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I've been watching this dark bump get larger on this larva. Has anyone seen this before? It seems to be fully attached, but I haven't tried to remove it or anything. Maybe the substrate got stuck under the skin?

I was wondering what the maximum temperature that D. tityus larvae can be raised in. I was also wondering do higher temperatures lead to shorter development time? I have read it causes the lifespan to shorten, but does it also make the larvae go to maturity quicker? Are there conditions that are known to speed up development time or to slow development time?

Hey, guys. Long time since I posted, but since summer is just around the corner, and my A. dichotoma (Or Trypoxylus dichotomus? Which is it?) are pupating soon, I'm thinking that I need to get them some friends. So, my question is: where is the best place to find imago and/or larvae of D. tityus in southern Mississippi? Hattiesburg, MS to be specific. And are there any other cool species I should be on the look out for? Does Lucanus elaphus live here?

One of my female and my male D. tityus have been appearing more and more on the surface lately, and either they've been eating their jelly or the jelly has simply shrunk (not sure if this happens or not), so I went ahead and transferred these two to a 3-gallon terrarium with about 2" of organic compost in the bottom for breeding purposes (hopefully). The male burrowed immediately and hasn't been seen since, but the female actively explored the tank for about 90 minutes (she was particularly interested in the corners, something she'd done in the larger tank before) before diving headfirst into their jelly (literally). She was out of it 30 minutes or so later when I went to sleep, but when I woke up she's buried in the jelly up to her elytra again. I was actually afraid she'd unintentionally committed suicide, but a prod on the behind proved she's still alive. I apologize if I'm being overly concerned, but as this is my first time with rhinos, their behavior is all new to me. Is this something to be expected from her; literally gorging in preparation for mating and egg-laying? Or is this potentially stress-related behavior?

My female D. tityus have finally decided to come to the surface and start exploring every now and again. The male is a little lazier, but he's made a couple surface appearances. They've barely touched their jelly, but hopefully they're not too far off from starting to mate. Managed to snag a decent picture of one of the females today. The picture of my male is from unboxing day.

Ok... so... stupid question(s) time. What's the best way to remove a stubborn D. tityus from your skin without hurting them? Do adult D. tityus tend to burrow or hide for a good while after shipping (similar to how tarantulas will)? About how long do D. tityus attempt to overwinter if kept in a room temp environment? As I've mentioned elsewhere, this is my first time with any sort of rhino beetle, and since they burrowed the second they touched the substrate, haven't touched their jelly, and we haven't seen them in a week now, the wife wanted proof that they were still alive, and seeing as she lets me get away with a lot in terms of hobbies, I felt compelled to oblige. I feel pretty bad, because I'm pretty sure I scared the absolute crap out of the female I found while gently digging through the substrate, as she latched onto my hand immediately, and wasn't budging even when presented with an easy path back to the substrate. Giving her gentle prods from any given angle just made her double down on her grip. I finally just literally settled down with a book, with the hand with the beetle in the tank, and she finally decided to let go and burrow. tl;dr: I accidentally scared one of my D. tityus, and spent the next hour as a beetle perch.

From what I've heard over the years it's not hard, but I can't seem to do it. I saw a female Eastern Hercules Beetle in an elementary school playground back when I was in elementary school (in Jefferson, MD). I'm 26 now and I've been searching for another one for years now with no luck. I always hear they're typically found at playgrounds and parking lots by accident. I've been digging under old logs and stumps in the forests around my home; (Which is nearby the elementary school I went to.) and although I have found many different beetles during this hunt, I still have yet to come across one of these beautiful creatures. I've been out almost every night looking around light poles, but perhaps it's still too early in the season to find anything large just yet, despite I've found many different species by this point. At the moment I'm taking care of some Bess Beetles at home, that I found in a colony nearby the home, and they've been a pleasure to have around. Anyone got any tips onto how to run into a Dynastes Tityus? They're my absolute favorite beetles and I would love to see some again, and even start caring for them if I can.

Just got back home from a 7 hour drive to and from northwestern Georgia. I was very excited to find some cool insects. It wasn't exactly a vacation though, so we didn't have a whole lot of free time to go out to some nice parks. As a new beetle enthusiast, my top priority was looking for adults and larvae, especially Dynastes tityus. There was a beautiful park very close to our hotel which is where I chose to search. I only had a few hours to look daily for the past three days, though. I was so happy to see loads of broad-leaved trees, something of a rarity in south Florida. I found quite a few old rotten logs and stumps and dug through them carefully, but I didn't find very much. I also searched tree cavities, the supposed hot spot for D. tityus. I didn't have the tools to dig through tougher parts of wood, unfortunately. I found a few earwigs and what appeared to be "molts," and various other insect parts, slugs, a toad, earthworms, and many tiny "mite" insects. The biggest excitement-killer was finding a long-dead female stag, or what appeared to be a stag, reminded me of some sort of Bess beetle, she was very shiny and black. Having found no adults or larvae, I collected loads of super rotten oak/beech wood and rotted hardwood leaves. It was only yesterday morning when a beetle was hovering low over the pavement and I quickly jumped to catch her. I'm convinced she's just a June beetle, but I put her in a container and gave her some nice dirt from an old stump and an old banana slice to munch on, which she loves! I did see other beetles flying about but they moved too quickly to be caught. Later that night, I also tried to look for adults near bright lights at gas stations and rest stops on the highway but to no avail. And that sums up my trip to Georgia.

This is the only D. tityus I have ever found in FL. I found him back around February outside of East Orlando. Hes been growing much quicker than all of my other D. tityus larvae. All of my other D. tityus larvae are between 16-22 grams but this big boy just pushed 27 grams not too long ago. I hope he will get a little bigger before he pupates. I never feed any special supplements to my larvae. Only decayed leaves and wood that is collected locally. It will be interesting to see how big he will be once he becomes an adult. Has anyone else raised any huge D. tityus before? Here's a Comparison pic of the 27 gram larva next to one that is 17 grams