All these components will ideally be heat-treated or cold-treated. As your substrate is replaced by oblong pellets, you will want to add more of the unprocessed ingredients. They'll pass most of this through their gut, gleaning whatever nutrition they can. They will make nutritional use out of softer types of hardwood wood, decaying leaves and even the soil itself. Larvae require a compost soil base with plenty of rotting wood from hardwood trees (oak, for example). These numbers can vary, but the ranges are generally accurate. The larval period, from the time the egg hatches, until the adult (US Dynastes) emerges takes 12-18 months for D. It is during this phase that you can see the adult beetle is finally taking shape. Then they build a pupal cell out of dirt and oral secretions and shed again to become a pupa. Larvae go through three stages: L1, L2 and 元 (larval instars). tityus also go through an overwintering period and remain burrowed both night and day, during this time. Rhino beetles like to burrow during the day (both US Dynastes spp.). A substrate isn't necessary, but a moist substrate does help to buffer humidity in the cage and the fastest killer of rhino beetles is a cage too dry! If you just want to observe them, you don't really need a substrate, but it will probably shorten their lifespan significantly. If you want your adult female to lay eggs, the substrate should be composed primarily of compost soil (or top soil) about 8+ inches deep. Larvae can tolerate dry soil for a few weeks or more with no apparent issues, but optimal growth and feeding requires moisture.Īdults: The size of the tank does not matter for your adult pet rhino beetles.

If it is, increase ventilation by adding air holes in the cage. This is good on an occasional basis, but there shouldn't be so much humidity in the tank that condensation is forming on the tank walls or lid on any regular basis. Interestingly, the elytra and pronotum (abdominal and thoracic portions of the 'shell') will darken when the humidity is high. This prevents them from drying out too much. Aside from buffering the air in the tank through evaporation, the beetles will take advantage of minimum of 4 inches of substrate to burrow in. Both males and females will benefit by the availability of a wet substrate. It is available, HERE!īelow, I will outline very general care in separate paragraphs for both adults and larvae for live pet rhino beetles.Īdults: A female will only lay eggs in a substrate that is somewhat moist. What follows are some basic recommendations for keeping them, but a serious hobbyist should definitely consider investing in the book: The 'Complete Guide to Rearing the Eastern Hercules Beetle and Other Rhinoceros Beetles' by Orin McMonigle. granti make for more impressive dead specimens (and they often only live a few months as adults, in captivity). tityus distinctly make better pets because they are longer lived in captivity. The Western species, Dynastes granti, has a body shape more similar to the gigantic South American Dynastes hercules beetles, with their significantly longer top horn.īoth US Dynastes are usually available in the hobby on a yearly basis (I know a place), usually in the warmer months but extending a bit into the fall season, if not winter. Their top horn tends to be about the same length as the bottom horn. These often have a yellow color, like a very ripe banana. The Eastern US offers up Dynastes tityus. The United States has numerous rhino beetle species that make it into the pet trade on a limited basis, but two species especially are always in high demand. A bottom horn may also juts upward from the head.Īdults are relatively simple to keep, and so are larvae. They are famously huge insects! Like their familiar mammalian namesake, many species boast a large top horn projecting forwards from the thorax. Rhino Beetles are the most sought after live beetle pets in the hobby, and for good reason.

Coconut rhinoceros beetle mites