# Pachnoda Marginata Cocoons



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi guys. I have just purchased the below and would like a little guidance from you sun beetle owners out there. 

Sun Beetle (Pachnoda marginata peregrina) 5 X Cocoons

I just bought them (on a whim as there was minutes to go and they were cheap), now I understand the basics of how to keep these but not how to maintain cocoons. I was planning on keeping them in an exo terra 45 with soil/rotting wood/ leaf litter substrate kept moist as you would with pachnodas. 

My question is really is how should cocoons be kept? Will they be fine within the substrate in the viv described above? How moist are they kept and at what temp? Etc. 

Any help is gratefully appreciated so I can get them straight in to the correct surroundings before they all die. 

P.S. I understand if I shouldn't have purchased these and they will all die due to postage, like I said it was an impulse buy and I didn't have time to question before bidding. 

Many thanks, Tom.


----------



## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

I just had mine in the substrate with other grubs. I house my adults in my day gecko tank but put grubs in a pot of soil with some wood and leaf litter. I keep the soil moist and then just leave them. They hatch after 2-3 months I have found but would probably be quicker if the temperature was increased above room temp.


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Bradley said:


> I just had mine in the substrate with other grubs. I house my adults in my day gecko tank but put grubs in a pot of soil with some wood and leaf litter. I keep the soil moist and then just leave them. They hatch after 2-3 months I have found but would probably be quicker if the temperature was increased above room temp.


Brilliant cheers. :2thumb:


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Just put them below the surface of the soil and leave them to it. As I know you'll be as nosy as I was you can punch a small hole in the end of the cocoon and put it up against the glass so you can see in ;p

Easy way to get your colony off to a flying start is to order in a couple of boxes of grubs and throw them in the soil. They start to cocoon fairly fast.

Careful to make sure there is more than enough room for all the grubs, as they can be cannabalistic if packed in too tightly.

Also make sure to move any cocoons you find on top of the soil away from the grubs as they can chew into them. I used to put mine in a crix box full of soil.

never dig around in the soil once you have adult beetles as the eggs are very sensitive.


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

nicnet said:


> Just put them below the surface of the soil and leave them to it. As I know you'll be as nosy as I was you can punch a small hole in the end of the cocoon and put it up against the glass so you can see in ;p
> 
> Easy way to get your colony off to a flying start is to order in a couple of boxes of grubs and throw them in the soil. They start to cocoon fairly fast.
> 
> ...


Ok brilliant thanks. I'm going to bury these and add some grubs to the mix and then literally just leave them to it adding fruit and what not. Thanks for the clarification, they seem a pretty easy to maintain feeder?


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Very easy to keep but they are fairly slow breeders on the whole.

You could look into putting pairs into crix boxes to breed and then removing them once you think they might have dropped eggs. could be a bit finicky though.

They absolutely love mushrooms for some reason, and I used to throw mine a horsemushroom in once a week or so as a treat. Half an apple burried in the soil is great also, but make sure its under the soil surface or you could end up with fruit flies.

Mashed banana is also a good feed for beetles and grubs.


----------



## Bab1084 (Dec 9, 2011)

as above has said make sure they have plenty of room as i found the grubs kept eating the beetles heads! :| I moved them to a bigger tub with deeper sub and they seem to be doing great now.


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

I have them in a small exo terra with about 5inches of substrate (right up to the doors) so they should be fine. I will however remove a few larvae once numbers start to increase and place them in a separate tub. 

I received these cocoons on Tuesday and buried them about an inch or a bit more straight away, I have kept the soil temp at about 23 with a heat bulb above. I came home today to find a beetle! It had climbed up on the plastic to the bottom of the glass doors but looks very lifeless, hardly moving. I have put it on a piece of banana to see if I can stimulate an appetite but he doesn't seem to have the energy to eat. Do you think this is down to his journey in a box and the cold or possibly something else? He seems to have hatched mind so clearly had enough energy for that unless I was sent a beetle by accident and I also missed it when putting them in but I doubt that. 

Edit: Just gone to take a pic and he's eating the banana so all seems good. Do they tend to freeze as a defence mechanism? 

Here's a pic of the setup currently, I will add more wood/bark on the surface and more sticks etc but I wasn't expecting beetles so soon, the person I bought from said between 1-2 months! Any suggestions on the setup?










Here's a pic of the mystery beetle.


----------



## kiansmum9 (Jun 8, 2009)

ive done a mix of organic soil.dry and fresh oak leaves which I broke up with my hands to small pieces,ive also got a bin outside which ive made another batch,so the oak leaves will rot...I use rotted wood pieces for them too hide under..i keep my pachnoda grubs,beetles and cocoons in seprate containers as they tend to nibble.i havnt used heat mats or lighting until today and found my pachnoda beetles have been busy laying larve <3
Ive just put a heat matt under my cocoon tank which has 4inches of substrate and slightly buried them,im hoping they will hatch soon xx


----------



## Podlet (Jun 11, 2018)

Hey, I'm new to the keeping of bugs. I got some pachnoda caccoons in a box with substrate and leaves. 

One of the caccoons has gone hard (the others are kinda soft) Is this normal or did i have the light too hot for it  really worried?


----------



## Podlet (Jun 11, 2018)

Podlet said:


> Hey, I'm new to the keeping of bugs. I got some pachnoda caccoons in a box with substrate and leaves.
> 
> One of the caccoons has gone hard (the others are kinda soft) Is this normal or did i have the light too hot for it  really worried?


Never mind i have seen some movement <3 

So the cocoon hardening is just part of the process ^_^ guess my other 2 have a while yet.


----------

