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Post by wingedwishes on Oct 18, 2011 16:57:06 GMT -8
Anyone breeding this beetle? I have raised the much more common Strategus antaeus but I'd like to find a source for a live Dynastid. Starlight Criminals thread on looking for them has me wanting to branch out from raising leps. If I remember right, BillGarthe and Beetlehorn raised a number of these.
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Post by wingedwishes on Oct 18, 2011 16:59:20 GMT -8
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Post by wingedwishes on Oct 18, 2011 17:56:23 GMT -8
I answered my own question. I see them listed in the classifieds.....
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Post by prillbug2 on Oct 18, 2011 18:07:45 GMT -8
Buy a pick mattock, go into the woods and dig into rotting logs. I knew a guy who would pull lots of larva from logs even in the fall.
Jeff Prill
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Post by wingedwishes on Oct 19, 2011 18:05:36 GMT -8
Ok - So today I went into the woods during lunch behind my work. I found several oak trees that were dead and rotted so much that they crumbled into a moist powder in my hands. The only thing I found were some interesting millipedes. There were tunnels in the wood but no grubs. Should I try a pitfall trap instead?
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 20, 2011 5:24:13 GMT -8
I bet the adults are gone for the season so I don't think the pitfall would work right now. The adults I collected in June-July all died over the last few weeks. You might even be a little far south for them, I don't know how far south the species is collected. Try near Ocala when it gets hotter again. The ones I found were in the same spot one of the other members found them some 40 years ago I think. My guess is that grubs will be the only form they are found in now. I found mine in mid summer but I didn't know where to look until then so I imagine once it is hot again in May you would probably be able to find them. Maybe even earlier. What kind of habitat were you in? We have a lot of dry oak forests up here but I only found them once I started looking in areas around moist hardwood hammocks. They don't seem to like sandy oak scrub as much even though rotting oak can be found in both. The place I went was near Ocala and then also around Lochloosa/Cross Creek. All have muddy-bottomed natural water sources with lots of little tributaries (and therefor a nice selection of venomous snakes and alligators so as always in Florida, be alert). I literally just stopped at all the bright isolated lights in the area from 9:30-10pm until about 12-1am. There is something with my timing that could be refined as most of those I found were already crushed by vehicles, but it still worked on my first attempt.
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Post by bugdan on Nov 8, 2011 20:04:20 GMT -8
D. tityus is NOT found in logs
they breed in tree hollows of living trees
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Post by megagyas on Nov 9, 2011 2:29:06 GMT -8
Dan is correct. A friend in Maryland collected a very long series of larvae of Dynastes tityus from tree holes in live Oaks. Adults and pupae may also be collected in the same fashion, but often, reaching such tree holes are next to impossible without the help of a ladder or, in my friend's repertoire, telephone pole climbing apparatus. HR
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Post by joee30 on Dec 7, 2011 16:45:44 GMT -8
This is why I can't wait to go back to Tennessee before collecting season starts. I'm going to collect Dynastes tityus, Lucanus elephas, and hopefully speyeria diana this next season.
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