77 replies to this topic

[dermy]

So I decided to make a photo-bucket account so I could share more pictures on here of my Dermy 2014 Season. It's looking good here are a few of my "nest" designs:

This is where Zeoxy's Colony is residing at the moment, won't be too long until I will move her into this bin:

Currently my other colony[mainly just beetles as I keep boosting Zeoxy's colony with all the larvae that come out of it] is in it. Here is a picture through the viewing hole, which is then reclosed to keep the light out.

Here is a picture of Zeoxy's Colony:

So far 2014 is shaping up to be a successful year for Dermestids. Hopefully it is also a good year for other things, like wasps and worms.

Edited by dermy, June 18 2015 - 10:41 AM.

[Crystals]

The larder beetles I found were unable to climb plastic.  I have used those cheap deli sandwich containers, or any container with a flat bottom to give them some room.

Imagine how many you could have in a plastic shoe box. 

[dermy]

Mine can't climb either, I just made these cages to make things more dark and such.

 

I will one day have a whole bin full of these[I hope] and when I do I will show you how much can fit in a plastic storage bin[shoebox]

[Mads]

Go ask any cricket farm for some if you want more. They were a huge hassle when I was producing crickets on a commercial scale.

 

Mads

[dermy]

Thanks Mads, but for this colony, I'm just using what I have[they breed fast enough as is, plus I like their new home, even built them an auto-watering device, that i'll show you all pretty soon.

 

 

[dermy]

It's been a few more days since last update. Yesterday I made a cool new watering system[I'll get better pictures tomorrow]
Here is a picture of a larva drinking out of the watering system and here is the amount of frass that has developed all ready!

[dermy]

Here is my newest idea, Dermy Factories:

Basically you put in a female[or two] and they lay eggs inside[with the food you provide] and the larvae can exit
Here is my whole set[not all of them are in use just the ones in the back]

Edited by dermy, June 16 2014 - 2:52 PM.

[dermy]

That's my small Attagenus unicolor colony, about 50+ larvae! They breed so slow, some sites say they can take up to 200+ days at best and up to 2 yrs if conditions suck!

[dermy]

I just finished boosting Zeoxy's Colony with about 10 more larvae, bringing it up to my boosting goal of 50+ which means all the larvae I find either in the Dermy Factories or anywhere else will be going into colony 2.

[Crystals]

With your Dermie factories, don't the females have to mate after every 2-4 egg batches?

Also, how will you know if they run out of food or die?

 

Is there a problem with just leaving them together in a larger container?

[dermy]

I can open them up[just undue the tape] I checked on them yesterday and they are doing fine. I think what I will do is let them have the first batch or so and add the females back into the colony and take out some of the other females so that way they can mate again and also have a drink or two .

There is not a problem with leaving them In a container I just wanted to mess around with something, ideas and such, but know that it's almost O.F.C. time I may have to re-group the colony and have the two colonies[Zeoxy's Colony and the Mixed Species Colony]

Zeoxy's Colony will not be partaking in the Over-Feeding Challenge as I don't want to mess with them yet.

 

Sorry if it doesn't make any sense, I like to do things "Outside the Box" and such. I'm weird and I'm proud of it

[dermy]

Here are some pics of Zeoxy and her Empire[some of them are of poor quality]
Zeoxy In Her Prime Form:



I added a male to the mix today, so that way Zeoxy can mate again as I'm not really sure if she has laid any new eggs lately[no new larvae etc.]

I'll keep you guys updated!

[dermy]

Here are a few new pics of the Mixed Colony, Dermestes lardarius and Attagenus unicolor:

Here is what I have them working on, all the frass and other material from the old bins of this year, need to clean them out and what better way then with a dermestid beetle colony, so any eggs that haven't hatched/larvae that I haven't collected will be added to this colony, which currently sits at 40+.

[dermy]

There are about 90+ in this colony now, hoping to hit the big 100+ soon!
I have begun feeding them more then 20 pieces of cat food now because I am afraid that If I don't keep them fed they may eat each other or worse eat me! J/K

Anyway I will post some pics up later on of this colony!

[dermy]

Here are a few pictures of the colony:

That one was taken at night time at around 3am

Lots of food, I feel an Over-Feeding Challenge Coming....

That one shows you just how many larvae this colony has, although there are some that are too small to post pictures of. Which is great news because that means there is always going to be new growth in the colony. Which is what I want in a colony like this. Hopefully I won't have any "Bust Cycles" coming this year. Especially since I plan to feed them a whole lot of food.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

[dermy]

More Pictures:

[dermy]

Just thought I'd share with you how small the population was when I started updating with pictures two months ago [67 days to be exact!]
About two months ago, in late May [I think it was around May 22/2014]

Now July 25/2014

The population has [I'm just guessing here] tripled if not more! This colony is going to get massive now with more then 10 breeding females in it! I can't wait to share a picture of them in a month, I will post about the Over-Feeding Challenge tomorrow, as I think they will need more food by then!

[dspdrew]

Soon you'll have enough to clean off an entire human skeleton.

[dermy]

It's even bigger then in that picture now, don't know why they are breeding so fast lately, I haven't went searching for any new ones to boost with, might do that soon.

 

Drew: Ah now all I need is a volunteer for the job, any takers?

[Crystals]

Drew: Ah now all I need is a volunteer for the job, any takers?

 I can think of a few people he wouldn't mind dropping in a hole with them.