US Beetles?

[Navaros]

Wow, those are cool grubs. You say the adult tityus only live 2-6 months though in that thread.Thought they lived around 1 year?
BTW: This is the article I was talking about. http://www.exopets.com/bcare.html

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Wild-caught D.tityus only live 2-4 months because you're catching them near the end of their cycle. They change to adults in late summer and emerge the following May-July.

 

[Navaros]

If I manage to find some tityus larvae, what would be the best way to keep them?

 

[MacCleod]

Originally posted by Navaros

BTW: This is the article I was talking about. http://www.exopets.com/bcare.html

Thx
That's the first caresheet I see for these nice beetles.

btw I ordered me some grubs of Xylotrupes gideon sumatrensis

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by Navaros
Wow, those are cool grubs. You say the adult tityus only live 2-6 months though in that thread.Thought they lived around 1 year?
BTW: This is the article I was talking about. http://www.exopets.com/bcare.html

That was my experience. 2-3 for WC adults, and my captive reared (eggs from WC adult females) lived around 6. However, my adults emerged much later than expected. I suspect that inadequacies in my rearing envrionment caused them to develop slower and remain in their pupal cells longer than normal. In other words, they changed to adult, but did not emerge from their pupal cells for several months for some reason. This would bring the total adult lifespan closer to Orin's (MantidAssassins) 1 year number.

With my current batches, I've changed my rearing strategy a bit and hope to have different results. I have one batch that's from a WC female and annother that are truly captive bred. A first for me

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Awesome, so how are you keeping them now? I would like to set up a container for the grubs as soon as possible if I am going to get any.What's the best substrate, "tank", etc.?

 

[Wade]

For my first batch, I tried to raise the grubs individually in one-gallon jars. I had heard that cannibalism is a problem with grubs, (I later learned it's not really an issue with this species unless you don't keep them well fed). I think I didn't keep them well fed enough during development.

Now I'm keeping them together in a large polycarbonate tub, filled with a mix of rotten (crubly) wood and dead composted leaves. They eat this, and it must be "refreshed" periodically.

Orin wrote a book about it. Actually, the book is about D. granti, but the rearing info is the same (and works for most other dynastine scarabs). It's available from

www.angelfire.com/oh3elytaandantenna

I highly recomend it. It gets the segmented thumbs up!

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Thanks! How deep must the substrate be for them?I plan to get that book in the future, would like to start a nice bug book collection,I have lots on herps.I have seen some sites that sell sbstrates/foods for beetle grubs, but I can't find any of them again.Do you know of any places that sell good beetle grub supplies?

 

[Navaros]

btw I ordered me some grubs of Xylotrupes gideon sumatrensis

Awesome MacCleod, good luck with those.

 

[MacCleod]

Originally posted by Navaros
Awesome MacCleod, good luck with those.

Thx, I'll need it
Those 'll be my first "big" beetles

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

MacCleod
You picked a great one to start with because X.gideon --by anyone's standards-- are the easiest of any Dynastinae to breed.
You'll probably still want a copy of the D.granti (& other rhinos) book if you want to raise up major males.

Wade
I yank those D.tityus right out of their cells as soon as they change to adults. Sure, they don't want to play but they're still fun to play with.

 

[Wade]

Navaros-

I seem to remember seeing something like that to. I know in Japan pet stores sell prepared beetle diets and even rotten logs! It's apparently a very popular hobby there, I even read one story about a company that sold live beetles in vending machines.

I've never really needed to buy anything special for them, since I'm mostly working with native stuff. I collect the rotten wood and leaves locally. Preparing it is probably the most difficult part, but after that, there is practically no effort to rearing the grubs.

The adults feed on a variety of sweet liquids. Pure maple syrup is a good basic diet, but they also like sliced fruit like bananas and apples. I recently started trying fruit baby food (since I've now got a baby in the house) and they love that to. At the present time, I haven't felt any need to seek out prepared beetle diets, but who knows. Maybe if I can ever get some goliaths, Chalcosoma, or D. hercules I'd change my mind

Orin-

How do you know they've changed? Just timing? I had a female recently build her cell right next to the glass and was actually able to watch the development. She stayed in there for months after turning into an adult!

I learned recently that you can collect them in the dead of winter if you find the right tree. The larvae live in the cavities near the base large oak trees. Apparently, you can find the adults overwintering in the pupal cells. I was looking forward to looking for some this winter until Isabel knocked down all the large oaks! I'm wondering how that's going to effect the wild population.

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Thanks again Wade! You're right I have seen those products on Japanese websites.They sell prepared beetle diets in the cups we have things like jello in here.You peel the foil off and give it to the beetles.And yeah they DO sell beetles in vending machines, probably in all stages of live too.People I know who have gone there have seen them as well as vending machines that sell clothes (new and used) and EVERYTHING else.I would collect rotting wood but around here it is almost all species of pine.