firebrats?

[Orin]

I got a culture of these years ago and they lived forever but I think I saw all of two babies. Anybody successful with these and how did you get and incubate eggs?

 

[petoly]

why do you need firebrats? these guys are a pain in the ###### to breed. A culture takes 6 months before it starts producing. To breed them you need temps of 110-120F a good way to do it is to have the firebrats in a large critter keeper, cover the top with a mesh (like nylons) inside the container you want a substrate of wheat bran, a shallow dish of water with a little bit of mesh on top to prevent the firebrats from drowning, some egg cartons and cotton balls (that's where they lay their eggs). Place the critter keeper in one of those styrofoam containers. drill a couple of holes in the styrofoam insulating container for ventilation...literally a couple.not too many so the heat disperses. you will have to trian and error this till you get the right amount. Wrap some heat cord around the inside walls of the styrofoam container. Connect the other end to a thermostat, Place styrofoam lid, let incubate. feed them fish flake food twice a week. doubleds.org currently has firebrat cultures for sale.

 

[Bug Trader]

I leave them in large cultures to produce, roughly a hundred adults or so in 7x7x4" containers. Keep them dry and hot, I keep the containers on heat tape and make sure they are vented otherwise their source of water will build up humidity, I put a small 1oz cup with a couple soaked cotton balls for water and keep them wet, As for substrate I prefer the cocosoft as its dark colored and allows me to see them better than in straw or excelsior to judge the numbers. I feed out high protien high carb foods like fishflake, cichlid food, marine pellets, pasta and others stuff sparingly. The breed pretty regularly for me, the key to keeping an established culture is waiting until its booming then just simply split it in 2 and continue this. I use one to feed and one to reculture.