A detailed guide to ground beetle farming technology, helping you get started easily
The ground beetle, also known as the soil turtle insect, is a wild insect used in medicine with extremely high medicinal value. Wild ground beetles like to live in dark, damp, loose soil rich in humus, and are generally seen at the base of walls of earthen or wooden houses. However, with social progress, their living environment has been destroyed, and combined with extensive catching, wild ones have become extremely rare. But market demand is enormous, so artificial farming of ground beetles has risen. Let us look below at ground beetle farming technology.
1. Site construction
Ground beetles like to live in dark, damp, loose soil rich in humus, so there are high requirements for the soil when raising them. First, choose garden soil or sandy loam rich in humus, loose and fertile, add some chicken manure, pig manure or plant ash to it, and place it in full sun to make it ready. They fear light, so they generally hide by day and come out at night. The most suitable growth temperature is 28-30 degrees; below 0 degrees or above 38 degrees will cause massive deaths. So when farming, build an environment suitable for their growth. Farming methods include basin raising, cabinet raising and box raising.
2. Larva management
Larva rearing is an extremely critical step in farming. During incubation, keep the humidity of the rearing soil at around 40% and the temperature between 25-30 degrees. After about one month of incubation, the larvae break out of their shells. During the incubation period and larva rearing period, larvae and mother insects must be raised separately, because mother insects often eat the larvae and eggs. When larvae are 1-4 days old, they are in the young instar stage; at this time they are small and weak, so feeding is mainly fine feed. When feeding, evenly scatter the feed on the rearing soil, then turn it into the soil layer 2-3cm to prevent the larvae from escaping.
3. Feeding management
Ground beetles are omnivorous animals. Plant-based feeds include wheat bran, rice bran, oilseed meal, and various melons, fruits and vegetables; animal-based feeds include earthworms, crickets, etc. Feed sources are easy to obtain. They have strict requirements for temperature and humidity. The suitable growth temperature is 25-30 degrees; below 8 degrees they enter dormancy, at 10 degrees they begin to move and feed, below 0 degrees they freeze to death, and above 28 degrees they die from heat. So when farming in summer, supply sufficient drinking water, frequently spray water in the breeding site, maintain the humidity of the rearing soil, and lower the temperature. In winter, keep it dry, feed semi-dry and semi-wet feed, and in low temperatures use straw and other materials for warmth. In spring, keep humidity at 70%-80% to let them grow quickly. During rearing, also pay attention to breeding density: generally at 1 day old, 1.5 kg can be raised per sq m, and as age in days increases, reduce by 0.1-0.2 kg per day.
4. Pests, diseases and natural enemies
During rearing, they suffer harm from various pests, diseases and natural enemies. Diseases mainly include big belly disease and fungal infection disease. The prevention and treatment method for big belly disease is to regulate the dryness and humidity of the feed and rearing soil; moisture should not exceed 10%. The prevention and treatment method for fungal infection disease is to replace the rearing soil, disinfect and sterilize in time, then grind 0.25 grams of tetracycline into powder, mix it into the feed and feed it to cure the disease. Pests include mites, ants, as well as rats, cats, snakes, etc. During farming, pay attention to sealing off the breeding site so other pests have no opportunity to take advantage. For small pests such as ants and mites, apply tung oil or sticky substances on the pool walls; for mites, chemical control is enough.
The above is all the content on ground beetle farming technology. I hope it can help you. To learn more related farming knowledge, please stay tuned to us.