Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report
Dynastes hercules septentrionalis, wild caught male from Costa Rica
I guess there are already many breeding reports for this species, so one might ask, why another one, but there are some good reasons. On the one hand hercules beetles enjoy a constant, even growing popularity in breeders, on the other hand there are still many breeders that do not succeed breeding and keeping Dynastes hercules. As I also have been making some mistakes keeping this species, I would like to give you a guideline for success in Dynastes hercules.
1. SUBSTRATE: Even though the larvae are feeding on wood mainly, I rather would use a mixture of leaves and wood in a proportion of 1 to 1 or even 3 to 2 parts (leaves to wood)...
About the wood: It is very important to find the right quality, considering consistence and stage of rotten. white rotten wood is good, but it should already be soft and not too wet. I have been using beech and oak, but at the moment turned to birch, what seems to be no problem for the larvae and is easier to find (for me ;-)). But still I am mixing it with oak leaves. All I have to do now is wait and see if that mixture leads to big imagos ( I will keep you updated).
About the leaves: Although it is possible to keep the larvae on wood only there are some disadvantages of this method:
1: Take care that the substrate is not too moist, otherwise it will decompose, and larvae seem to not like excessive moisture...
2. As far as I observed the larvae eat the leaves as well and larvae that are kept on a mixture tend to grow faster (At least in my breedings)
3. A leave wood mixture has a good consistence, oxygen can easily access the substrate and that is good for our larvae...
4. The substrate should be fine. Larvae that are kept on a substrate consisting of big pieces tend to grow slowly than larvae kept on a fine substrate. A reason for that phenomenom might be that larvae have to cut the big pieces while others just keep on stuffing everything in them...
I am using rotten leaves of Oak and beech. The best quality of leaves I usually collect in fall, before the new leaves are falling of the trees. The old leaves are rotten and easily crumbled.
5. List of Subspecies and their differences
6. Weight Scales and Conclusion
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