My Tiger Beetle Video

Peter Clausen

Peter Clausen

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Staff member
Unfortunately, I could not get these beetles to reproduce. Anybody have any suggestions for substrates, etc. the next time I try them out? The species was Megacephala carolina. They supposedly do okay in captivity and are among the medium to large species in the US. The substrate consisted of half sand (purple color) and half potting soil. I tried keeping the substrate mostly moist and mostly dry. Neither seemed to encourage egg-laying. When I first brought the beetles back, a few of them made little holes in the substrate and sort of prairie-dogged up and down, in and out of them (like the larvae do, I think). This behavior quickly ceased and all the remaining dozen or so just sort of ran around in circles most of the time. Very colorful, very active and they lived for several months in captivity on fruit flies. Everything went well except no egg/larvae.

Any tips are appreciated...

When you go to view this website, click the option under the video window in blue text that says "view in high quality". The video is much more clear.





 
Peter Clausen said:
Unfortunately, I could not get these beetles to reproduce. Anybody have any suggestions for substrates, etc. the next time I try them out? The species was Megacephala carolina. They supposedly do okay in captivity and are among the medium to large species in the US. The substrate consisted of half sand (purple color) and half potting soil. I tried keeping the substrate mostly moist and mostly dry. Neither seemed to encourage egg-laying. When I first brought the beetles back, a few of them made little holes in the substrate and sort of prairie-dogged up and down, in and out of them (like the larvae do, I think). This behavior quickly ceased and all the remaining dozen or so just sort of ran around in circles most of the time. Very colorful, very active and they lived for several months in captivity on fruit flies. Everything went well except no egg/larvae.
Any tips are appreciated...

When you go to view this website, click the option under the video window in blue text that says "view in high quality". The video is much more clear.

Click to expand...
i had these years ago,awesome beetles,these were the nocturnal sp. i kept mine on sandy soil mixture,fed them alot(mine were devouring small crickets,and each other aswell
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) i did get them to lay eggs,i saw them underneath the large container they were in,clear bottom,they hatched out had larva everywhere in there,fed them pinhead crickets,they grew and grew...........and then died,have no idea why,some were pretty goodsized too,the adults were seperated ofcourse.but that was it,what puzzles me is that the larva wre doing great up to a certain size then died,the soil/sand mixture was semimoist too.amazing critters they are.

 
Peter Clausen said:
Unfortunately, I could not get these beetles to reproduce. Anybody have any suggestions for substrates, etc. the next time I try them out? The species was Megacephala carolina. They supposedly do okay in captivity and are among the medium to large species in the US. The substrate consisted of half sand (purple color) and half potting soil. I tried keeping the substrate mostly moist and mostly dry. Neither seemed to encourage egg-laying. When I first brought the beetles back, a few of them made little holes in the substrate and sort of prairie-dogged up and down, in and out of them (like the larvae do, I think). This behavior quickly ceased and all the remaining dozen or so just sort of ran around in circles most of the time. Very colorful, very active and they lived for several months in captivity on fruit flies. Everything went well except no egg/larvae.
Any tips are appreciated...

When you go to view this website, click the option under the video window in blue text that says "view in high quality". The video is much more clear.

Click to expand...
great video
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i miss mine,the setup is great, but i had more pieces of corkbark for mine they would hide alot in little burrows that they would dig out. aaahh tiger beetles gotta luv em.

 
What substrate depth did you use and how moist was it?

I never thought to look at the bottom of the kritter keeper I have them in. I did just check (it's recently been converted to an adult feeder roach terrarium). No signs of eggs
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Thanks Manticora, for confirming that somebody's made it further than I have! I'll get another chance someday. I know right were to find more (and it's only a 24 hour drive).

 
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Peter Clausen said:
What substrate depth did you use and how moist was it?
I never thought to look at the bottom of the kritter keeper I have them in. I did just check (it's recently been converted to an adult feeder roach terrarium). No signs of eggs
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Thanks Manticora, for confirming that somebody's made it further than I have! I'll get another chance someday. I know right were to find more (and it's only a 24 hour drive).
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your welcome, about 3" to 4" slightly moist,worked very well. that's awesome that you can get more,i can never get enough of predatory beetles.
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There were tons and I mean TONS of predatory carabids at the rest stops in SE AZ. I wish I'd taken a photo or a bit of video. I did find one Pasimachus sp.

Well, I can't say the M. carolina will be there again but it seems pretty likely. It was just a random bright mercury vapor light in the middle of almost nowhere. Whenever I encounter a mercury vapor lamp that's nearly alone in a rural part of Arizona, it's requires a stop. Often, the activity in the air around the light is a beacon from 100 meters out. Large moths and bats are common. On the one night, I picked up about 20 of the tiger beetles in ten minutes just making circles around the cone of light shining down from the bulb. They were obviously hunting other small bugs that were attracted to the light.

I fed them tons of fruit flies in captivity because I was concerned about the feeding frenzy that ensued the few times I dropped a cricket or roach in the cage. It was fascinating and entertaining to watch them fighting over the prey, but they would often grab onto each other for a brief second before letting go. I was concerned they might damage each other, so I just dropped in a ton of fruit flies which they were able to swallow more quickly before beetle could attempt to steal it. Of course the flies were tiny, but there seemed no limit to their appetitie or energy levels. Very entertaining beetles.

Thanks for the follow-up details on your cage!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Peter Clausen said:
There were tons and I mean TONS of predatory carabids at the rest stops in SE AZ. I wish I'd taken a photo or a bit of video. I did find one Pasimachus sp.
Well, I can't say the M. carolina will be there again but it seems pretty likely. It was just a random bright mercury vapor light in the middle of almost nowhere. Whenever I encounter a mercury vapor lamp that's nearly alone in a rural part of Arizona, it's requires a stop. Often, the activity in the air around the light is a beacon from 100 meters out. Large moths and bats are common. On the one night, I picked up about 20 of the tiger beetles in ten minutes just making circles around the cone of light shining down from the bulb. They were obviously hunting other small bugs that were attracted to the light.

I fed them tons of fruit flies in captivity because I was concerned about the feeding frenzy that ensued the few times I dropped a cricket or roach in the cage. It was fascinating and entertaining to watch them fighting over the prey, but they would often grab onto each other for a brief second before letting go. I was concerned they might damage each other, so I just dropped in a ton of fruit flies which they were able to swallow more quickly before beetle could attempt to steal it. Of course the flies were tiny, but there seemed no limit to their appetitie or energy levels. Very entertaining beetles.

Thanks for the follow-up details on your cage!
Click to expand...
glad i can be some help to ya, yes they are entertaining,always on the move. now if we can ever get the giant african tiger beetles(what else? ahh manticora) then we have it all
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