Pupal Cell Care for Goliath Beetles

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GoliaTess

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What is the recommended humidity level and temp for the pupal cell of a goliath beetle? Are there any recommendations on the best setup for maintaining appropriate humidity/temp?

 
Try reading this article-  ( insect-colection.com/invertebrate-caresheet/journal-of-a-goliathus-breeder/ ) It's a long url, but I don't know any other way to direct you.

It's very informative. My understanding from memory,is that the grubs pupate in moist soil, form a chamber, it dries out, and then after a time emerge after rain.

I've got 1 grub that pupated early at 34.6 grams on 12-12-20, I'll try removing the overburden in a few weeks and see what happened.

I bookmark useful informative articles like the one I posted here, always good for reference.

 
Thanks Kevink! That's a useful article - it sounds like a specific number hasn't been determined for ideal temp/humidity, but it's better to err on the drier side. 

Best of luck with your grub!

 
Glad you found it, try this one as well, the goliath information is near the end, but it's more information from a different source

scarabsnewsletter.com/scarabs_78.pdf

someday I'll learn how to make a link...it's only been 20 years or so I've been using a computer.

 
I just removed the overburden from my Goliathus pupation cylinder and discovered the pupal chamber at the bottom- 8" deep.

The grub dug in on 12/12/20. More news later!

 
Carefully. I used a soup spoon and scraped the unused material away and put it into containers for later use.

It was still quite damp and I'd like it to dry out so I can crush the clumps a bit more, but the grub still managed all

the same. The container I used allowed me to compress the sides a bit so loose material would be clear to see,

but you don't want to jostle it around, and some careful scraping just takes some time.

Once you see the chamber, it's easy. My guess is the grubs go deep, like I mentioned, mine dug in 8", the very

bottom of the container I used, maybe they'd go even deeper if possible. I left the pupal chamber in the original

container and set it in a warm area, heat rises, so I set it up on a high shelf, but I normally keep my room at or above 70f

anyway. Now it seems, at least in the care sheet, it'll take 6-8 months for a beetle to emerge, however, I suspect it may be less

because of the smaller size, although that could be wrong. I'm looking at maybe June or July perhaps for an adult.

 
Keep us posted. Next time I'll use moist food for the grubs as well as dry, and an article I read mentions the improbability of the

'Wandering phase " in nature, I'll also try using larger rearing containers with pupation substrate at the bottom, still a lot to learn

about this one. My guess is that even breeders offering Goliathus have grubs which pupate small, most of us just don't have the

resources or numbers to  make up for mistakes. Just like breeding Saturniidae, it's numbers that give the edge to get pairings

of more difficult species.

 
Thanks all for the helpful replies! 

For excavated pupal cells, do you typically let it dry out to a certain extent? How do you determine if it's too damp/dry?

 
Yes, do not use dry food. Best is Koi pellets soaked in water for at least 5-min.

I let my pupal container dry out almost completely, and make sure to not disturb the pupal containers for a month after you set the wandering larva into it. I have had problems with pupation substrate that had too much moisture, they seem to do better when kept dry until they are ready to emerge.

 
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I've got a month or two to go on mine, with only 1-2 females out of 5. Fingers crossed they made it, and that they emerge somewhat close together (most went down around halloween, but I have a male that pupated later). I would agree without the numbers its not an easy species to breed, but I'm hopefully I'll get lucky.

 
From Pinkgogo7 on IG

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Probably not, the natural habitat, I believe goes through wet and dry seasons, with rain at the end of a dry season causing insects to emerge,

I've experienced a similar situation with African lepidoptera livestock, of the burying type, as well as ones that spin cocoons.

Besides the information you might get from breeders, sometimes I will research the natural conditions in which any given livestock

originates, it's so simple nowadays to get climate data from the web.

 
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