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- Prepare a suitable rearing container. The beetles seem to be
unable to fly upwards out of a container, but it's best to err
on the side of caution. A paper napkin can be used to cover the
containers. I use a tall deli cup with a large hole cut in the
lid, and paper trapped under the lid. Write the date the
culture is started on the paper.
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- There are several culture mediums that can be used, but the
easiest is semolina flour, perhaps with some brewer's yeast added
for extra nutrition. This medium is easy to separate from the
beetles and their larvae, unlike something like whole wheat which
has large bits of bran in it. There is no need to add a
moisture source.
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- Simply put the culture medium in the rearing container, and
add some adult beetles. After two weeks, strain out all the adult
beetles, and start a fresh culture with them. In another two weeks
strain the original culture and the larvae should be big enough
to use as frog food. Most frogs will reject the adult beetles,
but some will take them with no problem.
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- If there are adult beetles mixed with the larvae, use a strainer
that has a mesh coarse enough for the larvae to crawl through.
This might sound odd, but it actually makes harvesting them easier.
The wide mesh allows the medium to fall through first, then the
strainer is put over a collecting jar and the larvae are allowed
to crawl through and fall into the jar. The adult beetles
will often tend to crawl upwards, rather than through the mesh,
while the pupae will stay in the strainer. This process can be
repeated until most of the adult beetles and pupae are separated
from the larvae.
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- Use a feeding dish to keep the larvae from hiding in the substrate,
and to keep them dry. They die rather quickly when they get wet.
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- Continue with the two week cycle, but dispose of older cultures
when the medium starts to turn dusty looking. Put the container
in the freezer to kill all the insects to avoid accidental infestations.
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