Beetles and their wings

[Wolfman]

As someone who has never owned beetles that specifically have wings, how do you deal with them flying around your house and etc.? I want to get some in the near future and I live in an apartment, but I’m terrified of them banging into walls and such. Do you keep them in a mesh enclosure? How do you deal with them taking flight constantly?

[Dynastes]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:05 PM, Wolfman said:

As someone who has never owned beetles that specifically have wings, how do you deal with them flying around your house and etc.? I want to get some in the near future and I live in an apartment, but I’m terrified of them banging into walls and such. Do you keep them in a mesh enclosure? How do you deal with them taking flight constantly?

Most rhinos and stags you'll never see flying and they will certainly never fly out of a cage, even flower beetles don't often fly in a small cage.

[Wolfman]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:15 PM, Dynastes said:

Most rhinos and stags you'll never see flying and they will certainly never fly out of a cage, even flower beetles don't often fly in a small cage.

Very interesting! I just assumed they would be helicoptering around when they could.

[Dynastes]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:27 PM, Wolfman said:

Very interesting! I just assumed they would be helicoptering around when they could.

mecy and goliathus are fun to let go for a flight but you have to throw them up in the air a bunch of time or have a big cage with branches and heat. Rhinos only fly at certain times of night and most specimens I've never seen even try to fly. 

[Dynastes]

Even rhinos and stags that do fly usually only fly for a few hours after dusk. It's sort of like mealworms, they certainly can fly but the conditions in captivity don't usually encourage it.

[Wolfman]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:38 PM, Dynastes said:

Even rhinos and stags that do fly usually only fly for a few hours after dusk. It's sort of like mealworms, they certainly can fly but the conditions in captivity don't usually encourage it.

I also assumed they use their wings for very short periods as well, either way knowing this makes me more excited to get some.

[kevink]

I've kept Dynastes granti adults, and they would try to fly in the enclosure, I don't recall what time of day they'd do it, seems like it was during the day,

I've kept Prionid adults and they would try to fly after dark in an enclosure.

Hard to have an enclosure big enough for a beetle to get going, unless they're small, like fireflies. 

I've read somewhere children in Africa would tie a string to a goliathus and let it fly around , like one of those airplanes on a string-

I don't have any experience with that, but may be able to get back to you sometime. Watching beetles fly is a great fascination.

What usually ends up flying in my house are butterflies and moths, and they can be difficult to retrieve or relocate. Setting up a uv light

on the floor didn't work-

[Reyes]

On 12/14/2021 at 4:05 PM, Wolfman said:

As someone who has never owned beetles that specifically have wings, how do you deal with them flying around your house and etc.? I want to get some in the near future and I live in an apartment, but I’m terrified of them banging into walls and such. Do you keep them in a mesh enclosure? How do you deal with them taking flight constantly?

 I use mesh.

I used to own a couple of lucanus. sp and they flew during dryer days.

The mesh kept them in but they were a pain to get off.

By the way, what beetles do you own?

[Wolfman]

On 12/16/2021 at 8:24 PM, Reyes said:

 I use mesh.

I used to own a couple of lucanus. sp and they flew during dryer days.

The mesh kept them in but they were a pain to get off.

By the way, what beetles do you own?

Currently I own two blue death feigning beetles, one black rough death feigning beetle, and one diabolical ironclad! I’m fairly new to it but I really love the small desert beetles, hoping to get more soon but it seems like it’s harder to find smaller ones.

[Reyes]

They don’t fly I’m pretty sure.