Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just received my flour beetle starter culture today, and the package insert says something about a moisture source.

Yet Doyle's website says do not add a moisture source at all.

To those who have kept cultures going successfully...do you add a moisture source? Seems odd that they can survive with just dry flour...

Kevin H.

Trust me, you don't want to add a moisture source . . . you'll kill everything. All you use is enriched UNBLEACHED flour. That's all I've ever used, and my current culture comes from a line of cultures my father and I have been keeping for almost 10 years now.

If you just change the flour every 4 months or so, you'll be fine. I personally use a little sifter that looks like a screen cup with a wire handle (3 for $1 at the dollar store) to scoop 'em out, tap out all the flour into the culture, then I let the larvae wriggle through and drop into another container. Then, I put the beetles back into the culture to lay more eggs. If this is a new culture, it might take a month or two to really get established. If you were sent a well-established culture with lots of eggs, you should be in business.

Best of luck,
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Thanks!

Its still hard to believe they don't need moisture...maybe they get it from the air like epiphyte plants, who knows?

Thanks again.

Kevin H.