beetle capture help

[Yorick]

Hi All, I'm new to the hobby and would like to start by catching beetles, Xylotrupes Beckeri (XB) in particular.
I would like to ask for critique in my thought process.

[Intro]
I live in Singapore and import is a huge hassle due to legal restrictions.
Singapore is a small island nation near the equator and is highly developed, resulting in a high degree of deforestation.
I have, however, managed to keep a local rhino beetle many years ago, which I assume to be Xylotrupes Beckeri (identity is contested across several sources).

Genus Xylotrupes

Xylotrupes is a genus of rhinoceros beetles. (Source: Wikipedia, '', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylotrupes, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) David Jeffrey Ringer, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by David Jeffrey Ringer)

uk.inaturalist.org

Assuming all genus Xylotrupes sightings logged on inaturalist in Singapore are XB, I believe the beetle is endemic to Singapore.


[Proposed Methodology]
In my lifetime, I have only met XB once.
Most people I know have never even seen XB in their lives.
I therefore believe that it is rather uncommon and believe trapping would offer me the best chances of finding the beetle.
Light trapping is impractical as there is heavy light pollution in most forested areas.

I thus believe bait traps are my best bet.
Based on this video (

) of a japanese youtuber explaining his recipe for banana bait meant for japanese rhino beetles (Allomyrina Dichotoma ?), I'm producing fermented banana bait to set up at various locations.


Any feedback or critique would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Eduardo]

I have no experience with Xylotrupes, but sometimes multiple beetles of the same species come to the same trap. If you do find multiple individuals you should try to breed them, especially if they’re uncommon.

 

[Yorick]

I have no experience with Xylotrupes, but sometimes multiple beetles of the same species come to the same trap. If you do find multiple individuals you should try to breed them, especially if they’re uncommon.

that's the plan! the beetles are somewhat rare here, but I will try to bring up the population

 

[Eduardo]

How are the exportation laws in Singapore? Maybe you could distribute them to other breeders in Asia.

 

[Dynastes]

Hi All, I'm new to the hobby and would like to start by catching beetles, Xylotrupes Beckeri (XB) in particular.
I would like to ask for critique in my thought process.

[Intro]
I live in Singapore and import is a huge hassle due to legal restrictions.
Singapore is a small island nation near the equator and is highly developed, resulting in a high degree of deforestation.
I have, however, managed to keep a local rhino beetle many years ago, which I assume to be Xylotrupes Beckeri (identity is contested across several sources).


View attachment 3382

Genus Xylotrupes

Xylotrupes is a genus of rhinoceros beetles. (Source: Wikipedia, '', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylotrupes, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) David Jeffrey Ringer, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by David Jeffrey Ringer)

uk.inaturalist.org

Assuming all genus Xylotrupes sightings logged on inaturalist in Singapore are XB, I believe the beetle is endemic to Singapore.


[Proposed Methodology]
In my lifetime, I have only met XB once.
Most people I know have never even seen XB in their lives.
I therefore believe that it is rather uncommon and believe trapping would offer me the best chances of finding the beetle.
Light trapping is impractical as there is heavy light pollution in most forested areas.

I thus believe bait traps are my best bet.
Based on this video (

) of a japanese youtuber explaining his recipe for banana bait meant for japanese rhino beetles (Allomyrina Dichotoma ?), I'm producing fermented banana bait to set up at various locations.


Any feedback or critique would be greatly appreciated.

What about looking around gas stations and other sources of large lights? It works for finding Dynastest tityus.

 

[Yorick]

How are the exportation laws in Singapore? Maybe you could distribute them to other breeders in Asia.

absolute nightmare, if you're not a entomologist from one of the two big national universities (or maybe a zookeeper), you basically have a zero percent chance of getting a permit to legally import and export any living creatures.

What about looking around gas stations and other sources of large lights? It works for finding Dynastest tityus.

guessing from your mention of dynastes tityus and your use of the term "gas station", I'm assuming you're from the USA
I understand that in large countries, you can go to some gas station in the mountains or maybe some other secluded areas and try to see if the lights attract insects, but Singapore is VERY small (735km^2 / 264mi^2), she's an island nation, and if you see the map below, the red line I've inserted at the right side of the island is 5km/3.1mi.

With this in mind, I only know of 3 catching(?) / hunting(?) methods,
-nomura hoihoi https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=UYrooRjfHCE
-fermented banana traps with modified plastic bottles
-just tried this, believe my traps were raided by local monkeys (need to upgrade traps or change retrieval timings to deal with this)
-subject to weather conditions, since smell of fermented bananas will likely propagate less with rainy conditions.

-light traps https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DpqCSwaKqEU
-gas station in isolated places would count under this segment
-i frankly want to try this, but im mostly worried that, due to the small landmass of the country, there exists a large degree of light pollution
from nearby housing/whatever that will interfere with my traps
-need to work out logistics of keeping a light operating for extended periods, perhaps purchase a floodlight and a white cloth.

-breaking logs
-breaking down decomposing logs to find larvae
-I havent tried this as jungles in southeast asia are VERY dense as compared to forests in say japan, taiwan or korea,
given that near the equator, there is only one real season: summer. It's hot year round, only varying between dry and wet,
with little temperature variance.
This means to say that the forests very rarely have easily traversable flat ground with few obstacles.
"just go to parks!"
catching anything from these forests are considered poaching and incur a heavy penalty
(hypocritical since the government clears out forests to make way for new construction all the time)
-I will explore more accessible forests in the future but I doubt density of fallen logs decomposed to a suitable degree would be high

if you have any suggestions on other trapping methods, i would love to hear them

 

[Dynastes]

guessing from your mention of dynastes tityus and your use of the term "gas station", I'm assuming you're from the USA
I understand that in large countries, you can go to some gas station in the mountains or maybe some other secluded areas and try to see if the lights attract insects, but Singapore is VERY small (735km^2 / 264mi^2), she's an island nation, and if you see the map below, the red line I've inserted at the right side of the island is 5km/3.1mi.

Lights around big hotels also work. I've collected around existing lights on West Indies islands and service stations in urbanized areas with good success. You just have to drive around a bit to find good lights.

 

[Yorick]

Lights around big hotels also work. I've collected around existing lights on West Indies islands and service stations in urbanized areas with good success. You just have to drive around a bit to find good lights.

damn...
I aint got a car and cycling to appropriate locations would take a big chunk of time.
thanks for your input on the subject.

I think I'm going to pivot to light-trapping, I've figured out a design for a portable low-budget light trap that I can use.
Will update with results in coming weeks as am quite busy at the moment

 

[Dynastes]

damn...
I aint got a car and cycling to appropriate locations would take a big chunk of time.
thanks for your input on the subject.

I think I'm going to pivot to light-trapping, I've figured out a design for a portable low-budget light trap that I can use.
Will update with results in coming weeks as am quite busy at the moment

Tiny light traps catch very little compared to lights at big hotels, stations, but if you don't have a car this type of light trapping wouldn't work.