Good first pet beetle?

[AbbyC]

hello! So I have quite a collection of animals, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 snake, 2 leopard geckos, 1 axolotl, 3 tarantulas and 5 millepedes. I’ve been wanting to get into the hobby of owning beetles, though unfortunately most don’t seem very long lived. What would you recommend for a first beetle?

 

[Aquarimax]

hello! So I have quite a collection of animals, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 snake, 2 leopard geckos, 1 axolotl, 3 tarantulas and 5 millepedes. I’ve been wanting to get into the hobby of owning beetles, though unfortunately most don’t seem very long lived. What would you recommend for a first beetle?

I recommend blue death-feigning beetles and/or other desert tenebrionids. They are extremely hardy, fun to watch, and very long-lived. Here is a recent video I made about mine:

 

[Ratmosphere]

Dynastes tityus.

 

[dragonfire1577]

Dynastes granti are cool too, but take longer to mature and probably don't live as long as tityus

 

[AbbyC]

Dynastes tityus.

Was definitely looking into those! They’re at the top of my list with rainbow stag beetles.

 

[AbbyC]

I recommend blue death-feigning beetles and/or other desert tenebrionids. They are extremely hardy, fun to watch, and very long-lived. Here is a recent video I made about mine:

Where is the best place to purchase these guys? I like getting my pets at exotic animal expos, but they always lack beetles and I’m having trouble finding an online store.

 

[The Seraph]

I know that Asbolus verrucosus (blue death feigning beetles) are available on bugsincybers.com. They usually have a good selection of beetles.

 

[schmiggle]

Volkswagen. Only active when fed, and can literally go indefinitely without feeding. Maintenance is easy and infrequent, and they have a huge range of active temperatures. And they're huge and charismatic.

 

[BenLeeKing]

Where is the best place to purchase these guys? I like getting my pets at exotic animal expos, but they always lack beetles and I’m having trouble finding an online store.

The exotic beetles are illegal to keep in the US, except three species of the Goliathus (forgot which ones specifically). Which means Rainbow stags are a nono, and I won't be able to own my favorite species of stage beetle Cyclommatus metallifer...
Unless... I read some where the whole stage beetle family is actually legal to own in the state of California, but I need somewhere here to confirm this for me.