Ideal food for Ox Beetle grubs?

GelGelada

GelGelada

L3
I was wondering if anyone here has raised ox beetle grubs to maturity. I have some right now from breeding my beetles recently and they're in a mix of oak flake and pulverized leaves, but I was wondering if there is something else I should be doing? They appear to happily eat the leaf mix I have made for them but the care book states that they will not survive to adulthood on substrate. I'm using oak flake for filler in my cups. It doesn't explain why they would not survive on substrate, unless they meant on potting soil, which makes sense. Can they ONLY eat leaves and they don't eat ANY sort of wood flake?

Should I make a mix of pure leaves for them to eat just to be sure or are they actually okay on a mix of leaf bits and oak flake for filler? Dog food? Etc. I wouldn't want these little guys to starve... I've had them in this mix since they hatched and they seem to be thriving, but again I'm worried they will just suddenly die on this mix, somehow.

 
If I remember correctly, Strategus grubs are unusual because they need to feed on rotting plant matter while buried in sandy soil or something.

I'll check my Ult. Guide when I get home

 
I have raised Strategus aloeus to adults so not sure if other species are different but it was probably one the easiest species I have raised. All my larvae made it to perfect adults, I had about 12. I used a combination of flake soil and oak leaves and they did just fine. I have one larvae now that hatched from egg about 3 months ago that I'm raising on 100% flake soil and its already huge and doing fine. 

The part I had problems with is getting the females to lay eggs! I only got one egg from my females and also I have many wild caught females from this summer and no eggs. Anyway, if you are raising S aloeus, I think you won't have any problem getting nice adults. Not sure about the other species because I know they are different in regards to laying eggs.

ox2.jpg


 
The ultimate guide states they need a 90% sand, 10% soil substrate, and will feed on dead leaves and dog food buried in the sand. It also states they don’t survive to adulthood if kept on rotten wood, leaves, and compost mixes like other rhinos.

 
Wow, that's interesting. Is that for S antaeus? Because S aloeus is very different. S aloeus can be raised like other rhinos, at least that's how it has been for me the last 2 years. Here is some conversation in regards to S aloeus from a post from a long time ago: 




 
Bugboy3092 said:
The ultimate guide states they need a 90% sand, 10% soil substrate, and will feed on dead leaves and dog food buried in the sand. It also states they don’t survive to adulthood if kept on rotten wood, leaves, and compost mixes like other rhinos.
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Garin said:
Wow, that's interesting. Is that for S antaeus? Because S aloeus is very different. S aloeus can be raised like other rhinos, at least that's how it has been for me the last 2 years. Here is some conversation in regards to S aloeus from a post from a long time ago: 
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I checked my Ultimate Guide today. aloeus can be raised on normal wood/leaf/compost mix but antaeus needs the sandy soil.

@GelGelada I think you posted a while ago asking about whether grass is needed for grubs of antaeus to survive; the Guide says it is only needed for convincing females to lay eggs.

 
Haha I guess I should’ve clarified, from the horn sturcture on his male they’re definitely antaeus, and yeah that’s just for them

 
Makes sense. It's interesting how they look somewhat similar and yet breeding is so different. I have heard it's much easier to get eggs from antaeus than aloeus. I wish they had antaeus in AZ, haha.

 
Strategus Antaeus eggs aren't my issue, ha ha. I got Antaeus 14 eggs from my female before she seemed to stop, so that's enough for me. She was wild caught, so much more than I was expecting. However, I think she's "young" as she is still alive and the male died recently. I took her out of her bucket the other day because she wasn't eating anything I had in her bucket anymore and I had not seen any more eggs after she had been in there for almost a month. Now that she's out, she's eating again.

I just wanted to make sure my Antaeus grubs wouldn't somehow starve to death with the oak flake mixed in. I have them in a 50/50 mix of flake and layered leaves I have rotted and crumbled into tiny pieces for them and they seem to be eating very well. I'll add dog food once they're bigger, as I worry they are too tiny to manage the mold that dog food would create in their tiny cups right now?

As for the Strategus Antaeus female's sub, I did not use much sand. I used SOME sand of course, but not anywhere near 90%? Her sub was mostly potting soil with about three cups of pulverized leaves (3 full blenders worth), whole leaves, oak bark shards and grass clippings. She laid just fine in that without grass growing in it and preferred to be down in the last three inches of the bucket where I had lightly compacted the soil. I did however put a slab of moss on the surface of the soil for her to dug under and that worked great. I would find her under there in the day eating apple slices. The grass was just grass clippings and she used that to surround the eggs (one egg per clump of grass and moss pieces). So... I don't think you NEED sand for Antaeus, personally, but maybe this was just a total fluke? I'm new to this so heck if I know; this was literally my first beetle pair. I only had about 20% sand, WAY less than the guidebook says and she laid... next year if all of my grubs survive and I get adults, I want to try different setups and test that with the substrates for egg laying. The reason why I didn't use sand is that I could not leave my house due to hurricane Florence, so I used what I had from my supplies and my yard just to see what would happen after she had mated.

 
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Perhaps the grass clippings were so fresh that the female thought they were alive, and the grubs may survive but be much less healthy without sufficient sand.

After all, Dynastes may lay eggs in substrate non-edible for grubs.

 
She didn't seem to care if they were alive or not, just that there were clippings. My yard doesn't have long grass, so I used things like wild pea plants and grasses I could get with the moss.

I'm still confused why oak flake isn't okay? They don't... eat the sand? If the oak flake doesn't hurt them, doesn't it make more sense to use oak flake because it holds moisture better with the leaves than sand alone with leaves? Forgive me but I really don't see a reason why to keep them in 90% sand if they're already hatched and thriving after a week unless there's something I'm missing. I understand that they need good substrate in order to build chambers but the sand we have here doesn't do that unless it's soaked. Our sand feels like bad playground sand and it doesn't compact unless you really stomp it down hard. It's why grass doesn't really grow here, only root stuff. I would have to buy sand that can compact or use the mix they were laid in, because that has some sand and it compacted okay.

Could you explain why they must have sand to survive if they don't eat it? I'm a bit confused. Can they live in oak flake mixes or not? Everywhere else I have read says sand can hurt them, so if they can't eat it... yeah. Do you mean sandy loam or like... sand-sand you typically think of from the beach and such? Just saying "sand" confuses me, honestly.

 
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I'm not sure about sand either. A number of sand invertebrates do well on cocofiber or other substrates.

My best guess: the sand creates a suitable microclimate for the grubs, in the same way that succulent plants need well-draining soil (since their roots are prone to decay if wet).

(The book doesn't specify what type of sand, it just says "sand".)

 
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If you are referring the Ox Beetles to the Strategus aloeus, oak or any hardwood substrate (or organic potting/garden soil from garden store) should do enough without any leaf litters. I reared several generations of Strategus aloeus, and it is not a picky one. It is great to mix up some sand and/or clay soil into the container when it is about to build a pupal cell as sand and clay can be great materials to build one.

 
Yep, I'll be changing their stuff when I think they're going to pupate. Right now I have four that appear to be in late L2 but my biggest is in L3 now I think. I didn't catch the molt. The rest are late hatchers or small females. Thanks for the help, I might message you if I have any surprises. I had some grub die off a few months ago but now they have stopped and are all thriving on the mix of leaves and soil I made.

 
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