D. tityus Eggs!

PowerHobo

PowerHobo

Chalcosoma
The original title of this post was "Is this an egg? Tell me it's an egg!" but I'm glad I never hit Post on it (I went ahead and left the picture attached). I had found a single bright white ball about 4 inches down in the substrate of my first D. tityus egg-laying container; it's been 15 days since I put the female in. I was doubting it was an egg because I had since removed all but about 2 inches of the substrate and found no others, so I was thinking it was a styrofoam ball or something, but I wasn't about to squeeze it to make sure. Then I got to an area of those last couple inches that was much more tightly-compacted than the rest, and there were 13 more in about a 4"x6" space. So it's looking like she's laying about an egg a day, which I recall reading is about normal.

I'm a damn grandpa!

I also discovered while misting my grubs' containers that one of my M. punctulatus and two of my D. granti have molted and damn near doubled in size. D. granti pic attached.

A good beetle day altogether!

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That is awesome! For some strange reason my D. Granti pair that I received never layed a single egg! They were WC adults and died rather quickly. I did everything right from what I could tell. I guess it was just some very bad luck? Oh well... anyways congrats for having some new grandchildren! Lol!

 
That's strange. I wonder if they weren't older than you were originally told and the female had already laid all of her eggs. I'm sorry to hear that either way!

 
PowerHobo said:
That's strange. I wonder if they weren't older than you were originally told and the female had already laid all of her eggs. I'm sorry to hear that either way!
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I probably did something wrong with their husbandry, age was unknown due to them being wild caught. They were very fun to keep regardless! To be able to hold one of these gentle giants was an amazing experience! Keep us updated!

 
Dubia4life said:
age was unknown due to them being wild caught
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Oh geez. You put WC and my brain just decided to read CB anyway, hence the "older than you were told" comment. That's still interesting, and I have to wonder why no eggs. I'm still glad you got to enjoy them, though. I've got four L2 (I think) D. granti larve right now, and I'm really looking forward to them pupating. I think I might have to take a trip to AZ this summer, though and try to collect some adults to hold me over; I've still got a long while to wait on my grubs
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Wow, so I'm up to 40 eggs from a single female. I was under the impression that they only laid an egg every day or every other day, but my last "harvest" was only a 17 day period, and yielded 26 eggs.

Unfortunately, my other two females in laying containers didn't lay any, so clearly I jumped the gun on assuming they had mated. I thought I had seen them mating, but it must not have been successful.

The first group of eggs has already started hatching! 21 incredibly tiny grubs so far. Head capsules appear to be about 3.2mm on average. Only 1 lost to cannibalism before I got them into individual containers.

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So I'm having some odd results, and am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or tips.

The 2 females that I previously got no eggs from went back into my breeding tank with the male individually, and within the space of a day I definitely witnessed them breeding, not just the male climbing on the females. However, now after another 2 weeks in the boxes, I only got a combined 7 eggs from the two of them. I'm fairly certain 2 of those 7 are dead, as they don't have the firmness or bright white the eggs normally do, and instead will retain shape if "squished" (very very lightly).

My first female, the absolute rock star who has been giving me at least 1 egg per day previously, has only laid 4 in the last 2 weeks. This brings her total up to 44, so I understand she's likely just reaching the limits of her production.

I also found 2 eggs in the breeding tank, despite the substrate only being maybe 1-1/2" to 2" deep. The female that was in there has been in there maybe a week.

I'm trying to think of anything that has changed in the egg-laying setup that may account for this reduced laying rate, and the only thing I can really think of is that I have admittedly been slightly behind in changing out empty jelly cups just due to getting back into the swing of having a newborn in the house. Where before I was popping the lid off the containers daily and replacing jellies even if there was a sliver left in the bottom of the cup, now it's usually a couple days between checking on them, and it's not exactly uncommon to find both jelly cups per container empty and dry. Will a perceived food shortage cause this drastic of a reduction in egg-laying?

 
Pewrune said:
id say age.
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They're all barely 3 months old and were attempting to overwinter when I got them, though. From everything I've read they should have 6-9 months after becoming active.

Edited because the original reply seemed really unappreciative of the suggestion when I re-read it, which wasn't the intention at all. I do appreciate the feedback.

 
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I've observed wild tityus behavior. They would gather on certain trees, and they all die out in 2~3 weeks. Tityus tend to start losing their flying abilities after 3 weeks as well. They still flap their wings but usually just hovers right above ground and will have trouble going up high.

They live 6-9 months only because they are in a safe environment with unlimited food and no enemies. 3 months for adult tityus is old in my opinion compared to the life spam of a wild one.

In the waters near Taiwan, theres this big fish - Cheilinus undulates . I heard they can live up to 50 years or something. However, according to a breeder, it will be hard for the fish to breed when they are older/bigger. Young fishs tend to have better results when it comes to Cheilinus undulates.

We humans are the similar in a way?
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Any wild behavior you observed in Dynastes tityus would be after they've become active and in the wild, they would likely converge in places where the males would quickly run out of energy due to repeated intrasexual conflict and repeatedly mating. They'll definitely run out of energy for strong flight. The females would probably begin laying eggs and be out of sight after mating--only coming up briefly to feed. They, too, would run out of energy for strong flight as they expend energy reproducing.

In captivity, they have no need to compete with one another, have food in abundance with no need to travel far for it or work for it, and there would be no predation to limit their lifespan.

The Humphead wrasse, like many marine fish, change sex. They are female in the beginning of their lives and become males as they get bigger and older. They definitely would be difficult to breed if you had all old individuals!

 
The sex change is not 100% i believe. I heard it could be triggered by a lack of males? And I'm sure professional breeders can tell the sex.

 
Im admittedly starting to get frustrated now. It has been another 10 days, Ive made absolutely sure to have 3 full jellies in each egg laying container at all times, though whereas they used to go through almost an entire jelly per day, theyve now barely gone through 1 each in 10 days. Between all 4 egg laying containers this 10 days has only yielded 2 eggs. Total, not each. 1 of those 2 is definitely a dead egg. Its more sickly gray than white and not firm.

Its starting to look more and more like Im only going to get around 55 live eggs total from 4 females, all of whom have laid eggs individually at one point or another. Since Ive read D tityus should lay 50-60 each, this is very disappointing.

All of my adults are still quite active, moving quite quickly when startled/prodded, and I can often hear them digging/scratching around when Im in my beetle room. None of them are attempting to fly, however, though given every chance. I dont know if thats worth noting or not; Ive read that they only fly in the last couple months of their lives.

 
PowerHobo said:
Im admittedly starting to get frustrated now. It has been another 10 days, Ive made absolutely sure to have 3 full jellies in each egg laying container at all times, though whereas they used to go through almost an entire jelly per day, theyve now barely gone through 1 each in 10 days. Between all 4 egg laying containers this 10 days has only yielded 2 eggs. Total, not each. 1 of those 2 is definitely a dead egg. Its more sickly gray than white and not firm.

Its starting to look more and more like Im only going to get around 55 live eggs total from 4 females, all of whom have laid eggs individually at one point or another. Since Ive read D tityus should lay 50-60 each, this is very disappointing.

All of my adults are still quite active, moving quite quickly when startled/prodded, and I can often hear them digging/scratching around when Im in my beetle room. None of them are attempting to fly, however, though given every chance. I dont know if thats worth noting or not; Ive read that they only fly in the last couple months of their lives.
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Flight generally occurs near dusk.

 
PowerHobo said:
The wife and I have given them plenty of opportunities from dusk well into the evening. Not even so much as a separation of the elytra.
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Well this may not be recommended, exactly, but try tossing them. Not like, pitching them at the wall, but get one on its back in your hand and lightly toss it up so you can catch it again if it doesn't take off. If they're well fed and comfortable, there isn't much reason for them to fly anywhere, so if you want to see it it might need some incentive.
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