Anybody kept Dichotomius carolinus?

P

pickle01

L2
A Carolina dung beetle flew onto my porch last night! I was going to keep her but I couldn't find a lot of info on their care. I live next to a cow pasture, so I'm sure I could catch more now that I know they're in the area. I only found a couple of mentions when I searched the forum, so I'm hoping someone would have some insight. Should I basically follow the guidelines for rainbows but increase the size of the enclosure and depth of substrate to account for the large size?

 
Yes, I caught one the other day and it made a brood ball out of pony dung. I used dirt from my backyard about 9 inches deep and i fed them once a week a baseball sized amount of dung.

 
Jimmy said:
Yes, I caught one the other day and it made a brood ball out of pony dung. I used dirt from my backyard about 9 inches deep and i fed them once a week a baseball sized amount of dung.
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Thanks for the info! I think I'll try a pitfall trap to try and lure some over from the cow field. I've read about baiting with a malt mixture for dung beetles, so we'll see if it works.

 
pickle01 said:
Thanks for the info! I think I'll try a pitfall trap to try and lure some over from the cow field. I've read about baiting with a malt mixture for dung beetles, so we'll see if it works.
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Have you ever seen any Humpback Dung Beetles (Deltochilum gibbosum) in your area? - 

https://bugguide.net/node/view/4533

I think this might be the largest dung beetle found in the US.  Although it's a dung beetle, it's apparently more of a carrion feeder.  There's some info about it in McMonigle (2012) p. 106.

 
Goliathus said:
Have you ever seen any Humpback Dung Beetles (Deltochilum gibbosum) in your area? - 

https://bugguide.net/node/view/4533

I think this might be the largest dung beetle found in the US.  Although it's a dung beetle, it's apparently more of a carrion feeder.  There's some info about it in McMonigle (2012) p. 106.
Click to expand...
I haven't but I'll definitely keep an eye out. There should be plenty of species since I live next to a farm with horses, cows, donkeys, and goats, and some woods with seemingly every other sort of creature. 

 
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