Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Goliathus Growth & New Fuzzy Darklings!

My Goliathus goliatus have all been growing very well, these things can really grow fast if you keep them on the warmer side and feed them consistently every few days. 😁 I went from having all L1 larvae in December, to having mostly L2s and now some L3s a month later! 😳 Granted, those L1s were all close to molting to L2 already when I got them, and L3 is the larval stage that takes the longest, but still, pretty speedy growth!

Here are some pics of an L2 and then an L3 larva:

L2 larva


L3 larva






The size gain they get with each molt is crazy, and L3s are HUGE! 😲 The L3 in these pics just recently molted to that instar, and so still had a ton of mass to put on as it starts feeding. 😁 Seeing a near pupation, fully fed L3 larva sure will be something!

Thanks to KiwiAustros on Discord, my buddy Junkai Wang, and finally Kyle Kandilian of Roachcrossing, a group of 9 adult Eleodes (Blapylis) littoralis has finally completed their journey going through several hands before making their way to their permanent home in my collection. 😂😁 These are one of the smallest Eleodes species out there, and are another super fuzzy, Californian endemic species, much like E.osculans (though the two are in different subgenera from each other). Happy to have some of these little littoralis in my collection, hopefully they'll breed well for me! 

I've got them set up in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of sand and coco fiber substrate, one third kept humid, the rest dry. I'm feeding them dog food, and will be keeping them at room temperature. With any luck, I should get offspring from them soon!

Here are some pictures of the adults:







Such a cute little species, really looking forward to breeding them and hopefully helping to establish this species in the hobby. 😃

Well, that's gonna do it for today's post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for share! Im going to try that:) just a question please, -Are you using plastic containers? What size?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For the Goliathus larvae? I had them in 8 oz deli cups as L1 and early L2 larvae, then moved them up to 8-16 oz containers for late L2 and early L3. For late L3 I'll probably move them to 24 oz containers.

      Delete