# Bean Weevil tips?



## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Hi, just got a culture of bean weevils as a surprize...any of you have tips for culturing, or how to best separate the weevils from the loose beans?

I did a search, and it came up with a couple threads, but for some reason, the pages wouldn't open for me.


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

Hi Brian,

These are incredibly easy to culture IME. They do well in a 32 oz vented FF cup, an inch or so of black eyed peas. I toss a crumpled coffee filter in the culture to collect the beetles, much like with RFB. They seem to cycle every 2-3 weeks for me. 

Jason


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Thanks!
No added moisture? Just dry beans?


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## philthelizard (Sep 24, 2006)

What do you mean by 'bean weevil'? Are you talking about the cowpea brucid (aka cowpea weevil), _Callosobruchus maculatus_?

phil


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

philthelizard said:


> What do you mean by 'bean weevil'? Are you talking about the cowpea brucid (aka cowpea weevil), _Callosobruchus maculatus_?
> 
> phil


HRRMMMM....don't know  

If I were an entymologist...would I have needed to post the question? :wink:


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

> No added moisture? Just dry beans?


Yup, just the dry beans. I should amend my comments about the cycling- more like 3-4 weeks.


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

There are some tips on the following thread, this link should work:

food-feeding/topic36888.html


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## philthelizard (Sep 24, 2006)

Hey now ... I was just checking. You never know, some common names are used for multiple species. Plus, I have never heard of anyone feeding these out. I have some buddies that work on these guys, so I have to get a culture from them. I also used to culture them in a lab I worked in as an undergrad. They are super easy to care for. Just throw black-eyed peas at them and they are happy. We used to fill up a Mason jar, with a screen lid, and their numbers would keep multiplying like crazy. However, the thread that Corpus Callosum posted is very helpful. I really like the coffee filter trick. That will be really helpful, especially because these beetles are super fast climbers. Thanks for all the info!

phil


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

philthelizard said:


> Hey now ... I was just checking. You never know, some common names are used for multiple species. Plus, I have never heard of anyone feeding these out. I have some buddies that work on these guys, so I have to get a culture from them. I also used to culture them in a lab I worked in as an undergrad. They are super easy to care for. Just throw black-eyed peas at them and they are happy. We used to fill up a Mason jar, with a screen lid, and their numbers would keep multiplying like crazy. However, the thread that Corpus Callosum posted is very helpful. I really like the coffee filter trick. That will be really helpful, especially because these beetles are super fast climbers. Thanks for all the info!
> 
> phil


Yeah, I got ya...I would have threw up the exact name if I had known it? Just being freindly-sarcastic about it :wink: 
Corpus Callosum, thanks for the link!


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## philthelizard (Sep 24, 2006)

Yea, me too  . Thanks for the thread!

phil


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## adrian72 (Mar 5, 2008)

Dancing frogs said:


> Hi, just got a culture of bean weevils as a surprize...any of you have tips for culturing, or how to best separate the weevils from the loose beans?
> quote]
> 
> If you don't mind me asking, were do you buy your culture of bean weevils from? I would like to offer my frogs a menu of goodies.
> ...


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Geez these things have so many common names it's not even funny anymore... Been Weevil, Bean Beetle, Cowpea Weevil/beetle/bruchid, Seed Beetle, mix and match the words to come up with other varieties.... all are _Callosobruchus maculatus_. They are not a true weevil, but due to their habits of drilling into seeds and a slight body shape similarlity they are commonly mislabled as such (tho I've seen the Bruchids called SEed Weevils... which I just find confusing and why I hate common names).


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## Catfur (Oct 5, 2004)

KeroKero said:


> Geez these things have so many common names it's not even funny anymore... Been Weevil, Bean Beetle, Cowpea Weevil/beetle/bruchid, Seed Beetle, mix and match the words to come up with other varieties.... all are _Callosobruchus maculatus_. They are not a true weevil, but due to their habits of drilling into seeds and a slight body shape similarlity they are commonly mislabled as such (tho I've seen the Bruchids called SEed Weevils... which I just find confusing and why I hate common names).


I'd bet they got called seed weevils because they were infesting farmers' stocks of dried seed beans, as opposed to fresh beans for market.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Yup, and the more general "seed" term is also used because they infest more than just cowpeas...

I've been working up a caresheet for these guys at the feeder bug guide I've been working on, but I've been really lax about it due to overtime at work and the fact that there is excellent information already out there. *sigh* Guess I really should spend some time this weekend.


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## bellerophon (Sep 18, 2006)

This is exactly why I individually name all of my bugs to avoid this type of confusion.... :wink: 
I'm gonna need a few more books of baby names :roll:


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

You know what, I thought about doing the same... but then my FFs hatch and there are more bugs in that culture than there are names in the baby book. So I started using a webster's dictionary.... thought it would improve my vocabulary. I try and call them by name, and now I sound like a drunk genius at a spelling bee.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Can anyone tell me if Great northern beans will work OK?
My local grocery store only had these, and a couple others, none that were mentioned in the link on the other thread...
I'd hate to have my starter culture die from having unsuitible beans, so let me know if I need to take a trip into civilization :mrgreen:


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

May have to take a trip into civilization... just a dried bag of black eyed peas/cowpeas works fine, or dried mung beans. I've even got dried black eye peas at my local groceries :lol: But you can get a bag of supermarket brand BEPs for a buck or so. Adzuki beans can also be used but have longer generation times (7wks at 30C compared to 3-4wks). Other beans have little to no success.

Just buy the beans in decent amounts and store them in an air tight container. I put about an inch in a 32oz FF culture container, so buying a pound or so can last a good while. I just bought the small bag to figure out how many cultures I could make from that much, and have bought bigger bags since I've developed more cultures and know how much I need.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Dancing frogs said:


> Can anyone tell me if Great northern beans will work OK?


Just in case someone has this same question, and searches and finds this...the answer is no.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

To expand on that... the only beans you'd really be able to use are mung (_Phaseolus aureus _= _Vigna radiata_) , blackeye peas/cowpeas (_Vigna unguiculata_) and adzuki (_Phaseolus angularis_). Generation time varies by bean used... adzuki taking longer than mung bean,etc...

Black eyed peas are recomended because they are one of/the best bean performers for culturing this species, is widely available in good amounts in it's dried form, and is also cheap!


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## Detrick105 (Apr 16, 2006)

I put my culture in the fridge for about 20 minutes to slow the beetles down. Helps to slow down any flyers and climbers. I also use card board tubes instead of coffee filters. Just thought I'd mention how I culture them (more like how I feed out of the culture).
Steve


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

You have flier issues? I know they can fly, but I rarely have seen their wings (and I even tossed them across the room to test... works with roaches  ).


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

I have them flying around my house.
They are great little escape-artists and I recently discovered they can wrigle and wurm themselves out of containers with lids that aren't very tight :? (my box of stored beans was turned into one giant booming beanweavil-culture :roll: )

they do not tend to fly when I feed them out, but maybe they get tired of walking around after a while and decide to try out the flying thing :wink:


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

If you set out a batch of beans outside...could you draw in wild cowpea weevils?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I guess in theory if you were in the right area, and really in the country... they are generally something you'd be more likely to find infesting your pantry more than anything if you were in the country and not using airtight containers.


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## Ed Holder (Sep 26, 2008)

Ok so BEP's are the best medium but nobody mentions how many beatles to add to new cultures. So how many should i add to new cultures?

Ed


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## salix (Mar 28, 2008)

Ed Holder said:


> Ok so BEP's are the best medium but nobody mentions how many beatles to add to new cultures. So how many should i add to new cultures?
> 
> Ed


From what I've read, the best mediums for them (first to last) are; mung beans, adzuki beans and finally black eyed peas.

I'm currently experimenting to test it myself. The peas are readily available at most grocery stores. After some looking around, I found the other two in bulk at my local natural foods store. I put a third cup of each bean and put thirty beetles into each cup (I counted them out  ). I'm now waiting for results. So far none of the cups have bloomed and have very little activity. I'm starting to worry I'll have to get a new starter. Although the first one I bought is still pretty active with beetles.

Deb


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