Do I have a Strategus Aloeus pair, also help on how to get them to breed!

[Endereye]

Hello, I’ve had this pair of strategus Aloeus for about 3.5 months, and they haven’t laid a single egg yet, and I have no clue what I’m doing wrong. I have them in a six inch deep bin that’s made up of a ≈50/50 mix of flake soil and organic garden soil (but more flake than soil). I deep it damp, but not dripping. I have the bottom 4 inches compacted with the top 2 being loose and leaves on the bottom layer. I’ve provided them with KB jelly, homemade banana jelly, and straight up bananas but they just refuse to eat and I don’t think I’ve seen them eat not once the entire time I’ve had them. I left them in the bin for a month and a half, and during the entire time they didn’t surface not even once (I have a camera pointed at the enclosure). Decided to check in this morning because I honestly thought they may have died, only to find them just chilling at the bottom and no trace of eggs in sight. They don’t seem sick or anything, they move around like nothing is wrong. Can anyone tell me what the issue may be? I’ve attached images of the female, male, and bin.

 

[JKim]

Soil not necessary. A lot of care guides providing information of mixing substrate and garden soil are all very old, expired information. Have some more depth of substrate, probably about 8 inches deep, and your idea of compacting bottom is okay, but honestly, not necessary either. They will just go all the way down to the bottom of the container and lay there. compacting substrate on the bottom portion only raise up the level where they lay eggs.

*The plastic bottom cannot be softer than substrate no matter how hard you compact them down

S. aloeus are burrowers, but they often do come out feed on beetle jellies often as every single day. Maybe your place is not warm enough? Are they fully matured? Just because they are in adult stage doesn't make them adults capable of reproduction.

 

[Endereye]

Soil not necessary. A lot of care guides providing information of mixing substrate and garden soil are all very old, expired information. Have some more depth of substrate, probably about 8 inches deep, and your idea of compacting bottom is okay, but honestly, not necessary either. They will just go all the way down to the bottom of the container and lay there. compacting substrate on the bottom portion only raise up the level where they lay eggs.

*The plastic bottom cannot be softer than substrate no matter how hard you compact them down

S. aloeus are burrowers, but they often do come out feed on beetle jellies often as every single day. Maybe your place is not warm enough? Are they fully matured? Just because they are in adult stage doesn't make them adults capable of reproduction.

Thanks for the response. To my knowledge, I bought them and the dealer said that they had somewhat recently eclosed (there wasn’t an eclosion date given), and this was 4 months ago. Wouldn’t they be sexually mature by now no matter when they eclosed though, since it’s been so long, or do they take longer to mature than other beetles? I originally had the bin containing only flake, but was told by some other good breeders that they used 50/50 flake and garden soil mix to successfully get eggs. The main thing that confuses me is the food part, they haven’t eaten in months to my knowledge, even though I always provide them with food. Even if I put them right in top of it they refuse to eat. My home is kept at a constant 73°F. I’ll try adding more flake soil to the enclosure and see what happens. And this time you recommend against compacting the bottom? Thanks a lot!

 

[JKim]

S. aloeus feed on a lot of food, one jelly a day, and sometime even more, and chew through the jelly cups when they are hungry. Your temp is not too bad, but slightly low. I would raise it up to at least 75˚F, up to around 80˚F if you can, or just naturally wait until the weather gets warmed up.


Not a lot of beetle species chew through the jelly cups. Never seen such behaviors regularly on other US Dynastine species, somewhat in Phileurini.

 

[Endereye]

S. aloeus feed on a lot of food, one jelly a day, and sometime even more, and chew through the jelly cups when they are hungry. Your temp is not too bad, but slightly low. I would raise it up to at least 75˚F, up to around 80˚F if you can, or just naturally wait until the weather gets warmed up.

View attachment 3443
Not a lot of beetle species chew through the jelly cups. Never seen such behaviors regularly on other US Dynastine species, somewhat in Phileurini.

wow thats a crazy sight! I didn't know they had jaws like that. I never thought that the issue might be the temperature, I turned up the heat so hopefully that works. If it's due to the temperature that theyre not active, could it be that theyre in dormancy? I read online that strategus don't tend to have a hibernation/dormancy period. I have X. Thestalus that are currently dormant (they're in the enclosure to the right in the image), so maybe the aloeus are also dormant?

 

[JKim]

wow thats a crazy sight! I didn't know they had jaws like that. I never thought that the issue might be the temperature, I turned up the heat so hopefully that works. If it's due to the temperature that theyre not active, could it be that theyre in dormancy? I read online that strategus don't tend to have a hibernation/dormancy period. I have X. Thestalus that are currently dormant (they're in the enclosure to the right in the image), so maybe the aloeus are also dormant?

I don't know what you read, but all dynastine scarab beetles CAN go under dormancy. Also, all the dynastines have chewing mouthparts. They can chew quite well, especially a lot of species under the tribe Oryctini are.