Cool Country

[coolcountry]

Hello, I am Kathi from Flagstaff. I joined this site just to ask a question. I actually sent the question to a beetle guy I found on the web, and he emailed me back and said this is the place to post questions. However, I cannot find a way to post a general question on the website, so I am hoping that thru this Introduce Yourself format someone will see it and answer me.

So, I was at a cocktail party in Strawberry, Arizona (which is near Payson - in the ponderosa pine and oak forests), and someone started talking about a rare type of Rhino Beetle that they said is "only found in Strawberry, and you can sell them to the Japanese for $300. each". Everyone started talking about breeding them and making a fortune. I don't have any interest in doing this, and don't even believe it is true. I just wanted to be able to tell my crazy friends at the next party that I researched the idea.....anybody have any input for me?

Thanks, Kathi

Cool Country Realty

Flagstaff, Arizona

rekathi@infomagic.net

 

[beetlejuice]

Hello, I am Kathi from Flagstaff. I joined this site just to ask a question. I actually sent the question to a beetle guy I found on the web, and he emailed me back and said this is the place to post questions. However, I cannot find a way to post a general question on the website, so I am hoping that thru this Introduce Yourself format someone will see it and answer me.
So, I was at a cocktail party in Strawberry, Arizona (which is near Payson - in the ponderosa pine and oak forests), and someone started talking about a rare type of Rhino Beetle that they said is "only found in Strawberry, and you can sell them to the Japanese for $300. each". Everyone started talking about breeding them and making a fortune. I don't have any interest in doing this, and don't even believe it is true. I just wanted to be able to tell my crazy friends at the next party that I researched the idea.....anybody have any input for me?

Thanks, Kathi

Cool Country Realty

Flagstaff, Arizona

rekathi@infomagic.net

there isnt any beetle worth that much... i can say, thres a beetle only found in the bladhicreeposunny area worth 500$... no1 believes it.

i ink the the guy who told youy drunk to many cocktails

 

[Peter Clausen]

Hi Kathi,

The beetle your friends were talking about is Dynastes granti. I've collected them in Strawberry and Pine, though Payson is the most famous locale for this species. It's always fun to talk to the locals because they are just like locals in my home state of Oregon (i.e. they generally know absolutely nothing about bugs). I always talk to the locals wherever I go and of course these large rhino beetles do make an impression on you whether you live there or are just visiting. They are arguably the most impressive bugs in the United States. Yet, when asked, the locals hold their hands a bit too far apart when they recall the size of some specimens they've seen. It's hard to judge color and size when you are running the opposite direction in the dark

The Japanese will pay $300 if you were to find an EXCEPTIONALLY large male specimen, however you're more likely to strike oil or find gold in your backyard. I'd personally pay $301 is you find one 4 inches long!

The reason for the reference to the Japanese is because the beetle hobby is popular over there and they supposedly fight them in betting games, etc. Every summer it never fails that somebody from Japan will contact me and ask if I will supply D. granti to them. I think their interest in the beetles has probably waned in recent years. Mostly they are interested in breeding pairs, and $300 is a drop in the bucket if they are spending money on a plane ticket to come here in the first place.

I haven't collected D. granti since 2001 and will never collect large numbers of them again, preferring instead to promote the captive breeding hobby.

To be honest, your friends will fail in breeding them. Unless they have a passion for bugs and an aptitude for learning how to take care of them + a bunch of time to waste that doesn't really pay for itself in the end, they won't succeed. If it were really a feasible idea it would be happening already.

Really neat to see your post here. Thanks for contributing and representing one of the neatest bugs and states in the US (bugwise)!

 

[Dynastes]

There are two beetles in the area worth some money to the Japanese, however finding someone to buy them may not be so easy. Dynastes granti, Grant's rhinoceros beetle is incredibly common and may be sold in lots but a pair is probably not worth more than $60 in Japan and far less for someone getting them for resale. The other is Megasoma punctulatus, it's a smaller, rare rhino possibly worth $300 a pair in Japan but someone is not going to pay even remotely near that much here.