Betta132 Posted September 30, 2016 Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 Hi all! Mostly on here for advice about keeping a couple of native species, specifically Eastern and/or Western hercules beetles. Also, advice on how to catch as many cool bugs as possible. And possibly a small collection of roaches, now that I've fully comprehended how many lovely species exist. I already have several fish tanks, though I'm working on thinning them down so I have everything gone before college next year. I've also kept dart frogs and Madagascar hissing roaches in the past, clearly not in the same tank, and I managed to raise a fairly nice batch of the roaches when my pair bred unexpectedly. I also have a fairly large collection of dead things and parts of things, mostly skeletons, mounted insects, and jarred found-dead fish specimens. My room looks a bit like a small natural science museum after a miniature tornado. Full disclosure, anything that dies of old age under my care will end up mounted and either in my collection or being traded for something else for my collection. I'm not gonna kill anything under my care just to mount it, but if it dies with all its appendages intact, it's going to end up on a pin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 Welcome to the forum! Texas is home to lots of cool invertebrates, including some Tenebrionid beetles I'd love to own, as well as some pretty cool roaches! Hope you enjoy it here, and I hope we can answer any questions you may have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratmosphere Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 Welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta132 Posted October 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 @Hisserdude, if you can send example photos, I can keep an eye out for the beetles you want. We don't have too many of the ground-running beetles in our yard, but I've seen a bunch of different fast-moving, rounded black beetles out in more rural areas. There are some fairly small, cute burrowing roaches living around here. Not certain what kind they are, as I haven't been able to catch any recently. Either I can't find them or they escape into the ground when I do. Might try pitfall traps so I can catch a few for an ID. Any suggestions on bait? We also have some Calosoma, caterpillar hunters, but I imagine they'd be pretty tricky to keep alive. Shame, they're gorgeous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 @Hisserdude, if you can send example photos, I can keep an eye out for the beetles you want. We don't have too many of the ground-running beetles in our yard, but I've seen a bunch of different fast-moving, rounded black beetles out in more rural areas. There are some fairly small, cute burrowing roaches living around here. Not certain what kind they are, as I haven't been able to catch any recently. Either I can't find them or they escape into the ground when I do. Might try pitfall traps so I can catch a few for an ID. Any suggestions on bait? We also have some Calosoma, caterpillar hunters, but I imagine they'd be pretty tricky to keep alive. Shame, they're gorgeous. Well right now I don't have the room for any new species, I'll be moving soon and hopefully then I'll be able to get some new bugs. Some of the darklings in TX that I really want are Oenopion, Alobates pensylvanica, Eleodes mirabilis, Eleodes spinipes, Eleodes tenuipes, Argoporis sp, and countless unique genera and species in the subfamily Pimeliinae. Cool, sounds like Arenivaga sp, sand roaches. Would love to see pictures of them. They are very cool, fairly easy to care for little guys, and there are a bunch of species that we don't have in the hobby yet. Pitfall traps may work for the females and nymphs, but the winged males are attracted to lights. Rodent burrows are also a great place to look for the females and nymphs. Calosoma are actually very easy to care for, but notoriously difficult to breed. They can live a couple years in captivity and eat caterpillars, crickets, roaches, fish pellets and fruit on occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta132 Posted October 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 I'll keep an eye out for those beetles, just in case. I've found what I think are a couple of those, but always dead. My haircutters' building sprays a lot of pesticides around and I have something like 15 different kinds of beetles that I've found dead in that area, plus a huge dobsonfly male. If I get anything of that sort alive, I'll put 'em in a temporary tank so I can send you a pic and see if it's something I should hang onto. I don't think I've seen any of the really neat striped ones, but I'm pretty sure I recognize a couple of the black ones. Any idea what the best way to find the sand roaches would be? I find them very rarely under fallen logs, but only if they're logs that haven't been moved in something like a month, and I've moved all the logs nearby. Do they come out more at night, or are they constantly underground? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted October 2, 2016 Report Share Posted October 2, 2016 I'll keep an eye out for those beetles, just in case. I've found what I think are a couple of those, but always dead. My haircutters' building sprays a lot of pesticides around and I have something like 15 different kinds of beetles that I've found dead in that area, plus a huge dobsonfly male. If I get anything of that sort alive, I'll put 'em in a temporary tank so I can send you a pic and see if it's something I should hang onto. I don't think I've seen any of the really neat striped ones, but I'm pretty sure I recognize a couple of the black ones. Any idea what the best way to find the sand roaches would be? I find them very rarely under fallen logs, but only if they're logs that haven't been moved in something like a month, and I've moved all the logs nearby. Do they come out more at night, or are they constantly underground? Cool, thanks! Hope you can find some cool beetles in an area without pesticides. Digging in rodent burrows has proven to be a great way to collect the sand roaches, other forms of collecting them are looking under leaf litter and other debris in suitable habitat and digging around plant roots. Pitfall traps may work but Arenivaga aren't attracted to many baits so they can be a hit and miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuervo Posted October 19, 2016 Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 Welcome to the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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