Tityus/Grantii Crossbreeding & more

wharfboy

wharfboy

L1
EDIT: Thank you for your responses! I will not be crossbreeding them, only the two Dynastes Tityus together.

Hello! I have a few questions. At the moment, I have the opportunity to crossbreed d. Tityus and d. Grantii. This is my first attempt to breed any beetles period, so I'm not sure if I should do something special to suit the hybrids better (because of the different lifespans) or just care for them like I would Tityus.

Currently I have one minor male Tityus, one Grantii female, and two Tityus females I'm also going to mate him with. There's another Tityus female pupating at the moment, but she's unusually small so I'm not going to bother. The adults are all in my refrigerator at ~52°F, put in at different times over the span of 3 months, July to September.

How should I go about taking them each out of hibernation to breed with him, and can I do it soon or would it mess their hibernation rhythm up? Is this just way too many eggs for my small space?? Lol.

I am planning to sell some of the larvae from all females after hatching. Thanks!

 
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Not a lot of people here are fan of hybridization for various reasons. There are couple known records of hybridization between Eastern and Western Hercules Beetles, including the records from the University of Kentucky (No further records available than what's appeared in the webpage, even tracked down the person who posted, but he was not traceable even by that institution). Since there are very few, there is no known "care guide" on hybridization of Eastern x Western, and there is no special care either . Simply because of it being a hybrid doesn't really make it whole different kind of animal. Its fertility and survival rates do not really lie on your hands, but its genes...

If you kept them indoor, without freezing them, there is no hibernation needed to begin with. Just bring them out of freezer, and keep them indoor for couple weeks, and see if they feed on fruits or jellies, if you have any. If they start to feed, you can go ahead put them together and see if they mate. Hercules Beetles of the U.S. are tend to mate pretty much immediately, so you can probably be able to observe them mate. If you did observe it, try have them mate couple times, and separate.

 
wharfboy said:
Hello! I have a few questions. At the moment, I have the opportunity to crossbreed d. Tityus and d. Grantii. This is my first attempt to breed any beetles period, so I'm not sure if I should do something special to suit the hybrids better (because of the different lifespans) or just care for them like I would Tityus.

Currently I have one minor male Tityus, one Grantii female, and two Tityus females I'm also going to mate him with. There's another Tityus female pupating at the moment, but she's unusually small so I'm not going to bother. The adults are all in my refrigerator at ~52°F, put in at different times over the span of 3 months, July to September.

How should I go about taking them each out of hibernation to breed with him, and can I do it soon or would it mess their hibernation rhythm up? Is this just way too many eggs for my small space?? Lol.

I am planning to sell some of the larvae from all females after hatching. Thanks!
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Is the grant's female wild or captive?

 
Generally people don't like hybridizing in the bug hobby... So if you plan on selling those offspring, be sure to very clearly label them as hybrids, and perhaps set your expectations low for your customer base and initial pricing of said larvae...

 
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