Dorcus hopei binodulosu

[Dcpac]

Picked up this guy and a female. They are local from near my house, the beetle shop I went to was in the middle of no where and I am pretty sure I was the first American in their shop:). I now need to study up on hibernation and breeding them.

[M.Finae]

This breed is also in Korea, It lives around 3-4 years, and has a extremly long life for a beetle.

You usually hibernate when you need to, in case you need to keep the beetle for next year breeding.

 

This method is ususlly used when making your own bloodline, because you would want to keep the one with the rare characteristics as long as possible so that you could breed it for a longer amount of time.

 

I'm not sure if it is making sense, but....

hibernation can be done by putting the male, and the female preferable in seperate enclosures, and staking up at least 20 centimeters of substrate.

This way the beetles could dig inside and hibernate more quickly and dont freeze to death...

You would need to put them in a cold place, usually below 19celcius, and they will start hibernating.

 

On breeding

 

You need a enclosure large enough to put the wood inside(breeding wood).

you put 4cm of substrate, and the wood, and cover with some substrate.

the wood needs to be prepared with special care.

You need to peel off any remaining bark on the wood, and any og the orange material left behid the bark on the wood.

This orange material is critical to the larvae's health, because it is known to cause the intestines of the larvae to pop out, and die.

 

once the wood is clean, you put in in the water for around 20minutes, and it is ready for the egg laying. This reed rather prefers it dry.

 

This breed always digs up on the wood, so its quite a mess when it starts laying eggs. but its also one of my favorite, because its very pleasing to peel out the wood to find the larvae and eggs.

[Dcpac]

M. Finae,

Thanks for the info. Both he male and female emerged in May this year. The breeder told me it is up to me if I want to hibernate (diapause) them or not, but to not breed them until next May when they are a year old. From what I have read it seems that they will be healthier and live longer if I put them in hibernation from about November to May. Right know all my beetles are in my living room which I keep at 24c year round, the breeder said I could keep them outside during November to May, but I worry about temperature fluctuations. I have an old refrigerator with an external thermostat that I used to use when I brewed beer and I think I am going to use that for their hibernation I just have to remember not to let them dry out and open the door everyday or some to make sure the air is good.

[M.Finae]

M. Finae,

Thanks for the info. Both he male and female emerged in May this year. The breeder told me it is up to me if I want to hibernate (diapause) them or not, but to not breed them until next May when they are a year old. From what I have read it seems that they will be healthier and live longer if I put them in hibernation from about November to May. Right know all my beetles are in my living room which I keep at 24c year round, the breeder said I could keep them outside during November to May, but I worry about temperature fluctuations. I have an old refrigerator with an external thermostat that I used to use when I brewed beer and I think I am going to use that for their hibernation I just have to remember not to let them dry out and open the door everyday or some to make sure the air is good.

Yes. It is correct that they live longer when they are done hibernation. The Maturing time for this species is about after 1-2months after their first meal, which would have been already done if you found them in July. I suggest you breed them now, and get as much as larvae untill october, and hibernate them starting from november. the end of summer is the best time to lay eggs and breed, because the life span is most likely to end before may-july, and get the next generation ready for breeding at the same season as their parents have done.