I have recently started again to breed Odontolabis burmeisteri, one of the emperors of Lucanidae. It’s a majestic species that has the potential to get over 10cm in size, and it is in the more beautiful Odontolabis category, where the elytra are black and yellow. That said, they also have really nice mandibles, so what more does one want?
Well, the complicated part is that they are from South India, and with no exports are virtually impossible to get these days. Luckily, there are a few breeders in Japan and Taiwan, who still keep them, and from time to time have some to spare. I managed to get a 95mm male and 50mm female from a good friend, and set them up for breeding. Temperature was between 20-24 degree Celsius, and they lived in total for about 4 months.
The breeding box was a 40 liter plastic container that I filled with white rotten sawdust without any additives. The bottom 5cm, I compressed really hard, then placed a white rotten wood log (very decayed, as opposed to what one would use for Dorcus and others). The whole was covered with more rotten wood dust (Thanks to Daniel Ambuehl for the fantastic substrate). I kept this fairly wet, fed the male well and female well, with high-protein lactic acid beetle jelly and fruit. It was interesting that with this species, they preferred banana and apple to the jelly. This is unusual in my experience, but hey, whatever makes them happy.
After the imagines died, I did a quick check of the substrate and found one larva. After having confirmed I was successful in getting them to lay, I set the box aside. I do not want to move the larvae before they are well into L2, to make sure there are no losses. I am not sure how many larvae I got in total, but found that with Odontolabis it is not critical to leave the larvae together, if there is enough space and substrate. I will report back soon, when I will really check the substrate and see how many larvae I got and if it is sufficient to go into the next generation.
I was very lucky to find Odontolabis burmeisteri in South India myself (which is already quite a few years back), and had the permission to keep a few larvae that I found and breed them into beetles. That time, I had found the larvae under a big wood log, in very wet conditions. It was in the height of rainy season, and as such soaking wet. They were living in the ground, underneath the log and feeding on the white rotten wood, which was very soft already. I also found a smaller larvae which turned out to be Prosopocoilus speciosus. This is a rare species in the wild, because its habitat has almost disappeared and I would urge any breeders to make sure they stay in captivity. This might be the last resort for this fantastic species, as I understand the pressure on habitats is quite intense. Good luck everyone, and let me know if you have any extra tips or pointers.
Hi, are there any updates as to how the breeding went for the Burmeisteri?