Wood Collecting - Noob needs help IDing

[Ryan]

Hello All, I'm a complete noob who is going to share his haphazard learning adventure in the hope I'm corrected along the way.

I just got 3 L3 Dynastes Hercules Hercules Beetles (two females and one male). They have about 10-12 months until they pupa. First up I need some larva substrate. I was hoping to collect Oak as I think that is the best hardwood for DHH, Please help me ID below. I brought some of tree 1 and 4 home, it is cooking with a bunch of Oak leafs at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours right now.

As far as compost goes, I have a friend that makes compost and also has a worm farm (Vermiculture compost) but it will not be ready for a few weeks. I was hoping to maybe switch in with some of his nice banana peel worm dropping in the future, but read that switching substrate will produce smaller beetles as they lose weight while adjusting to the new diet.

I currently only have Oak Wood (I think) and Oak Leafs, should I diversify the hardwood leafs or will pure Oak produce a better beetle?

I am planning on making a 1/1 mixture of Wood, Leafs (No access to Compost currently) and adding a handful of high protein dog food.

First 3 are from the same tree.. There are alot of Oak in this area and there were acorns under it, so I'm hoping it is Oak.

TREE #1

Tree1.1

Tree1.2

Tree1.3

TREE #2

Tree2

TREE #3

Tree3

TREE #4

Tree4

TREE #5

Tree5

OAK Leaf Score!! Had the classic 7 jagged pointy lobes of the Northern Red Oak but the acorns were the give away.

Leafs

 

[Dynastes]

Tree 1 looks best according to the photos. Do not use worm droppings. The leaf mix should be finely ground. Handful of dog food sounds like a bad idea. It's like feeding fish not like fruit fly media.

 

[Ryan]

Tree 1 looks best according to the photos. Do not use worm droppings. The leaf mix should be finely ground. Handful of dog food sounds like a bad idea. It's like feeding fish not like fruit fly media.

Thanks for the heads up on the worm droppings. Is there a reason behind not using it? I have only used one piece of dog food per container but removed as it molded scary fast. I got a food processor just for refining substrate and they seem to love it!

 

[Dynastes]

Thanks for the heads up on the worm droppings. Is there a reason behind not using it?

Rhino larvae can become very sickly over time if there are a number of worms in the substrate that have consumed much of it. I imagine purposely adding worm droppings would be as bad or worse.