US favorite beetles to keep??

K

KICritters

L1
I'm new to the beetle hobby and would like to hear what some of your favorite species to keep are to help me get an idea where I may want to start Also what king of supplies (substrate, food, etc) would be good standard to keep around.

 
I love Asbolus verrucosus! They're my all time favorite beetle species! Really, I love love Tenebrionids all around. They're super easy to care for too!

You say you're starting with beetles? I recommend you check out bugsincyberspace.com. If you go with darkling beetles, I suggest you purchase these two "kits":

http://shop.bugsincyberspace.com/Desert-Beetle-Sampler-bic973.htm

http://shop.bugsincyberspace.com/Complete-Desert-Beetle-Habitat-Kit-bic858.htm

Or, you can just purchase the blue death feigning beetles separately here:

http://shop.bugsincyberspace.com/Blue-Death-Feigning-Beetle-bic977.htm

They're out of stock at the moment, but I promise you they'll be back.
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Are there other sites that have a broad variety of insects? or more beetle selections? I always keep an eye on bugs in cyber space and ken the bug guy. I just notice a lot of people stick to one or two nitches, I love looking at a for sale list with variety haha

 
KICritters said:
Are there other sites that have a broad variety of insects? or more beetle selections? I always keep an eye on bugs in cyber space and ken the bug guy. I just notice a lot of people stick to one or two nitches, I love looking at a for sale list with variety haha
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Bugsincyberspace has the largest collection of beetles in the US. He's the most diverse seller of insects here. I don't know of any USA based sites that have a selection even remotely comparable to the selection of bugsincyberspace.

 
Makes sense, I love their selection. I've missed dung beetles and d. tityus multiple times on the site, I'm trying to keep a closer eye on availability

 
It depends.

My parents are in Taiwan, where beetles are easier to obtain .

So when I was little, I try different stuff every year.

I started with local Allomyrina dichotoma and Dorcus titanus sika.

Soon after, I want to challenge some bigger species, including CCC, DHL, MA, DN.

DN wasn't successful (I think its the temperature, I had no clue that's a thing),

CCC were all short horns

DHL got to 120mm

MA got to 105mm

So I continued to breed the DHL and MA because they were more successful. both of them lasted 3 generation. I think because they were breeding with their siblings and caused a higher chance of death rate.

Then I started to pay more attention to stags and tried a few Dorcus titanus, Prospocolius, and Odontolabis species that are not native to Taiwan.

After I got to college, I went back to Taiwanese species again.

Then I started working, had to travel to Bangladesh, China, and now USA, tried breeding some local species in each country. there were about 2 years where I only collected the adults, because I know ill be moving again and wont be able to wait for the larvae to grow up and to emerge.

Anyways, now I have D. tityus, and L. elaphus.

 
KICritters said:
Do you collect them yourself? I know they range in Texas but I've never seen any
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I've had them in the past.

Pewrune said:
It depends.

My parents are in Taiwan, where beetles are easier to obtain .

So when I was little, I try different stuff every year.

I started with local Allomyrina dichotoma and Dorcus titanus sika.

Soon after, I want to challenge some bigger species, including CCC, DHL, MA, DN.

DN wasn't successful (I think its the temperature, I had no clue that's a thing),

CCC were all short horns

DHL got to 120mm

MA got to 105mm

So I continued to breed the DHL and MA because they were more successful. both of them lasted 3 generation. I think because they were breeding with their siblings and caused a higher chance of death rate.

Then I started to pay more attention to stags and tried a few Dorcus titanus, Prospocolius, and Odontolabis species that are not native to Taiwan.

After I got to college, I went back to Taiwanese species again.

Then I started working, had to travel to Bangladesh, China, and now USA, tried breeding some local species in each country. there were about 2 years where I only collected the adults, because I know ill be moving again and wont be able to wait for the larvae to grow up and to emerge.

Anyways, now I have D. tityus, and L. elaphus.
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Nice man!

 
My favorite beetles to keep are Calasoma caterpillar hunters. I've only kept 2 but they were definitely my favorite- relatively large, active, colorful and voracious eaters.

 
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