DERMESTID BEETLES: Information on Bedding Materials verses Pupating Materials in Beetle colonies

What is bedding and what are pupation materials in a Dermestid colony?

My book provides this information but I did not mention cotton as this is a relative new bedding material but recycled cotton batting from mattresses has been used for years. With changing times this recycled material is hard to find.

Bedding material is the portion of the beetle living area that they travel in, hide and rest as well as collecting in large and small groups. 

An example is areas under feed boxes or in old used up Styrofoam. If you raise a feed box you will probably see large numbers of larvae in very small areas. These insects spend time in this type of group. These areas are called galleries and can hold hundreds of larvae at a time. I have no idea if it is for warmth or just a bug thing but it routinely occurs.

A relatively new addition has been added to the bedding material and that is cotton balls, but cotton batting has been around for years. The bugs are drawn to it and will use it for small or large congregations and hiding just as they use newspaper and the other common bedding materials.

Cotton is is NOT pupation material for Dermestids

Cotton provides no physical barriers for larvae protection. Normal pupating materials for Dermestid larvae in the wild is wood, soil, or any other material that they find that protects them from the elements and provides a safe place to pupate.  That would be most any area that they can burrow into and is free from other dermestids. Any dermestid larvae will potentially cannibalize pupa if they are vulnerable.

 If the larvae cannot find a safe spot right away, they can delay pupation for several weeks but at some point they simply find a spot and go into pupation.

In captivity there are few options besides what the colony owner provides. A few items that make a safe environment would be clean Styrofoam blocks large enough to handle a large number of insects or several, corrugated card board can also work, wood blocks,(not cedar or other woods heavy with pitch or aromatics) Most any hard wood will fill the need. Each item has a draw back and the easiest to work with is probably Styrofoam.

When Styrofoam is used you need to understand that it no longer serves the purpose when it no longer has no open areas available. As in space for non-connecting burrows.

At that point you would need to add more Styrofoam and clean the old pieces out of larvae that have turned it into communal housing. By this time, no pre-pupal larvae will select it as a pupation area, instead they go to the deeper part of the bedding and start the process of pupation. This behavior happens because it is the only marginally safe place they can find. When this happens you will have a high mortality rate of pupating larvae due to cannibalization, potential disease in the stressed larvae as well as loss of body mass resulting from the delay of pupation. These situations result in very high death rates and fewer adults. 

All rights reserved © 9/18/2017 JALong

HUMIDITY, DERMESTID BEETLES AND MITES - some facts some fiction

             HUMIDITY ATTRACTS MITES?

New post on Humidity and Mites. I may jump around a bit but this info will help you understand mites what their needs and limits are.

I have discussed water and the need for it to have a thriving colony. The only problem much of what we read and hear is that you have to keep the humidity of your colony down to prevent attracting mites. The key word is attracting...if you have high humidity that will not cause an army of little mites to come marching into your bugs world....can't happen!

The information I am providing here comes from some of the literature that I dug up when writing the Dermestid Beetles book at the same time I am going to try to

 

                              debunk some common "facts". 

In a lot of online communities there is a great big wad of information that is passed around as being fact but much of it isn’t entirely true to totally bogus. It is time to add some real information  to the mix.

I have written a couple of sheets on watering read those to see what happens if your colony doesn’t get enough water. Even if you are feeding relatively moist food it might not be enough so use the paper towel over the bones spritzed. If no one shows up you are ok..if they do show up even in modest numbers some of the bugs are not getting enough to be satisfied…if those are adults then make sure they get more water.

Make sure that you do not spritz the bedding as it needs to stay as dry as possible.
This is a personal opinion but I don’t think that you should do much in the frass as it disturbs the derrmestids and can uncover pupating insects subjecting them to being consumed. However you do need to occasionally check to see if the bottom is getting hard and compacted. This is a sign that the frass is retaining moisture in that area which will create more odor and the potential of an unhealthy raise in humidity.

Have you ever seen this? “ Mites love high humidity and dermestids like it dryer” …This statement is not entirely right. Mites do require higher humidity to survive and flourish but Dermestids like the same type of environment. In the wild both species will live side by side on the same carcass. Dermestids however, can withstand a much lower humidity due to their hard shell which keeps the loss of water down.

                                                    Next Item on the agenda is

"high humidity in the colony will attract mites, OH REALLY?".

Here are the facts - Mites have the need for humidity above 50% to thrive…I will not say that all age groups need this high of humidity to survive. There is one stage of Lardoglyphus zacheri nymphs that can survive in low humidity for an extended period of time…. this form of nymph is extremely small and almost impossible to see without a microscope. They only occur when the mite population is stressed and has the need to find better food and or living situation due to over crowding and excessive waste build up.

These small creatures need transportation because of their size, and delicate structure. This is where the dermestids come in…over time mites have developed a relationship with our beetles because they need the same foods and basically the same environment to survive. When food starts running out adult derrmestids start leaving a carcass the adult mites attach themselves to the dermestids anterior area under the wings……. from there they will be transferred to a new home as the beetles migrate out. As far as I know and nothing I have read implies this transport is done only by dermestids. Some have stated flies may carry mites too but the timing between dermestids and flies using a carcass doesn't work. By the time dermestids finds a new place to move into flies are long gone.

Do you know anything about how mites travel? They use dermestids because they are unable to travel very far as they are too small and delicate to crawl anywhere …So, how do they get into a colony? There are a couple of ways that these pests arrive and most of the time we, the colony owner are responsible.

So how do mites get into a colony? They cannot walk in on their own. We bring items that are infested into the area that the colonies are kept. Those skulls or carcasses or other high protein foods can have infestation of either mites, dermestids or both. What can happen then is not a good thing.

One dermestid beetle carrying three or four mites can wreck a colony in just a month or two and you just brought in wild derrmestids and mites into where they can infest the entire environment. If you have work spaces that have potential food you can have mites everywhere if the humidity allows. Essentially they will colonize an area and as the population grows they can expand and be present on surfaces and areas where they feed. As items and skulls are        moved and transported the mites will go too.

If you have placed your colony in an environment that is not bug proof..then wild derrmestids can find your colony just by following the smell of meat and decomp. You then pick up that bug and stick him into the colony thinking it was an escapee…you just infested your colony.

Or that wild dermestid just wanders around looking for a way into you bug house and about this time that little mite crawls off and goes into your colony, now you have mites.

If you work with raw skulls, at some time you will come in contact with mites, they can get on your skin or clothing. After that, you go and place something in your colony or perhaps near it. These mites are so small and hard to see or feel, you will have no inkling you are transporting mites so you just Infested your colony.

Humidity inside a colony will NOT attract mites…unless they are already there. 

I have also read statements by people saying that food or water attracts mites…….Does this sound right to you? Where are they coming from? Outside? The carcass half a mile away? Maybe the dead mouse under your porch? Not likely.

Those little guys can maneuver very short distances but there is no way that they are capable of going any real distance on their own and they do not just appear outside the door and walk in unless they are piggy backing on a dermestid or on you.

Prevention is the name of the game when dealing with humidity and potential mite infestation. because curing a colony of mites is close to impossible unless you use things such as the mite away strips but these miticides are nasty, and if your colony is in a full-blown infestation your bugs will have been weakened and the cure can quite possibility kill the colony.

You can help your self by keeping humidity under 50 % and being very careful about potential contamination by working with skulls in close proximity to your colonies.

Holding back water to keep humidity down is not a good practice, it is better to increase ventilation. High humidity is not a problem for the dermestids but if you are not super careful with your procedures it can set you up for a mite infestation.

Freezing everything that goes into your colony is absolutely a must. Three days minimum and the temps should be below 0 degrees to be sufficient to kill all pests.

Here is a prevention tip for taking care of your colony, always keep the substrate dry; keep the paper towels and specimens wet and never go from working with the raw product then go to the dermestid colony. If you do you may just be infest it with mites. The last tip is keep your work place cleaned and washed down to kill any unwanted pests and it will also keep down the bacteria.

A really smart protocol is to never go near your bug area if you have had close contact with any raw item until after you have washed you hands and changed your clothing.

Watering Dermestid Beetles - is it necessary?

Dermestid Beetles and their need for water.

I thought it would be a good thing if I did a follow up on beetles and water. If you do not provide free water your skulls or other products that are fed need to have a moderate to high water content. I do not mean the flesh you are providing should be dripping wet but soft and moist is important.

Preventing mites by water denial can be counter productive.

I know a lot of dermestid owners do not provide water when the humidity is high in fear of mites and other problems in the colony. Yes, humidity over 50 percent can be an issue but if you know what you are doing and WHY these problems happen then it is not likely that you will have an infestation of mites.

So, what happens when you try to keep the humidity down by feeding your bugs dry meats and not providing water? First, the bugs will not do a good job of skull cleaning because they do not like mummys. They will consume everything that is easy and then leave the skull, or they turn to eating the most vulnerable in your colony......the pupating larvae and eggs. If that goes on for too long your replacement adult numbers drop and your colony growth stops or even worse it shrinks.

Lack of water can also cause a slow down of dermestid egg production. 

With no extra water than is needed for survival the bugs economize and save their body fluids for themselves...not a lot of eggs will be produced.

If you treat these insects as livestock and an important part of the processing of skulls and bones, you need to consider how to avoid problems. You need to invest in maintaining an environment that they will be safe and healthy so they can do the job you ask them to do..