This caresheet should be at least in part applicable to all Apsena, Blapstinus & Conibius species, as well as other desert dwelling micro-tenebs. At the very least it should work nicely as a guideline sheet for rearing these kinds of darklings.
Housing:
A small tupperware, preferably at least 16 oz will work as a starter enclosure, colonies can later be moved to larger containers as needed, honestly a 1-2 gallon container could probably maintain a large colony indefinitely. Adults nor larvae can climb smooth surfaces, so a tight fitting lid is not necessary unless the species in question can fly, (Blapstinus can fly I believe, though I've never seen them do so in person). Just make sure any hides or decor don't reach or touch the top sides of the enclosure, or else some adventurous individuals may escape.
The main enclosure should be very well ventilated seeing as these are desert Tenebrionids, and high air humidity levels can kill adults prematurely.
A layer of substrate at least an inch deep should be provided, and can consist of coconut fiber, sphagnum peat, or a mix of one of those and sand. Whatever you choose should be at least relatively fine in texture, if the substrate is too course they may not feel comfortable ovipositing in said substrate. Sterilized rotten wood and leaves can be mixed in for them to nibble on as a backup food, but are entirely unnecessary in their diet or to induce oviposition.
Most of the substrate should be bone dry, with a third or so kept moist at all times. Alternatively if your substrate is several inches deep, you can go with a vertical humidity gradient, with the bottom inch or two kept moist, and the upper layers kept bone dry. The latter method should allow for larvae to pupate safely within the enclosure, though you'll need a lot of ventilation to negate the higher air humidity levels for adults.
On top of the substrate you should provide hides and decor for adults, while they do burrow a lot in loose substrate, they also spend quite a bit of time roaming around the enclosure and climbing on decor. Eggcarton pieces work great for hides in my experience, and you could also use hardwood bark, cholla wood, paper towel rolls, etc., they aren't very picky.
Diet:
A typical Teneb diet of dog/cat/chick feed, fruits and veggies works well for these, with their favorite foods being the protein/grain based ones.
As I mentioned before, they'll probably nibble on rotten hardwood or leaf litter, but it's entirely unnecessary in their diet, more of a treat than anything.
Temperature:
These species should breed fine at room temperature, (68-74F°), but will breed and likely grow even faster at higher temps, 75-85F°. Temps much above 85F° may be harmful to larvae/pupae.
For southern strains, diapauses are generally not needed. Unfortunately for northern strains though, a winter diapause seems to be necessary for consistent breeding, though only a mild one should suffice. Keeping them in the 65-67F° range and dark during winter works just fine, then when Spring comes just warm them up ten or so degrees (in F°) and extend the photoperiod, seems to get them breeding just fine.
Breeding/Life cycle:
Adults of Apsena and Conibius seem to live around a year, possibly longer, however seeing as they are very small, (3-7 mm depending on the species), plus so fast growing and breeding, it's probable that they aren't quite as long lived as other desert Tenebrionids, like Eleodes, Asbolus, etc., at least that's been my general experience with desert dwelling micro-Tenebs. Blapstinus are even shorter lived in my experience, around 6-8 months at the most.
Females typically lay at least a couple dozen eggs each, usually quite deep in the substrate. At 75-85F°, eggs take only 1-2 weeks to hatch depending on the species, and the resulting larvae mature in 1-2 months under optimal conditions, (with Conibius larvae often maturing within a month).
Once larvae have stopped growing and start actively wandering the surface or rising to the surface as immobile "J" shaped pre-pupal larvae (assuming you're not using a vertical humidity gradient), they will need to be removed and placed in a minimally to moderately ventilated container with an inch or two of moist, compressed substrate. I recommend setting up a 16 oz container like this and placing a dozen or two larvae in at a time.
Active larvae should burrow down and pupate within 2-3 days, pre-pupal larvae will need to be placed on smoothed out, stable substrate to pupate though as they can't burrow much. Pupae only take around 6-8 days to develop, then the adults eclose and dig their way to the surface, sometimes taking as much as 2-3 days to darken up completely, (probably takes another day or two for them to harden up completely).
Adults can be removed from the pupation enclosure as soon as they are spotted, if left in a humid setup too long adults will die, and as long as they aren't still white it doesn't seem to hurt to add them to the main enclosure. If they are still a little teneral they'll just burrow underground for a couple days before coming back up to the surface. Then the cycle starts anew.
So all in all, it seems the time spent from egg to adult is only around 1-3 months, which is pretty short for desert dwelling Tenebrionids. Survival rates of the larvae and pupae seem to be very high, so overall these can be pretty hardy, prolific species that could easily be used as occasional micro-feeders! (Blapstinus excluded, they are too slow breeding IMO). I hope more people learn to love our native micro-tenebs, and that some of them become firmly established in the beetle keeping hobby for years to come!
