Beetle Terrarium
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Overview
A Beetle Terrarium is used to breed beetles for the Test of Khefre's Children. (To store beetles without breeding them, use a Khefre's Locker instead.) Beetles in a terrarium will reproduce, providing there are males and females present, and must be kept fed with cabbage. You can use the terrarium to view beetles and their designs.
Sources
This building becomes available after you have learned the Entomology 0 (Skill) from a University of Worship.
Upgrades
- Requires a Thermometer to reduce the amount of cabbage consumed each day by 1/3.
Use
Beetle browsing
You can use the arrows at the bottom of the window to browse the currently loaded beetles. You can also browse through the beetles in your inventory by clicking on the center button labeled "inventory". This is a toggle.
Breeding
You need at least one male and one female to begin breeding. Children beetles inherit (mix) the characteristics of their parents, with a small randomness from mutations. For more information see the Beetle Breeding Guide.
The beetle population amount will not update on its own—you must do something to "refresh" the terrarium beyond just clicking on it, such as clicking the left and right arrows to browse through the beetles.
Cabbage consumption
Beetles eat cabbage while they are in the terrarium. Expect to run through at least 200 cabbage per real life day breeding beetles. Upgrading with a thermometer will cut the amount of cabbage consumed by 1/3 (beetles will only eat 2/3 as much). If you run out of cabbage, the beetles will stop breeding and some will disappear.
Over crowding
Beetles will start disappearing if there are too many of them in the terrarium. It has been suggested that this cutoff begins at about 15 beetles, though the actual population can climb into at least the high 20s. The beetles which disappear can be named ones you've placed in the terrarium, so be especially careful leaving your favorite beetle unattended.
- T7 note - Mass Exodus I had a violent episode of this happen, when I had 80+ beetles in my inventory, and didn't want them to be flooding my inventory list while making beer. I placed them all in the same terrarium & the culling happened at quite a rapid rate. Within an hour, it was down to 36 ~ Koinif
Mulching in the Tank
A new option for Tale 7 was the ability to mulch a beetle while you are looking at it. The fractional amount of Khefre's Essence is stored on the player but not visible until you click on a Khefre's Locker which will have the option Stash my partial Khefre's Essence in the Khefre's Locker. This option will not appear unless you have mulched a beetle in a tank.