That's right, I've finally got Goliath beetles! 😁 More specifically, Goliathus goliatus, courtesy of James Hsu. These are among some of the heaviest insects in the world, and as some of you may know, one of the VERY FEW exotic beetles that are actually legal to keep within the US! This is because unlike most other Cetoniines, the larvae of Goliathus are primarily predatory, and can not be reared on plant matter alone.
I've not been able to delve into keeping scarabs much, because most of the Dynastids, Lucanids, and Cetoniids need large amounts of rotten wood or leaf litter to be bred successfully. However, this is not the case with Goliathus, generally rotten wood/flake soil is only needed for the L1 larvae to feed on (and females lay eggs best in an easily compactable substrate, so flake soil is usually used for oviposition as well). So, these are one of the few scarabs I'm comfortable keeping and raising myself, at least until I can move to the East Coast and can collect rotten wood and leaf litter in much larger amounts. 😅
Anyways, I've got my pair of young larvae housed in deli cups with minimal ventilation, and some flake soil substrate (that's what they were shipped to me in and they haven't needed more substrate yet, but when it needs replacing I'll likely use coco coir for their substrate). I'm keeping them humid, and at around 75-80F°. I'm feeding them dog/cat food, and prekilled invertebrates. They are quite gluttonous and need to be fed rather frequently, otherwise they'll end up as tiny adults.
Here are some pictures of a larva:
They're so weird looking, their antennae are quite long for a scarab grub, probably because they actively feel around and hunt for other invertebrates in the wild. They get absolutely MASSIVE with good feeding, so hopefully I'll be able to show off some massive larvae soon!
BTW, James actually sent me quite a few larvae to sell off for him, SO, if any of you want to work with these amazing beetles, feel free to check out my FS list here. 😁
Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment