# hey there, newbish questions :D



## MantisDude15 (Jun 13, 2007)

Hey everyone, i am interested in keeping stag beetles, mainly Lucanus Cervus, or others in the Lucanus family. Few questions...

1. Environment? what they live in, eat, etc

2. Best species for a beginner

3. anyone have them? how hard are they to keep?

4. any general tips for me

thanks a lot everyone


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Jun 14, 2007)

> Hey everyone, i am interested in keeping stag beetles, mainly Lucanus Cervus, or others in the Lucanus family. Few questions... 1. Environment? what they live in, eat, etc
> 
> 2. Best species for a beginner
> 
> ...


1. Much similar to Hermit Crabs..bark, slightly damp, logs and pieces of soft wood - it has to be able to slowly rot (you can just soak some logs in a bucket of water).

2. Not sure to be honest, _lucanus cervus_ is what we have over commonly over here.

3. Ive kept wild caught ones, for maybe a month at most, easy to keep, gave em crickets, like fruit such as banana and larvae of other bugs.

4. Enjoy :wink:

Oh and there is a pretty cool picture of a slightly harder species ~ http://www1.kamakuranet.ne.jp/kuwa/beet3/j...ro/f-niji03.jpg


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## MantisDude15 (Jun 20, 2007)

thanks a lot


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## francisco (Jun 21, 2007)

HEllo AMntis dude,

you can try to collect Peudolucanus/lucanus mazama.

You can keep them in rotten wood with some pieces of wood buried so the females can ovoposit.

If you are succesfull and get many eggs, the grubs will eat the rotten wood (oak) and they will grow until they get ready to puppate and emerged as adults, this should take from 1-1.5 years more or less.

regards

PS I would try D granti or Strategus since you can find them easier in Arizona.


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