Beetle Thoughts, Notes, Hypothesis & Superstitions
- Females pass on patterns easier than males.
- Males pass on colors easier than females.
- Females are more likely to inherit colors.
- Males are more likely to inherit patterns.
- The only "Named" beetle in the tank will be the first to disappear when crowded! (ok that's a superstition)
- At least in early generations, females are more rare than males. This seems to even out in later generations.
- Testing: Patterns and colors are linked to wild type beetles. Plains beetles pass on more patterns than Burrowing or Speckled. Burrowing pass on more colors than Plains or Speckled.
- Pinks, purples, silver from Plains. Golds, Oranges, tans from burrowing. Greens, blues, black from speckled. Proving to be not so true.
- Testing: A good mix of wild type beetles, early in breeding, will give "interesting" results quicker.
Testing Wild Type Beetle Breeding
Process
Generations from 2 sets of male/female wild type, with only 1 type (burrowing, plains or speckled). All generations "pure" offspring
Visual Colors generated -not scientifically determined (ie think box of 64 crayola crayons)
| Speckled (11 Generations) | Green(Lgt,Med,Drk), Pink(L,M,D), Red, Orange, Teal, Gold, White, Purple, Blue (D), Black, Dusty Rose, Salmon, Bright Blue, gray |
| Plains (8 gnerations) | Gray, Silver, Red, Purple, Lilac, Hot Pink, Grayish Blue, Coral, Salmon(pinker red) |
| Burrowing (8 gnerations) | Brown (Lgt,Med,Drk), Gold, Gray(L,M,D), Blue(D), Olive, Black, Yellow, Orange, Royal Blue, White, Seafoam Green, Lime Green, Purplish Blue, Blue Green (D), Maroon, Yellow-Orange, Green, Teal, Vivid Blue, Cornflower Blue, Dark Red, Tan |
Sculpture Colors generated
| Speckle (11 generations) | Black, Saddle Brown, Forest Green, Dark Green, Maroon, Slate Gray, Dark Gray, Thistle, Rosy Brown, Gainsboror, Tan, Linen, Indigo, Silver, Misty Rose, White Smoke, Gainsboro, Dark Sea Green, Alice Blue, Midnight Blue |
| Plains (8 generations) | Maroon, Midnight Blue, Dark Slate Gray, Dark Red, Brown, Fire Brick, Dark Green, Indigo |
| Burrowing (8 generations ) | Maroon, Black, Olive Green, Saddle Brown, Dark Olive Green, Midnight Blue, Dark Blue, Dark Green, Green, Medium Blue, Navy, Dark Olive Green |
Testing Early Mix of Wild Types
Random Process
Parents placed in terrarium and allowed to breed over 8hrs.
Starting Parents: 1 male/female pair of each wild type (burrowing, plains and speckled). Repeated this 3 times with new wild type beetles each time. Named all beetles from these initial rounds RNDG01 (for "random" and Generation 01) keeping the original serial number as part of the name. Parents of a generation is indicated by a ^ at the end of the generation number. Beginning with generation 4, started keeping up with which tank a beetle was born in and was a parent in.
Example:
A 4th generation offspring born in tank 2 would be called RNDG04T2. If used as a parent in tank 1 the name would be ammended to RNDG04T2^T1. The offspring of this parent would be RNDG05T1, etc.
Selected parents for the new generation based purely on aesthetics. Used 2-3 tanks. Every new generation was started with 1 male and 1-3 females.
Male/Female Numbers
| Generation | Males | Females |
| RNDG01 | 36 | 11 |
| RNDG02 | 37 | 19 |
| RNDG03 | 48 | 24 |
| RNDG04 | 17 | 5 |
| RNDG05 | 42 | 23 |