Bill Myers Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Okay, this is my experimental D. tityus that I kept at around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit all throughout her larval an pupal stages. The only food source I used for her was rotting wood that I collected from the woods near my house. As you can see, she's a monster! Total time from a hatchling to an adult was 23 months---which probably would have been a lot longer had I not gotten impatient and decided to open the pupal cell. I could see her progress in the pupal chamber through the bottom of the jar, so I knew where she was at in her development. After she emerged from her exuvia, I gave her a couple of weeks to harden up a little and then opened up the pupal cell to release her. Based on this experiment, I'm going to keep about 10 of my D. tityus larvae at the lowered temps of 60 to 65 degrees F, and see if they also grow bigger than the ones kept around 70 to 75 degrees F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Myers Posted September 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Attaching the measurement here. 52 mm long, 11.875 grams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratmosphere Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Awesome experiment! Beautiful beetle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck4th Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Nice! Are there record sizes for this species? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipee32 Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Beast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Myers Posted September 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Thanks, Ratmosphere. ---- Chuck4th: I don't know what the record sizes are for D. tityus. There used to be a Japanese website that tracked that information, but the website isn't up anymore. That being said, the largest female D. tityus I've personally ever encountered before was a wild caught one which I came across last year. She was 48 mm long. So, based on my own personal experience, I'm pretty sure I've got a monster beetle on my hands! LOL It would be cool if we had a thread where we could document our captive bred monster beetles and keep a running score of the record holders at the top of the page. ---- philipee32: Agreed! ---- Okay, now for some tragic news. My D. tityus L2's are dying!: http://beetleforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2652&hl= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatwun Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Alan raised a D. tityus that became a 69mm adult male! That is the biggest I have seen that had pictures of it as well. Congrats on the female! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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