DeadInTheBasement

I went to check my tub of water outside to see if anymore flew in and found this instead. It wanted to be aquatic too.

I find these often and i have never kept them before. I collected a few today because i thought they would look interesting i an aquarium. Any tips on raising them?

i found this online and thought it was hilarious and since it is beetle related and he does give a few ideas on how to "trap" beetles i thought id share this clip from a japanese television show of a man in a biker fetish outfit out in the forests of japan catching beetles to give to children!....wish i had a japanese man in a fetish outfit to catch me some stag beetles Japan = AWESOME....and very weird http://www.veoh.com/watch/e114523Jcj49KfX

sweet! did it make a pupal cell or is it just burrowed next to the walls of the container?

i usually just lay out roadkill in the sun to keep it dry and put a milk crate over it to keep animals from dragging it off and beetles come shortly after

they do fine being fed dehydrated meat last year i just tossed some chicken gizzards from the grocery store in my food dehydrator and fed it to them or offered them small amounts of fresh meat that they could eat before it could rot no luck breeding them but i didnt try very hard last year i believe the eggs and small larvae might require raw meat...

i have had a dead raccoon laying out for a few weeks and it is finally warm enough for the carrion beetles to come out...so far only Oiceoptoma noveboracense and some sort of rove beetle. i am waiting for the Necrophila americana to show up so i can collect a few they are my favorite

what do you feed the adults? i found one today

they are now in a 100% wood substrate and being kept in a room that is 65-74 F depending on the time of day

i will go collect some wood for them tomorrow

seems these three range here in Tennessee L. capreolus L. elaphus L. placidus i am hoping for lucanus elaphus but i am thrilled with any of the three i found them directly under HUGE logs(2-3ft thick) and the logs were not very decayed i am guessing they had only been fallen down 2-3 years very deep in the forest they were all in 4 different locations miles apart all in the same situation now that i think about it i probably should have separated the larvae when i found them to keep track of which were found together lol Cre0broter: i know some species of beetle larvae will devour each other given the chance so they are kept separated and peter says being separated will make them grow larger! good luck finding larvae i have been looking for these for 3 years but i guess its easy once you find a good location

ok i have them all seperated and in a substrate of 50% rotting wood and 50% leaf litter i was unable to get back the logs i found them at but i am hoping this substrate will work well since none of them were found inside a log but under the logs in the soil is there any way to determine what kind of stags they are? some of them were found miles apart

how much space does each one need?.... 16 ounce container work?

can they be housed together or should i keep them seperated?

awesome! i am kind of confused what kind of substrate to use for them and i cant find any care sheets online for them and i know people offer dogfood and fruit to dynastes larvae to eat do stags also benefit from this?