Goliathus - it has happened !!

Maybe, but, not likely, because insects breed pretty fast.

I've seen hundreds of beetles on one tree. Imagine you cut down 10 of those trees...

Collecting hundreds of beetles a day is a lot of work, but cutting down 10 trees seems to be not very hard for some lumber companies.

Plus the "beetle industry" is pretty small, over supply by catching them would only hurt your future prices due to the low demand.

 
Pewrune: Yes, well said!

Insect rod: Keep in mind that, at least with most large beetles, it is much easier to breed them in captivity and sell offspring than to collect them in the wild. Japan has kept beetles as pets for very many years and a vast majority of the ones bought and sold there now are CB. Phalacrognathus muelleri are protected in the wild and can't be collected, but you could sure buy them pretty cheaply in pet stores in Japan.

A market for live Goliathus will hopefully drive more people to captive breed them - I am currently working with someone in Africa to try and start a breeding program there.

 
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With them being legal you are gonna try and sell them if the breeding goes well Goliathus goliathus was one of the first I saw when I found out that keeping beetles was a thing and was crushed when I saw them not being able to import to the us any timeframe on you having larva? Sorry if you answered these somewhere else already

 
Substrate composition is unimportant after about two weeks from hatching - any dirt should work (as long as it doesn't have fertilizer or other chemicals) or coconut fiber.

The container size changes with the size of the larvae. You would need a container that gives the grub room to turn but not much more.

 
You could get organic compost from a gardening center which consists of almost 100% leaf litter which could potentially produce larger beetles, especially if you supplement protein.

 
I was thinking about something along those lines I have been seeing that a lot of people have had success with feeding them dog cat or fish food when they hit L2

 
Beetle-Experience said:
Substrate composition is unimportant after about two weeks from hatching - any dirt should work (as long as it doesn't have fertilizer or other chemicals) or coconut fiber.

The container size changes with the size of the larvae. You would need a container that gives the grub room to turn but not much more.
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And just to confirm this I keep seeing people mention coconut fiber is this the same substrate that would be used for lizards and comes in the compressed bricks?
 
Yes, same stuff - AKA "Coir" or "coconut husk"...

As larvae they eat only protein and will starve without it, so you can keep them in almost any substrate as long as you feed them well.

Oh, also, you would need to feed them protein way before L2 or you will end up with small adults.

 
Good to know the ones I was thinking about getting will beL2 already what would you suggest feeding them have you had any that liked certain things more than others?

 
@Beetle-Experience, how do you think chick feed would work for Goliathus? It's high in protien, at least 20% crude protien, and it's corn based, like most dog foods.

 
Beetle-Experience said:
It might work. The fish pellets I was using were 40-something percent I think.
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Hmm, looks like some experimentation is in order lol!
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I didn't think my Pyrophorus larvae would like the chick feed, they also need a high protein diet, and I was feeding them mostly cat food, so far they seem to be eating the chick feed though, to my surprise! So maybe Goliathus would like them too, hmm...

 
Beetle-experience some of the things I have seen say they are picky about what their will build their pupae in was there anything special you have used for when they get to that point?

 
Myatt22 said:
Beetle-experience some of the things I have seen say they are picky about what their will build their pupae in was there anything special you have used for when they get to that point?
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You need a layer of real dirt (not wood flakes) at them bottom of the container. Goliathus likes to build harder pupa cells with real dirt. Maybe they feel safer that way? and maybe they don't want to be eaten by their meat-loving brother and sisters
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Jonathan Lai's book have a section on Goliathus.

 
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