56 replies to this topic

[dermy]

 

Colony continues to grow I have so many videos that are over a month or so old. This video shows their setups currently [or at least as of sometime in Late February]

[dermy]

 

The video at least shows how large my colony is [that's only about 60% of the total Attagenus unicolor I have since I split them into two colonies]

 

I was gonna give them that huge enclosure upgrade but I noticed 2 things:

 

1- They weren't large enough for that container, they breed so slowly that it would take them literally years to even fill any of it.

2- I noticed once they fell off the original spot they couldn't get back up, which would limit the amount of breeding room anyway.

 

I ended up giving the bin [with some modifications such as a big vent on the lid] to my Mealworms.

[dermy]

 

Hopefully that's much better lighting then other videos. I've noticed they've started eating much more food than they used to. Now I have to clean them out every 2-3 weeks [I'm somewhat allergic to their frass/shedded exoskeletons] All frass is put into a different container as to not lose any potential eggs or small larvae.

[AntsMaryland]

So what do the larvae look like? Grubs?

 

(I'm quite ignorant about this)

[dermy]

So what do the larvae look like? Grubs?

 

(I'm quite ignorant about this)

They are really small, kind of like a mix of grubs [they have their legs at the front like grubs would] and caterpillars [because of all the tuffs of hair they have]. Mine have long hairs at the ends of the larvae, some have weird tuffs that even vibrate to scare off parasitic wasps [Anthrenus verbasci]

[you know it's funny this question was hard to answer..... it's been so long that I've been messing with Dermestids that I usually just say "hey looks like a Dermestid beetle larvae :lol:    ]

 

Sorry if that didn't really answer the question much...

[AntsMaryland]

 

So what do the larvae look like? Grubs?

 

(I'm quite ignorant about this)

They are really small, kind of like a mix of grubs [they have their legs at the front like grubs would] and caterpillars [because of all the tuffs of hair they have]. Mine have long hairs at the ends of the larvae, some have weird tuffs that even vibrate to scare off parasitic wasps [Anthrenus verbasci]

[you know it's funny this question was hard to answer..... it's been so long that I've been messing with Dermestids that I usually just say "hey looks like a Dermestid beetle larvae :lol:    ]

 

Sorry if that didn't really answer the question much...

 

Thanks.

 

I was just curious.

[dermy]

 

 

So what do the larvae look like? Grubs?

 

(I'm quite ignorant about this)

They are really small, kind of like a mix of grubs [they have their legs at the front like grubs would] and caterpillars [because of all the tuffs of hair they have]. Mine have long hairs at the ends of the larvae, some have weird tuffs that even vibrate to scare off parasitic wasps [Anthrenus verbasci]

[you know it's funny this question was hard to answer..... it's been so long that I've been messing with Dermestids that I usually just say "hey looks like a Dermestid beetle larvae :lol:    ]

 

Sorry if that didn't really answer the question much...

 

Thanks.

 

I was just curious.

 

Here's the best image I could get with my iPod [the only camera I have at the moment] to at least give you an idea of what they look like, the knife was there to try to show size but I don't think it worked as well as I wanted:

 

[AntsMaryland]

 

 

 

So what do the larvae look like? Grubs?

 

(I'm quite ignorant about this)

They are really small, kind of like a mix of grubs [they have their legs at the front like grubs would] and caterpillars [because of all the tuffs of hair they have]. Mine have long hairs at the ends of the larvae, some have weird tuffs that even vibrate to scare off parasitic wasps [Anthrenus verbasci]

[you know it's funny this question was hard to answer..... it's been so long that I've been messing with Dermestids that I usually just say "hey looks like a Dermestid beetle larvae :lol:    ]

 

Sorry if that didn't really answer the question much...

 

Thanks.

 

I was just curious.

 

Here's the best image I could get with my iPod [the only camera I have at the moment] to at least give you an idea of what they look like, the knife was there to try to show size but I don't think it worked as well as I wanted:

 

Oooh. They look cool. And buggy

 

Are the larvae active?

[dermy]

I'd say they are pretty active, they can't climb much of anything [even a slight incline is impossible for them, like those cookie containers with the middle part all bumped up] I've personally found Dermestes larvae and beetles to be more active but that might just be because of the large size of them.

[dermy]

 

 

Almost time for a container upgrade before spring time (off season for Dermestids, they still do everything they normally do I just focus less time on them and more on outside stuff like ants etc.) I don't have a plan for what I'm going to use just yet but I'm sure I'll find something before too long, still have a month of time left anyway.

[dermy]

 

 

I'm amazed as to how large this colony seems to be. I'm also noticing more adult beetles again which is good

 

 

I've finally got a bin in mind for their Summer home, I still need to work out what I plan to do with it but at least I have something in mind

[dermy]

I finally gave the colony a nice cleaning, I'll be getting them ready for their larger setup come mid May after their 4th Birthday.

 

There's a nice video showing the amount in the colony at the moment. I read a few scientific papers, including one about rearing them in Captivity and under "Lab Conditions" it takes them 8-12 months for an entire Generation

[dermy]

Sorry about like never updating this ever. It's been awhile and I've moved the Colony into a much larger bin, that should last them a few years before they need to be moved/split into other containers. Here's one of the first videos I made when I moved them into said bin vs. the latest (not uploaded yet so I will edit this post when I finally do upload it at like 4am)

 

 

(note it's not timelapsed that's how slow they move btw)

 

Here is the video I said I would upload, funny enough it was uploaded around 4am

(this one was timelapsed by the way)

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

And yes, I have literally uploaded OVER 9000 videos to that channel haha

 

 

I'll try and update this more than I used to since I like this colony a lot. It's been around for over 4 Years now so I must be doing something right. As far as the population, I'm guessing over 1000 now!

Edited by dermy, August 22 2018 - 2:02 AM.

[dermy]

Just a quick video update, this is how slow they are in real time:

 

 

It's almost winter here, so I'll have some plans for them come late September. I still need to clean them out because I'm somwhat allergic to their frass.

[dermy]

It's been quite a bit since I've updated on this "Colony" they are still alive and doing "Okay" for Attagenus standards. I haven't done much with them besides keep them well fed and out of sight. Here is some video from 2019 of them. They honestly haven't grown much in size for an "Update" but I do have a Picture I took of them today when I cleaned them out. I will still make videos on them every now and then. Incl. some that I guess I made a few weeks ago now that I'm writing this.

 

 

 

Here's the picture:

 

Not much changes with these. I basically keep them for the sole purpose of they are Dermestids and are one of the only things that has ever survived everything all my other insects have gone through. Go figure the thing that survives the best is also the thing that breeds the slowest.

 

 

Here is the footage I created in June of 2019 I never did much with them have been using them as "test subjects" for recording sessions.

 

(If you are wondering why it's uploaded to a different channel it's because I needed to upload it but couldn't do so on my main account so I started using a secondary one haha got lots of videos and sometimes I chose priority of certain "Colonies" over others.)

 

I'll continue to update as anything interesting happens. I also revised the title a bit.

[TennesseeAnts]

Are these good feeders?

[dermy]

Are these good feeders?

No, they took me 6 years to grow a colony to the size of perhaps 700+ (might be more might be less but around there) and they don't have much to offer an ant or anything under all that setae.