Beetle Questions

J

Joopes

L3
I have a few questions regarding beetles.

  1. How long is a female Dorcus brevis supposed to live in captivity?
  2. How large are the eggs of Dorcus brevis?
  3. How long do they sit until they hatch? (the eggs)
  4. How long are a male and female Dynastes tityus supposed to live in captivity?
  5. How do I go about breeding D. tityus?
  6. How large of containers would the larvae need?


-

Jacob

 
2. stag beetle eggs are generally in size of less than 1/8 inch in long side. Smaller species tend to be smaller than larger species.
3. Eggs take about a week to two.
4. I never kept until they naturally died, but it seems they live around 3-4 months in good condition when bred (mated, laying eggs), then start to slow down.
5. Pretty easy if you ever kept scarabs for breeding. D. tityus is considerably easy species to rear and breed.
6. L1-L2 can be kept individually or in group of about 2 to 4 in 16 oz container. L3 larvae need at least 32oz or bigger, and this depends on how large your larvae has grown. Among my collections, largest males and females captured reached over 50-60 mm (about two inches), so any such large individual would require larger container than 32 oz, obviously.

 
Joopes said:
I have a few questions regarding beetles.

  1. How long are a male and female Dynastes tityus supposed to live in captivity?
  2. How do I go about breeding D. tityus?
  3. How large of containers would the larvae need?


-

Jacob
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1. Captive bred specimens commonly live 7 months if pulled from hibernation early but can live 22 months if given an extended hibernation in the mid 50s.

2. Do you mean getting eggs? They mate with no assistance unlike some moths. Deep, damp, good substrate.

3. 16 oz. is fine for 1.

 
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DynastesDee said:
A container bigger than 32 oz for 1 Dynastes tityus or granti larva.
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Why not just keep them in groups in a larger container?  I used to keep them separately, but haven't done that in many years.  I even found that I got much better growth when they're kept together.  It might have something to do with a group being able to more effectively augment the substrate with their symbiotic bacteria, than a single larva can alone.  Probably best not to keep any more than 12 larvae in something the size of a (50%) filled 10 gallon tank, though.

 
With Dynastes tityus I have to keep them separately. This is to prevent disturbing larvae in the Pre pupa stage. I also need to collect the adults right away for diapause.

 
Not to change the subject @DynastesDee but I'm going to answer @Joopes question to number 5.

For D. tityus, you can breed them different ways. You can put the male and female in a container filled with moist sphagnum moss and beetle jelly. Once you witness mating, then you can place them in the egg laying container. I like to witness mating before I put the female in the egg laying container. 

Or you can just put them both in the egg laying container. The egg laying container should contain 9 inches (or more) of substrate/organic potting soil with no perlite. Substrate should be damp but not enough to squeeze water out of it. Include beetle jellies on the top along with leaves, sticks etc. This is so if the beetle flips over they can get back up with ease. Make sure to drill A FEW air holes on the top. You may witness mating when the female comes to feed but they spend a good amount of time buried. 

 
I like to mix flake soil with a few handfuls of finally shredded oak leafs in a 10 gallon tank. This will create perfect conditions for egg laying.

 
You can always try a bigger tub, there are cheap options at Walmart, Target etc.

They even do well together as Goliathus stated. 

 
DynastesDee said:
Does anyone keep large D tityus or D granti larvae comfortably in 32 oz containers?
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Yes, that is the only size containers I have used for many years. On rare occasions I have had adults emerge with a crooked horn (D grantii, not D tityus). Not sure if it was the size of the container or some other reason. However, it's pretty rare so I never worried about it.

 
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