# Dynastes tityus grubs!



## kitty_b (Jun 20, 2007)

so my female has been laying eggs for a while now. today i went through to search for new eggs, since it had been about a month since the last search.

some of the old eggs have dried up and "disappeared" into the substrate, but several were still unhatched in the egg container. surprisingly, i found about 20 eggs in the female's tank, along with 2 small grubs (one blue and dying unfortunately) and 1 hatching grub.

so now i have LOTS of egg containers. it's all mainly a mixture of compost, leaf mold, and dog food. hopefully more will hatch soon. i wonder if they were better off in the main tank, though, since none of my previous eggs have hatched but i somehow have new grubs. :?


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## Elytra and Antenna (Jun 21, 2007)

If they dried up in your egg containers they'd be better off in the old tank. Egg containers must be damp and contain good substrate. Also, dog food is only used for feeding grub that are eating, not mixed in as substrate.


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## kitty_b (Jun 21, 2007)

i may slip them back in along the corners in the pack substrate, then. it just seemed like most people separate them, but it doesn't seem to be beneficial in my situation. it's not even like i put a lot of ventilation in the containers to cause drying. it just... did.. in a closed jar. :?


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## loxoscelesfear (Jun 21, 2007)

once your eggs hatch and you have grubs : collect decaying wood and some leaves.
bake the wood and leaves at 250 degrees for 3 hours to kill wire worms etc .

keep 15 grubs or so in gallon containers w/ 50/50 ration of top soil to compost manure
mix plenty of treated wood and leaves into the container and let the grubs be.
add food as needed, mist the soil occasionally.
my eggs hatched last September and now I have some monster tityus grubs that should change over to adults by September or so.
They  ate dog food , but dog food molds within a couple of days.
Adult tityus love apples soaked in diluted syrup.  Good luck!


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## kitty_b (Jul 3, 2007)

i've moved the grubs and eggs to a 10 gallon tank filled with a 1:1 ratio of organic compost and fine hardwood mulch (both sterilized of course). moistened it up really good and let it cool down for a day before the transfer. several of the eggs had hatched, so now i have about 6 grubs (all still relatively small) and over a dozen eggs (some about to hatch, i think). i still need to do the bi-weekly search through mama's cage. 

this has definitely been an interesting learning experience. i hope i end up with a decent number of grubs that make it to adulthood.  

i want a beetle army!


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## beetleman (Jul 3, 2007)

ahhh yesss!! a beetle army:worship: ...........i like it.


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## kitty_b (Oct 15, 2007)

well, it's been several months. the female passed away, and i moved everyone into a 10 gallon tank of 50% organic cow compost and 50% rotten wood mulch. kept it moist, and let it sit. last week i noticed something against the glass...

i decided to replenish the organic "food" available by mixing in a generous amount of rotten wood mulch. upon digging through the tank, i found at least 22 grubs, ranging from 1.25"-2" in length. one little bugger even bit me! 

so it looks like my beetles' legacies will live on. it'll be a while before i have an army of beetles, though.


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## driver (Oct 15, 2007)

i'm jealous, beetles are at the top of my wanted list. funny though, they're probably the least likely thing to acquire on my list...


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## kitty_b (Oct 15, 2007)

now that i'm home, i can post a picture!

i was trying to take one of the biggest grubs, but only got a shot of me dropping him (a few inches) after he bit me. 

unfortunately, the only other image is a bit dark. but it'll do, for size references. no worries- they aren't really that blue! it's just translucence playing tricks on the camera. they're actually quite white.


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## beetleman (Oct 15, 2007)

:drool: mmmm.....they look tastey  lol  very cool beetle grubs:clap: nice job raising them


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## driver (Oct 15, 2007)

how long for dynastes species from egg to grub? and grub to adult?


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## sintakz (Oct 16, 2007)

I want some beetles soooo bad. I have some adult badister beetles that I found but I can't find ANY information on how to raise them, two of them died... I guess it is a good way to start learning how to pin.


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## Chrysopid (Oct 16, 2007)

Make sure not to pin them too long after they die  Beetles can get super hard


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## Elytra and Antenna (Oct 16, 2007)

kitty_b said:


> ...at least 22 grubs, ranging from 1.25"-2" in length. one little bugger even bit me!
> so it looks like my beetles' legacies will live on. it'll be a while before i have an army of beetles, though.


22 is actually a pretty decent number for one female, these aren't like mealworms. Now if you can get all 22 to adult that'll be a pretty cool little army.



driver said:


> how long for dynastes species from egg to grub? and grub to adult?


 Varies widely by species and specific stock, food, temperature, and moisture level. There's a book with the native US species cycles:

	
	
		
		
	


	







sintakz said:


> I want some beetles soooo bad. I have some adult badister beetles that I found but I can't find ANY information on how to raise them, two of them died... I guess it is a good way to start learning how to pin.


 Blister beetles are often short lived. You're lucky:_Dynastes tityus _are native to Florida. Unlike most rhinos that live 2 months as adults, C.B. D.tityus live 9-12 months after emergence. Need adult _D.tityus_?


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## Tleilaxu (Nov 14, 2007)

Grave robbing! Is it possible to influnce how large they grow by the type and amount of food you give them? Also how are they doing?


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## kitty_b (Nov 14, 2007)

i only see a few who like to dig out right around the front glass, but they're getting big! 

i don't know if you can have a profound influence over size by the amount of food available (at least in the power-feeding aspect), but i know they'll be stunted (or die) if they don't have enough organic material to munch on.


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## kitty_b (Nov 18, 2007)

*Pictures!*

so i took an opportunity to snap a few shots of the grubs today. i don't believe that these are as big as the one i saw the other day, though the one on the bottom may be... 












a shot of the parents. i miss 'em


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## Tleilaxu (Nov 19, 2007)

Those are pretty, this is the species that lives 9-12 months right?


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## Elytra and Antenna (Nov 20, 2007)

Tleilaxu said:


> Is it possible to influnce how large they grow by the type and amount of food you give them?


It makes all the difference up to a point [less than perfect feeding turns out tiny adults (with less than 30mm possible if it doesn't kill them) but size varies at the high end with perfect feeding, a totally different world than rearing tarantulas, roaches or mantids].



kitty_b said:


> a shot of the parents. i miss 'em


I have some more if you miss them badly.


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## Elytra and Antenna (Nov 20, 2007)

Tleilaxu said:


> Those are pretty, this is the species that lives 9-12 months right?


 C.B. only.


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## kitty_b (Nov 20, 2007)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> I have some more if you miss them badly.


hah, i think i'll already have my hands full when these guys grow up!


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## Chrysopid (Nov 20, 2007)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> C.B. only.


What does that mean?


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## Tleilaxu (Nov 21, 2007)

Chrysopid said:


> What does that mean?


*C*.*B*.= *C*aptive *B*red *W*.*C*.=*W*ild *C*aught

In other words those beetles that EA is refering to are from captive breeding not from beetles removed from the wild.


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## Chrysopid (Nov 21, 2007)

Oh ha haha my bad.


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## Elytra and Antenna (Nov 21, 2007)

Chrysopid said:


> What does that mean?


 It means that C.B only live that long. W.C. only live a few months because they are old when you get them as they don't fly or go exploring till the last few months.


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## dtknow (Nov 21, 2007)

Man, I wish we had these in CA.


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## kitty_b (Jan 31, 2008)

just an update: 

their tank ran out of hardwood mulch and it took me FOREVER to get more (and it wasn't for a lack of trying). poor guys! i had to keep offering them dog food until i got the shipment. 

anyway, i just re-did their substrate with a clean, sterilized 1:1 of organic compost and rotten wood mulch, well soaked and packed tight for digging. i counted 23-24 big grubs during the relocation (two of them a bit behind the others in size... one actually had some of his legs chewed off by the bigger grubs   )

besides being hungry, everyone seems fine. hopefully they'll munch away and their adult size won't be too stunted. :wall:


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## auroborus (Jan 31, 2008)

hey kitty, i see u had the adults for a while, how big of a stink do they make? I know what u mean about missing them, i raise cecropia moths and im really missing them, both the adult stage and there very cool looking caterpillars.


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## kitty_b (Feb 1, 2008)

i don't remember any stink from my adults. as long as you can get used to the "earthy" smell of the substrate (it's right next to our couch, so it tends to be weird for new people coming over), there's no real smell.


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## Elytra and Antenna (Feb 1, 2008)

auroborus said:


> hey kitty, i see u had the adults for a while, how big of a stink do they make?


 This seems like such an off-the-wall question (and I'm pretty sure you asked it before on her other tityus thread). Where is it coming from? Anytime someone posts info on an insect people don't ask about stink making (some species have strong defensive odors but not rhinos anyway). 



kitty_b said:


> just an update:
> 
> besides being hungry, everyone seems fine. hopefully they'll munch away and their adult size won't be too stunted. :wall:


They should be fine if a little small, your stock has been in captivity since 95' so it's a lot better adapted to captive conditions.


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## loxoscelesfear (Feb 1, 2008)

my grubs hatched September of 2006, are enormous in size, but have yet to turn into adults.  Literature says up to 2 yrs b4 they change overe. Here's poppa D.t.


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## auroborus (Feb 1, 2008)

i probably did ask before and just forgot, college is taking up all my brain space so until it lets out for summer my mind will be shot. I think i'll try to order some tityus beetles since i dont think i can legally get the dynastes hercules beetles.


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## kitty_b (Sep 7, 2008)

the first ones have already gone through pupation and "hatched" into early adults. right now i have 1 female and 2 males. a third male died shortly after emerging and another 2 pupae died/rotted. 

i went through the tank again and there are 17 grubs left from the beginning 23. i'm going to go ahead and individually house each of the remaining grubs. the adults aren't very large, and i know this is due to a period where they had little rotten mulch in the substrate. 

anyway, wanted to give an update.


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## auroborus (Sep 9, 2008)

sorry to hear that your have reduced size. I got ahold of a wild male and bought a female. They mated atleast twice and she was put into a 10 gallon tank filled with rotten wood, leaves, and the decomposed soil that got picked up with the wood. I hope shes laying eggs in there, especially since shes yet to do the laundry or cook for the male beetle, lol (just joking). though i did uproot her once, fed her and released her back in to the cage to do her work. I wanna look for eggs but im afraid i might crush and egg or kill a grub by mistake.


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## chr (Sep 11, 2008)

*rhino beetles*

hello, 
i am looking for live adult rhino beetles ( dynastes ) here in the us. any help super appreciated.
thank you.
chris

woebken@gmail.com


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## Scythemantis (Jul 4, 2009)

I was just given a female beetle from this area, and wondered what I could do with her - if I put her in a cage outside by a light, would she attract males and mate? Should I put her in a substrate to see if she's already gravid?


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