# Rice Flour Beetle Homemade Media?



## widmad27 (Aug 9, 2006)

Any body have any ideas on homemade media for Rice Flour Beetles, I was told once that 50% wheat/ 50% white floor, any ideas?

Any other suggestions related to the culturing and upkeep would be helpfull.


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

I do something along these lines:

5 parts whole wheat flour:5 parts white flour:1 part brewers yeast.

I've got some RFB starter cultures available as well if you need them.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I always prepare it with a portion of short grained rice (ground) + the rest of the meals. I add a little algae to eah culture, which the larvae go grazy for and actually turns their inards green. If I'm going out of town I'll add some yeast/pollen mix a week or two before then feed before I leave.
A small peice of the pie for you: Ground soy bean/ unroasted peanuts really give a boost to prodiuction

Rice, hince the name. :wink: 

But they will eat just about anything, dried fruit/meat, nuts, any grain........


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

i have a problem when after I try and strain for larvae, i get chunks of bran or oatmeal or something in it, almost like wood shavings.

I tried to sift through my wheat flour, but it all came through. What's funny, when I sift an existing culture, I come across these "wood/bran shavings"

Where does one purchase soy flour?


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## Homer (Feb 15, 2004)

Try these:

Flour Beetle Culture and Recipes

All about Flour Beetles

It can really be just as easy as unbleached enriched flour. It works, and is almost as productive as all the high energy/mix methods.[/code]


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

just a note, I have been using small amounts of powdered fish food and spirulina and have not had good production at all.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

What's the full recipe being used and in what proportions?

If you give them food high in energy fish food, yeast, pollen whatever the culture will always burn out much quicker.

I've never used fish food, so you may want to forget that part.


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## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

> Any body have any ideas on homemade media for Rice Flour Beetles, I was told once that 50% wheat/ 50% white floor, any ideas?


Perfect, but you do want some brewers yeast in there too, not a lot perhaps a cup. The trick with rice flour beetles is to rotate out old flour. People call us and tell us that their cultures did great for a year or two and then crashed. The crash occurs because the beetles exhaust all the nutrition in the culture. So every few months sift out old flour and add new. Keep em in a deep tub about 19 Liters in size with about 4 inches of flour to the bottom. Keep em uncovered, they can't fly and are poor climbers. Store them somewhere warm and dry and harvest them as you need to.


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