Technology of firefly culture

Fireflies are named because their tail can emit fluorescent light. There are several kinds of fireflies in China, such as black fireflies, red fireflies, window fireflies, and so on. They can glow at night and can be divided into aquatic and terrestrial species. The glowing adults can attract the opposite sex. Larvae prey on snails and small insects, and like to live in humid, warm and luxuriant places. Let's take a look at firefly culture techniques.

Growth and development of fireflies

According to their living environment, fireflies can be divided into two categories: terrestrial and aquatic, and the former accounts for the majority. Terrestrial fireflies live in places with high shelter, lush vegetation and high relative humidity. Aquatic fireflies are more demanding on the environment, water can not be polluted, can not be polluted by light. Larvae are also divided into aquatic and terrestrial ones, which generally require 6 times of metamorphosis before entering the pupa stage. Larvae like to eat snails and crustaceans, and after catching prey, they will anaesthetize and then inject digestive juices into their bodies to decompose the meat.

Culture techniques of fireflies

1. Feeding equipment: firefly feeding equipment can use wire cages or glass bottles, but pay attention to keeping pores, transparent plastic boxes, and pores, preferably covered with iron yarn. This kind of insect will not fight and bite each other, but can be mixed with multiple worms. You can put some young locust leaves or fresh grass in the bottle, and the mouth of the bottle is covered with plastic yarn, iron yarn or gauze. It is appropriate to maintain a certain degree of humidity in the bottle, but sprinkle a little water every day to supply tender grass or locust leaves before spraying some water and then put in.

2. Bait feeding: fireflies like to eat snail's body fluids most. Every 2 to 3 days, 1 snail can be caught and put into a feeder for its consumption. If it is a glass bottle or transparent plastic box feeder, you can observe how it eats snails. If you keep 10 or 25 fireflies in the bottle, you only need one snail at a time, and if you raise more than 25 fireflies, you can put 2 snails at a time, usually for 15 or 20 days, and if you raise them well, you can keep them alive for a month.

Management of firefly culture

1. Culture site: the firefly culture site should be arranged as close to the natural environment as possible, and the aquatic and terrestrial parallel environment design can be considered. it should be noted that the river slope should be soil for mature larvae to pupate.

2. Terrestrial species: if the firefly larvae are terrestrial species, they should be covered with a fine net to prevent escape, and a vegetable garden can be planted to raise snails to feed the larvae. Most of the larvae of terrestrial fireflies eat smaller snails, of course, there are some exceptions, such as eating only earthworms rather than snails' bicolor fireflies.

3. Aquatic species: aquatic species can build artificial rivers so that the water can circulate, and it is best to have artificial waterfalls to increase the natural dissolved oxygen, but it should be noted that firefly larvae need a slow flow environment. Then raise carp in the river and breed algae from the feces of carp. These algae can provide food for snails, and the larvae of fireflies can prey on these snails, sometimes eating small fish, tadpoles and so on.

4. Adult management: after pupation, most species of fireflies hardly eat or drink, and often only eat dew, honeydew or pollen and nectar. In South America, there are a few species of adult fireflies that glow and prey on other species of fireflies or small phototaxis as food.