31 replies to this topic

[MegaMyrmex]

I wanted to know of there are any members on this forum who keep stag, jewel, or rhino beetles. In Maryland, the ones that are of most interest to me are the grapevine veetle(I have 6 grubs), Dynastes tityus(6 grubs also), Lucanus elaphus, lucanus capreolus, osmoderma eremita or eremicola, and cotinis nitida.

[Connectimyrmex]

I keep click, ant-like stone, ladybug, firefly, soldier, ground, reddish-brown stag and rove beetles. My holy grail, the Eastern Hercules Beetle, is way too rare for me.

 

Only cool kids keep cryptic beetles. JK! 
Seriously, firefly larvae are so fun to keep. I weaned mine on to a diet of legless crickets. Ant-like stone beetles are pretty fun too, because its pretty fun watching them sneak bites of my Tetramorium colony's scavenger mites. The craziest part is that the ones I have aren't even myrmecophiles. The Tetramorium colony just doesn't mind their presence.The ladybugs that I have are just temporary pets (I'm providing a place to stay for the winter). 

Edited by Connectimyrmex, October 31 2017 - 6:06 PM.

[T.C.]

I keep beetles. Trying to get my hands on a "rare" species. But you gotta be "special" to get these. Lol

Edited by T.C., October 31 2017 - 6:13 PM.

[MegaMyrmex]

Connectimyrmex, you keep L. Capreolus?! I caught a male but he died...I know that D. Tityus is rare and that it may seem all worthless but once you find a single adult, the joy and awe is indescribable. The adults are around 2 inches long. When I flund my first female(she died and her name was Betsy) I jumped up, slid down the leaflitter hill, nearly landed in a pond full of snapping turtles and frogs, and yelled, "I FOUND AN EASTERN HERCULES BEETLE FEMALE!" How do you find L. Capreolus? I've only found 1...when I was looking in the woods once I found what I thought was an ELEPHANT STAG BEETLE FEMALE and I was looking for ants so I simply placed her underneath the log I found her since I was looking for Camponotus queens

Edited by MegaMyrmex, October 31 2017 - 6:42 PM.

[Chicken_eater100]

the only beetles i keep are mealworms and death feigning beetles

[Leo]

I keep random horned beetles every once in a while

[MegaMyrmex]

Nice, good to see some more beetle keepers out there. I myself am more interested in the so- called "horned beetles,"(not longhorn beetles) but rhinoceros and stag. I also, if given the opportunity, keep flower(cotinis nitida) and jewel scarab(pelidnota punctata) beetles as well.

[nurbs]

Interesting you should bring up beetles. Met up with an entomologist from Caltech today who purchase all my L. occidentale colonies (believe he is going to buy all of Drews as well as Kendrick's this week).

 

http://www.bbe.calte...t/joseph-parker

 

He has a phd from Cambridge and is researching Rove beetles and their very fascinating relationship with L. occidentale.

 

Really cool guy. He invited me to his lab at Caltech (I live close) and will most likely go anting with us next season looking for more L. occidentale. He wants a lot of them!

[dermy]

I keep Mealworms, and Dermestid Beetles [sadly not the really cool ones used for skull cleaning, but Dermestids and beetles all the same the species is Attagenus unicolor or black carpet beetles]

Edited by dermy, October 31 2017 - 10:32 PM.

[Hunter]

i have a giant banana beetle named mankey

 

[Leo]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw

>w<

 

I used to keep

Edited by Leo, November 1 2017 - 5:39 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Wow, all this is very interesting. I think I'm going to get into keeping some bugs other than ants next year. I'm probably going to go with Mantids, Earwigs, and maybe Beetles. Has anyone ever kept a colony of Roly Polys btw?

[Hunter]

get a banana beetle they are easy and i let mine fly around

[T.C.]

Leo's are the coolest! Impressive species.

Edited by T.C., November 1 2017 - 7:45 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Leo's are the coolest!

Leo has the coolest everything.

[MegaMyrmex]

Hunter that's a L. Capreolus, lucky you! Also leo those beetles are AMAZING

[Connectimyrmex]

Connectimyrmex, you keep L. Capreolus?! I caught a male but he died...I know that D. Tityus is rare and that it may seem all worthless but once you find a single adult, the joy and awe is indescribable. The adults are around 2 inches long. When I flund my first female(she died and her name was Betsy) I jumped up, slid down the leaflitter hill, nearly landed in a pond full of snapping turtles and frogs, and yelled, "I FOUND AN EASTERN HERCULES BEETLE FEMALE!" How do you find L. Capreolus? I've only found 1...when I was looking in the woods once I found what I thought was an ELEPHANT STAG BEETLE FEMALE and I was looking for ants so I simply placed her underneath the log I found her since I was looking for Camponotus queens

I only find larvae in rotting logs (birch logs) normally in white-rot. The larvae have distinct black jaws. They might be Elephant Stags, which would make me very angry that they died (the larvae got killed when their food dried out, they lived for a good three weeks)

[dermy]

Wow, all this is very interesting. I think I'm going to get into keeping some bugs other than ants next year. I'm probably going to go with Mantids, Earwigs, and maybe Beetles. Has anyone ever kept a colony of Roly Polys btw?

Not the rolly polly ones, but I have had [and currently have a small colony of them going again] woodlice [the same thing pretty much but they don't curl up into balls] I used to have a pretty good Composting System going with them a while back in my golden years of bug keeping haha.

[Chicken_eater100]

What do you feed your woodlice?

Edited by Chicken_eater100, November 1 2017 - 2:14 PM.

[Leo]

 

Leo's are the coolest!

Leo has the coolest everything.

 

no, drew does