what's going on in the farm!
If you have any advice to give me about anything, my methods, my installations, let me know, I'd really like to hear your opinion too!
Alright, see you soon and thanks for reading my first thread!
This is my first post on this forum and I'm French so forgive me if my English vocabulary and spelling are awkward...
In mid-May, I bought some WC Pimelia sp. from a keeper (Polyped). Actually, this is the second time I've bought Pimelia, and knowing that they're extremely rare beetles in the hobby, I once again jumped at the chance and this time set myself the project of breeding them and producing my own adults.
For breeding, I took inspiration from this document (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21686351.1970.12278016), which explains the life cycle of pimelias really well, and from the work on breeding BDFBs by Dean Rider and Aquarimax Pets.
I'll start by presenting the adult setup, then continue with my method of collecting eggs, how I incubate them and hatch them relatively quickly, and the setup for the larvae.
So this is the setup for the adults :
For the substrate, I basically decided to do one side with 100% sand and the other with a mix of sand, coconut fibre, sphagnum moss and humus, but I'm beginning to realize that I should have layered the substrate instead, putting the sand on top and the mix underneath.. Well, I don't think it's a big deal, considering that the adults are in great shape and live very well on the current setup.
I placed a root to give them shelter at night, knowing that they are diurnal animals and I also installed a ceramic lamp to warm up the installation and they seem to really appreciate it as they spend most of their day slumped in the sand just below.
I feed them mainly with wet bread and kitten food (richer than cat food) and it seems to suit them really well.
I've noticed that my adult females only lay eggs in the sand basically like turtles by moving the sand with their legs, so every 2-3 days I sift the sand and collect the eggs, which I push into a spoon with a brush. You have to be as delicate as possible, as the eggs burst very easily.
I then place my eggs on filter paper covered with a fine layer of sand, and place them in a perforated cricket box, which in turn is placed in a larger airtight box where the humidity is brought close to saturation point. The box is also placed on a heating mat to keep everything warm. With this technique I can hatch eggs in an average of 12 to 14 days, which is surprisingly good to me.
For better understanding, here is picture of it :
Now the setup for the larvae, but first, take a look at my very first larva and other larvae that have subsequently hatched :
I placed the larvae in another, smaller tank. The substrate contains much more organic matter than in the adult tank. There's more coconut fibre and more humus. In two corners of the box I placed plastic tubes to keep everything moist.
I'm more and more reluctant to make another, larger tank with even more organic matter like compost and dead leaves in addition to the current substrate, and perhaps reduce the amount of sand.
That's it, and now the next objective is to grow the larvae and, once that's done, buy a real incubator and start experimenting with pupation.
In any case, I'll try to keep you up to date on what's going on in the farm!
If you have any advice to give me about anything, my methods, my installations, let me know, I'd really like to hear your opinion too!
Alright, see you soon and thanks for reading my first thread!
! Looks a lot harder than raising mealworms . Which i currently am doing the beetles don’t live long.
