Mantichora

[Carlos.e]

I've seen a lot of photos of this beetles, and it seems that people keep and breed them.
-Anyone in this forum has kept that insects?
-Or anyone knows anything about keeping them?
I think they are carnivorous, but surely they look amazing.

Thanks for all.
Carlos.

 

[Steven]

Yes they are carnivorous, but can be kept in small groups together,...
i used to have 2 males and 3 females living together,... they are also quite long-lived for beetles,... awsome hunters and very intresting to keep as pets,...
i've seen them mate every week (or maybe every day) but i haven't had succes in getting any offspring,... i've kept them rather dry with 1 moist spot in the tank,... temp aprox 24°C orso. i've fed them many different stuff,... going from crickets to worms to dogfood

here some old pictures (last year)

 

[Carlos.e]

They are really beautiful...

More questions:
-Do they need a large terrarium to live in?
-Are they expensive?
-What is the humidity in your tank?
-Does anyone knows how are their larvae?
-How long are they?
-...Do you have more photos? They are incredible beetles.
-And a friend asked me what camera were you using.

Thanks for that quick reply Steven.

 

[beetleman]

of all the predatory beetles ive had,or have at the moment,the manticora is one i don't have.....yet. hopefully soon,but where i am they are almost impossible to get ,been waiting for sometime,i can wait alittle more,they are the most awseome predatory beetle out there:drool: :clap: :worship:

 

[Stylopidae]

That is amazing! I've now no need for anthia (although with my current time restrictions, I have no time for new bugs anyway)

Steven, have you ever considered making porn?

 

[aggie08]

It's easy to keep the humidity up, but how to you keep it dry inside a terrarium?

 

[Gigas]

Those mandibles look a tad un weildley for a predatory beetle lol, do they have a strong grip?

 

[Thiscordia]

Sup guys... Can anyone hook me up with some links where I can buy beetles? because all the one that I've found so far are for dry beetles.I'm in california by the way

Thanks

 

[Peter_Parker]

Boyyyy, if only I could get my hands on a pair of those, I'd probably go crazy! I'll settle for anthia (which are a tad easier to get here in the states), but the real master is mantichora! :worship: Here's a question tho: is "cicindelidae" and carabidae to seperate orders, or is the first one a suborder of the second? On at least one site I've seen, they seperate the two, but it may just be for the customer's shopping convienence

 

[beetleman]

Yes they are carnivorous, but can be kept in small groups together,...
i used to have 2 males and 3 females living together,... they are also quite long-lived for beetles,... awsome hunters and very intresting to keep as pets,...
i've seen them mate every week (or maybe every day) but i haven't had succes in getting any offspring,... i've kept them rather dry with 1 moist spot in the tank,... temp aprox 24°C orso. i've fed them many different stuff,... going from crickets to worms to dogfood

here some old pictures (last year)

man!!! just look at those awesome beetles!! every time i see more pics of them it makes me want them even more,it's the one pred.beetle i don't have:drool:

 

[Carlos.e]

Ok, and can you tell me another species of carnivorous beetles wich are more easy to find that matichoras?

 

[Peter_Parker]

Ok, and can you tell me another species of carnivorous beetles wich are more easy to find that matichoras?

The only large carnivorous beetles that are easier to find here are those anthina (or is it antina?) spp ground beetles from African, also called the "domino ground beetle" you see them sold every now and then for like 30 dollars.

 

[beetleman]

yeah, i have 2 of those anthias at the moment(anthia sexmaculata)aka domino,(i want more)also there are the fierysearchers(catapiller hunters)pasumachus ground beetles,these are native ssp. and ofcourse the predatory diving beetles(dytiscus) they are so aggressive,tiger beetles etc. but some are hard to come by,gotta hunt for them or just keep your peepers on the classifides,you never know what someone has,just last week someone wanted to trade a very large dytiscus and man i jumped on that deal,this diving beetle is HUGE! so just keep your eyes open and you will see.

 

[Peter_Parker]

On what board were they selling dysticus?? lol just curious

 

[beetleman]

On what board were they selling dysticus?? lol just curious

it was right here on arachnoboards classifides it was there for 1 day ,so i jumped on it,i though maybe somebody would beat me to it,being it was a giant dytiscus.you could also try carolina biological supply they always have them on their list,but i'm not sure of the exact ssp. though.

 

[Peter_Parker]

Just curious as to what board it was on (I thought it might have been some offlandish board that I'd never heard of, LOL )

 

[Carlos.e]

Thanks for all, the last question...
Where can I buy carnivorous beetles here in Europe?

 

[beetleman]

Just curious as to what board it was on (I thought it might have been some offlandish board that I'd never heard of, LOL )

it was on here arachnoboards(classifides/sale/trade)about 2weeks ago

 

[beetleman]

Thanks for all, the last question...
Where can I buy carnivorous beetles here in Europe?

there is proberly alot of dealers(uk)that will have some ssp. more there than here in the US,we just have the native ssp. but overthere you can get manticoras/anthias when they are in season,i think BUGSDIRECTUK has them from time to time.hope this helps alittle.