Goliathus emergence questions

[Sarkhan42]

I had the pleasure of getting a male and female larva to pupation around mid October(I confirmed solid pupal cells, I was so pleased they pupated beautifully in the custom sub I put together) but I was hoping on some input on emergence from some experienced keepers.

Is there a tried and true method of incorporating moisture to induce emergence from their dormancy period? How quickly should they be swapped from pupation media to a laying media, and any tips on introducing the male and female once they’ve both emerged?

 

[goliathusdavid]

Congratulations on getting these two larvae to pupation! In total honesty I have only ever worked with adults of this species, however I have studied their life cycle and breeding extensively. I hope to one day be able to breed them myself, but currently do not possess the time to embark on such an undertaking. Regarding moisture I am linking two resources. The first, a breeding guide by Karl Meier (which you have likely read) is on the older side, but still has some good information, and the other is a more recent (2015) article which outlines ideal conditions for rearing each life stage. The guide addresses pupal moisture on Page 5, and the article discusses it on page 20. Regarding your substrate question, I would switch the substrate to a laying media immediately after eclosure, and likewise would not wait to introduce male and female. Just putting them together in a suitably sized enclosure should be totally fine, though observation and a slow build up of time together never hurts.
http://www.naturalworlds.org/goliathus/manual/Goliathus_breeding_1.htm
http://scarabsnewsletter.com/scarabs_78.pdf See pages 12-22
I hope this is helpful. You may have already seen these, but as there is information regarding your questions in each so I thought if you hadn't, could be useful.
Keep us updated, I'd love to see pictures once you get the adults!

 

[Sarkhan42]

Congratulations on getting these two larvae to pupation! In total honesty I have only ever worked with adults of this species, however I have studied their life cycle and breeding extensively. I hope to one day be able to breed them myself, but currently do not possess the time to embark on such an undertaking. Regarding moisture I am linking two resources. The first, a breeding guide by Karl Meier (which you have likely read) is on the older side, but still has some good information, and the other is a more recent (2015) article which outlines ideal conditions for rearing each life stage. The guide addresses pupal moisture on Page 5, and the article discusses it on page 20. Regarding your substrate question, I would switch the substrate to a laying media immediately after eclosure, and likewise would not wait to introduce male and female. Just putting them together in a suitably sized enclosure should be totally fine, though observation and a slow build up of time together never hurts.
http://www.naturalworlds.org/goliathus/manual/Goliathus_breeding_1.htm
http://scarabsnewsletter.com/scarabs_78.pdf See pages 12-22
I hope this is helpful. You may have already seen these, but as there is information regarding your questions in each so I thought if you hadn't, could be useful.
Keep us updated, I'd love to see pictures once you get the adults!

Thanks so much for your reply! You were correct I had seen the first link, but not the second. By the second link, it sounds like I may want to swap the pupae over to semi moist regular substrate once again very soon here for emergence, in fact I may do that tonight. I have a large bag of peat and topsoil available which should do nicely. I also may do as suggested and take a small peak inside the pupal cell, as I'm extremely excited about the prospect of adult beetles!

 

[goliathusdavid]

All the best of luck!

 

[Sarkhan42]

Went ahead and dug up both pupal cells to make some small windows and check on them- the female was no good. Looks like she failed to molt the head capsule and legs properly when pupating and perished for it. The “male” on the other hand is a beautiful caramel brown pupa, but I now have my doubts if he’s actually a male... hard to tell through the tiny window I made so time will tell. I plugged the small opening I made with some bundled tissue paper to prevent the sub from leaking in, re-moistened the mix and reburied the pupal cell. Fingers crossed here forward.

 

[Smotzer]

Went ahead and dug up both pupal cells to make some small windows and check on them- the female was no good. Looks like she failed to molt the head capsule and legs properly when pupating and perished for it. The “male” on the other hand is a beautiful caramel brown pupa, but I now have my doubts if he’s actually a male... hard to tell through the tiny window I made so time will tell. I plugged the small opening I made with some bundled tissue paper to prevent the sub from leaking in, re-moistened the mix and reburied the pupal cell. Fingers crossed here forward.

Sorry to hear about the one pupae but congrats on the other and good luck 🪲

 

[goliathusdavid]

Wanted to add one thing which I neglected to mention in my previous posts in this thread. Provided the surviving pupa makes it through eclosure well (which I have faith it will) I wanted to say something about the diet of adults. While most keepers tend to feed these exclusively ripe banana I have found that alternating banana with mango or papaya (when available and affordable) dramatically increases feeding response. This is purely based on my experience with the adults I have worked with, but thought it could be helpful.

 

[InvertsandOi]

@Sarkhan42 I'm sorry to hear about the loss. Hopefully the other one will do well.

I have four larvae that are doing well, but are still probably a couple months from pupation. @goliathusdavid have you tried beetle jellies at all? I'm wondering if I will be able to supplement the fresh fruit with jellies for convenience.

 

[goliathusdavid]

@Sarkhan42 I'm sorry to hear about the loss. Hopefully the other one will do well.

I have four larvae that are doing well, but are still probably a couple months from pupation. @goliathusdavid have you tried beetle jellies at all? I'm wondering if I will be able to supplement the fresh fruit with jellies for convenience.

I tried beetle jellies hoping to increase hydration, but they did not seem to illicit the same response as fruit. The general policy at my workplace is to use jellies only when we're out of the sugary fruits I listed above. However I know others, such as Peter Clausen, who have fed with jellies quite effectively. At the end of the day I think it's a matter of personal preference and what is most available to you. Glad to hear your larvae are doing well!

 

[Fire Moth]

 

[Fire Moth]

Don't need to dig them out unless you have too many and need to save space or reuse the clay.

 

[Fire Moth]

I accidentally killed a pupa by digging.

 

[Fire Moth]

https://beetleforum.net/topic/4953-pupal-cell-care-for-goliath-beetles/

 

[InvertsandOi]

How do you join that forum? There's nowhere to click and create an account. I've sent emails a couple times, but no reply.

 

[Fire Moth]

try that

 

[Fire Moth]

You also need to wait for Peter Clausen to approve the new account.

 

[InvertsandOi]

View attachment 381301 try that

Got it. Thanks! I guess I didn't see that.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Just wanted to update quickly that the pupa has successfully beetled as of about a month back still dormant but looking good!