rainbow stag beetle death and cause.

[Spyko]

i got a breeding pair of rainbow stag beetles (P. muelleri) about a month and a half ago for breeding purposes. They arrived in alright condition the male was missing the end of one of his back legs but he ate instantly as did my female and it never seemed to affect him much. But a few days ago i noticed the female seemed to have lost the end to all her legs? And had become quite sluggish and not eating too much. I modified her enclosure so there was not many places she could fall as she had lost the main feet on all her legs. She has now almost stopped moving.

I want to check this isn't something i have done as this is my first time owning any kind of beetle and i might have missed something, the male and female have both had identical care. Same food and same time anything i did to her i did to him right down to where the corckbark came from. surely if it was something i did the male would be showing some signs of it too right? But as far as i can tell he is fine, still eating and moving and still has a strong grip. This is the male



i did not want to do to much with the female without seeing if someone knew ehat was going on without pictures. But i will get some if needed. I'm wondering if its just her time.

 

[Carthropod]

rainbow stag beetles tend to lose legs when they are getting old and are nearing the end of their life, it also could be mating ''gone wrong''.
what temp are they on?

 

[Spyko]

rainbow stag beetles tend to lose legs when they are getting old and are nearing the end of their life, it also could be mating ''gone wrong''.
what temp are they on?

they aren't actually housed together yet, they arr both housed seperately right next to eachother. room temp, 22-25 ish a little dependant on weather but generally stays there. given that i bought them at breeding age could it just be old age?

 

[Carthropod]

they aren't actually housed together yet, they arr both housed seperately right next to eachother. room temp, 22-25 ish a little dependant on weather but generally stays there. given that i bought them at breeding age could it just be old age?

i guess so, i am not a beetle expert sadly.
some of the care websites i found do suggest old beetles even lose the base of all their legs sometimes
if i were you i would care for these but buy some younger beetles, i think these kind of species dont live very long after adulthood.

 

[Schiem]

Most scarab beetles don't live long as adults - it's pretty common for them to spend more time as larvae than adults. I haven't raised Rainbow stags before, but it looks like they tend to live around a year as adults.

It's very possible that you got old ones and they're just on the way out.

 

[wizentrop]

While rainbow stags can live up to a year as adults (VERY unusual for stag beetle, only them and large Dorcus can do this), once they start losing leg bits it's essentially the end of the road.
I believe you were sent old beetles.