Found Lucanus capreolus

I finally got a male Lucanus capreolus! he bit me, really hurt. will post pics later! how should i care for him? how do i get him a mate? what was he doing in my vegetable garden?

 
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Congratulation!!

Becareful about the setting because L. capreolus is very active species and it often dies from falling over the back and unable to get itself up.

 
I put him in an old pretzel jar with some rotting wood and soil subsrate, he is kinda lazy and he burrows down into the medium. He eats strawberry slices and sugary syrup. any advice for getting more? I want at least another male and a few females.

 
I put him in an old pretzel jar with some rotting wood and soil subsrate, he is kinda lazy and he burrows down into the medium. He eats strawberry slices and sugary syrup. any advice for getting more? I want at least another male and a few females.
I usually find two to three adults in the same place. They fly into street lights so you should look under the light at night.

 
You might invest in a either a Mercury Vapor lamp...
My MV lamp is without a doubt the best purchase I have made in years... If you are considering setting yourself up with one, I highly recommend these pages:

http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zEEB/butterflies/JoelMV.html

http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zEEB/butterflies/MVsetup.html

Some very good, even if it is mostly moth oriented, advice. On the first page the guy uses a 30cal ammo box...dont bother, just get a 50cal box and be done with it! More space, you can store your bulb/the socket in the container, even (at least, I built mine to facilitate such things).
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Also - check gas station parking lots at night. With a little work you can find specific ones that are very productive. We have a "route" that we take to check several good spots on the weekends - can usually find more bugs than if you setup a light rig in one spot.

Steven

 
yesterday i dug near a fallen tree, found 2 males, haven't been able to find a female though, we are expecting rain, will that help?

 
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