US Beetles?

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Still looking, but with no luck for beetle breeders in the US. I would love to get into some but the only ones I can find are tiger beetles. Would like to find fruit beetles, etc. Any of you know of any US breeders? Or where I can get some cool beetle species? :confused:

Navaros
 

Elytra and Antenna

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check the classifieds, I've got some adult D.tityus (Eastern Hercules Beetle). They are quality captive bred animals and I've had the stock for 9.5 years now.
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Cool.I love those, was going to get granti a while ago but decided not to. Would love some tityus but would prefer something really colorful like fruit beetles which seem to be nonexistant in the US.
 

MacCleod

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LOL...here in Europe it's the opposite.
I'm looking for tiger beetles, but everything I find are fruit beetles in different shapes and colors.
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Awesome.You are lucky though, they are so pretty. I am going to get tigers soon probably if I can find more info on keeping them. So far I have found about nothing besides to keep them on sand. The babies should be easy to raise up since they eat live foods.
 

MacCleod

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Hmm...I heard they are very hard to breed. That's the reason you can't find any CB species...they 're all wild caught :(

But there's no one to stop you from trying it :)

If you succeed, please share it with us.
And please, if you got the specimen, post some pictures too :}
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Sure will.:) One page I read says that if you keep them on a few inches of play sand and mist one side of it like every other night and feed them fruit flies etc. you will start seeing small holes in the sand after a while, which are the burrows of the grubs.From there I would assume you just put something near their hole and they attack it like a trapdoor spider.I will try to find the article again.
 

Wade

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Tiger beetle grubs are really creepy looking. They have a heavily armored head with large mandibles while their body is soft and white. The head is pretty much the diameter of the burrow. They grab insects that walk by or fall in.

Exotic fruit beetles, and any non-native plant feeding insects are tough to get in the US due to very restrictive (way too restrictive, IMHO) USDA regs. People do have them, however.

Wade
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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I agree that the USDA reg.s are too restrictive. Especially with phasmids, most of which wouldn't be able to survive the fall/winter of most of the US states even if they did manage to escape.I think there should be an easier to obtain permit with only a few states where they are illegal, like Florida....but thats just my opinion, and way off topic. ;)
 

Elytra and Antenna

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The D.granti and nearly all the 'fruit beetles' live 2-3 months. The D.tityus live a year.
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Not really a problem. One of the things that made me decide against them in the first place. Once they die I can frame them though. :) They are still pretty but don' move around as much. ;P
 

Elytra and Antenna

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The short lifespan made you decide against the D.granti? None of your sentences in that last post have subjects so it's anybodies guess what they refer to.:?
With most of the beetles you normally rear them, not much point in things like the flower beetles that live a few weeks to a few months if you're not breeding them. The only good "pet" beetle would be the Triceratops beetle.
D.tityus are much larger and 'prettier' than the vast majority of flower beetles, have you seen either in real life? D.tityus are much more active and powerful than flower beetles but they are nocturnal rather than diurnal.
 

Elytra and Antenna

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(p.s. I'm just having fun discussing the beetles with you. I'm not trying to convince you --> I saw you complaining that $5 assassins were too "expensive")=D
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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No I haven't seen either in real life. And the short life span made me decide against keeping pretty much any beetles. Wasn't really that as much as it was the amount of time it takes the grubs to mature, and the fact that I really couldn't find any species in the US to buy.And of course I would be breeding them.No real point to keeping them if I don't at least attempt breeding them.
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Well I haven't seen any for 5 dollars.If any are 5 dollars they are bigutatta which I said I got for free when I had them.When I first got assassins they were free from a friend who was selling 40+ nymphs, $5 for the entire group, and couldn't sell one. I figured anything over a buck would be too high untill I tried finding some more again over a year later.And then you have to pay the shipping which is usually ridiculous.
 

Wade

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Some of the predatory carabids are pretty long-lived. I have a Pasimachus sp. that I collected two years ago and it's still alive.

Darkling beetles can also make intersting captives. I have a large Eleodes sp. that I also collected two years ago. I've read that they can live ten years or more!

The most interesting live captive beetles may not be the prettiest. I think families like Tenebrionidae and Carabidae are often overlooked by hobbyist in favor of the flashier large scarabs and stags, but I actually get more enjoyment from thier less spectacular cousins.

Wade
 

Elytra and Antenna

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Thanks for the clarification!
The D.tityus take a year to mature while D.granti take two. The flower beetles take six month to a year (generally anything of decent size takes a year --Meccynorhina, Chelorhina, Megalorhina, etc.-- including pupation and emergence -- some people say 3-4 months on the small ones -Eudicella, Pachnoda, etc. -but they're not including hatch time and pupation). However, any species can be slowed down if poorly cared for. D.granti can be real easy to get eggs from since it's easy to pick up a ton of wild-caught females in season. Of course since they're wild-caught some die in a day and others live a few months, but it's not much different from captive bred. D.tityus captive bred and wild-caught are very different because of diapause. Two years of grubs for a two month beetle kind of sucks some of the fun out of D.granti. I like them a ton but I really like the Eastern Hercules and Triceratops because of their longer adult life span and shorter cycles. If you check around you can pick up Gymnetis flavomarginata or Cotinis which are colorful flowerbeetles native to the US.
 

Elytra and Antenna

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Hey Wade,
I breed some of the bigger tenebrionids and have reared a few crabids. They are neat but it would be just as easy to convince people to trade their tarantulas in for house spiders as stags and rhinos for carab. and teneb. Another thing is I've had the Anthia and the giant tiger beetles but they just don't lay eggs.
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Wade - That's pretty cool!Wow, 10 years is a long time for a beetle.I've kept tons of mealworm beetles, not much of an accomplishment, but they were pretty cool to raise.

MantidAssassins - Thanks for the info. I will be keeping my out for any cool beetle species that end up in the US market. And I think I will definately be getting some tityus in the near future.:) Thanks. Will keep my eye out for those also.
P.S. Don't take me for being cheap for not wanting to pay that much for some assassins.Everything is expensive right now, working on getting myself a car, etc.
 

Wade

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Originally posted by MantidAssassins
Hey Wade,
I breed some of the bigger tenebrionids and have reared a few crabids. They are neat but it would be just as easy to convince people to trade their tarantulas in for house spiders as stags and rhinos for carab. and teneb. Another thing is I've had the Anthia and the giant tiger beetles but they just don't lay eggs.
It's true. Especially the darklings, most hobbyists won't give them a second glace. I like them because they're usually out and visible and doing things. It's too bad about the giant tigers, that's something I'd love to get ahold of!

There's nothing like the big dynastines, though. Whenever I'm, feeling blue, I dig up a few grubs from the box under my desk:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?threadid=8811

Wade
 
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