WARRIOR BEETLES

[Brandon smith]

I want to set up a colony of warrior beetles in 10 gal or 20 gal tank of ten individuals

I think that will be dope


What do you guys think ?

This is as of now just a wild idea

 

[pannaking22]

It's a cool idea, but if I remember correctly they aren't necessarily the most friendly to one another. A large enclosure with lots of hiding spots would be the way to go. Do you want to breed them too, or just have them for display?

I will say, I don't know a ton about these guys, so I'd wait for others to weigh in on the care and how communal they are.

 

[draconisj4]

I don't believe they are communal, but possibly with enough space and prey it might work. I only have one Pasimachus sp. warrior beetle and it spends almost all it's time underground. It only comes out to hunt and is extremely shy, if it sees me right back underground it goes. I just keep it in about 1.5" of slightly moist cocofiber and sand substrate with a few leaves on top so it has some cover and springtails to clean up the leftovers.

If you are thinking of breeding I remember reading that the larvae will cannibalize so they need to be separated.

 

[ErinM31]

I’ve kept two to three warrior beetles together in a shoebox-sized enclosure with lots of substrate and prey. As has been noted, they spend most of their time underground. I do not believe they harm one another unless there were to be a shortage of territory — they prefer to hunt larvae so another armed and armored beetle is not going to be first choice for prey! It is possible that males may fight over mates or they may have any such challenges ritualized like many species to avoid deaths. I do not know as I kept one male with one or two females. I did not keep these set-ups for long before selling or releasing the beetles (they were local) as I was hoping to breed them and after learning I would regularly have to totally disrupt the adults’ tunnels to look for single eggs to separate lest the adults eat the larvae, it seemed much work for a small yield and low success rate.

I wish you success if you do decide to pursue this (and do record your observations) and, if you’re interested, could probably find some large warrior beetles for you this fall.

 

[Brandon smith]

I don't believe they are communal, but possibly with enough space and prey it might work. I only have one Pasimachus sp. warrior beetle and it spends almost all it's time underground. It only comes out to hunt and is extremely shy, if it sees me right back underground it goes. I just keep it in about 1.5" of slightly moist cocofiber and sand substrate with a few leaves on top so it has some cover and springtails to clean up the leftovers.

If you are thinking of breeding I remember reading that the larvae will cannibalize so they need to be separated.

I think a 40 gal breeder will do the job with enough hiding spots and structures
I had two a Christmas green and a violet purple my favorite inverts next to scolopendra .... Thanks for your insight


If you breed or come across any i will definitely cash you out

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

There’s two Pasimachus species near me I often collect, a smaller one about with violet margins on their elytra and a large black species just over an inch.

I’ve had fair luck with a female heavy group of 1.3 in a 20 gallon. They’re not easy to sex and the group was the result of an initial start with 8 beetles. Males were singled out and removed based on mounting behavior and fighting with conspecifics. Even then females would tussle with each other and the male now and again. Sounds like two marbles clicking together. I never observed any significant damage despite their jaw strength; their armor is fairly significant. As noted above they tend to spend a large amount of time underground in between periods of aboveground activity. They did well with feedings of waxworms or stunned roaches whenever they could be observed actively hunting, which was normally once or twice a week. I did observe a couple first instar larvae when sifting through the substrate, but these disapeared when I went to collect them a few days later. Never observed anything else. Broke down the tank 2 years later at which point 3 beetles were still alive.

 

[Marshall Bennett]

Very true. I agree.