Giraffe Stag Beetle, PROSOPOCOILUS GIRAFFA ssp. KEISUKEI

[Darkrai283]

[03.12.14]

The longest stag beetles species in the world is in my hands again.

It's been 8 years now since I last kept this species. I received a pair today (96mm male; world record- 124mm) and I'm hoping to be able to breed them again.

I'll upload the photos later as they're on the computer and I'm on my phone now.

...But here's the unboxing video:

 

[dmina]

Wow ... That's a beetle! Good luck on your breeding project...

 

[CosbyArt]

Congrats on the new pets! Those are some huge beetles, I gotta admit those pincers would have me running. I've had my share of pinches as a kid playing with much smaller beetles.

Let us know how the breeding goes, I find them interesting.

 

[Darkrai283]

Here are the pics:

IMG_1514 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1529 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1518 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1534 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1556 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

Wow ... That's a beetle! Good luck on your breeding project...

Congrats on the new pets! Those are some huge beetles, I gotta admit those pincers would have me running. I've had my share of pinches as a kid playing with much smaller beetles.

Let us know how the breeding goes, I find them interesting.

Thanks.

The female was mated before I received them so I have already placed her in the breeding box with nice hard-rot oak logs and Lucanidae substrate. I will check the box at weekly intervals and if there are signs of egg laying inside the logs (wood shavings), I'll leave her for another month in there.

I can't leave the male in with her as he will chop her in half! 100% guaranteed with the larger, aggressive species...

 

[CosbyArt]

Thanks.

The female was mated before I received them so I have already placed her in the breeding box with nice hard-rot oak logs and Lucanidae substrate. I will check the box at weekly intervals and if there are signs of egg laying inside the logs (wood shavings), I'll leave her for another month in there.

I can't leave the male in with her as he will chop her in half! 100% guaranteed with the larger, aggressive species...

Thanks for the information, it's very intriguing. Seems like a complete reversal from mantises, with their prominent ootheca and males that are often killed during mating.

So those massive pincers aren't merely for show. I did a quick look and found this about the bite/pinch

the male's jaws gripped with an impressive 7N force (which is like having a 700g weight pressing on a pin): six times stronger than the female's bite.

 

[CosbyArt]

I forgot to mention, Peter Clausen (owner/admin of this forum) also has a forum just for beetles, BeetleForum.net. i thought I'd mention it just in case you didn't know about it.

 

[Darkrai283]

the male's jaws gripped with an impressive 7N force (which is like having a 700g weight pressing on a pin): six times stronger than the female's bite.

The female's jaws are scary things. They are much stronger than the males' large jaws as they're designed to grind their way into very hard logs. They can cut through metal mesh and they would probably cut through to the bone on your finger if you let one.

The jaws of the males on the other hand are only used for protecting food and fighting for/protecting females. So they're only designed to 'hook' and lift competitors off. They still are strong but they can probably only draw blood from your finger if you let one.

Have you seen the beetle fighting videos on Youtube? Turn the volume up and you can hear 'crunching' sounds when they grab each other to try and flip the other over... Dorcus titanus are absolute beasts in the stag beetle world when it comes to fighting. And with Chalcosoma caucasus and Dynastes hercules being two of the strongest in rhino beetles.

 

[sschind]

Awesome beetles man. What kind of life expectancy would an adult male like that have. I'm guessing you didn't buy them with the change you found in your couch.

I'd love a big showy beetle like that for my insect shows but high price and short life expectancy have to be considered.

You don't have to tell how much they were if you don't want, I'm just guessing they weren't cheap.

I hope you can breed them, that would be awesome.

This just might move Orin's beetle book ahead of the millipede and centipede books on my want list.

 

[Darkrai283]

[18.12.14]

A video of just the male

 

[Darkrai283]

[21.12.14]

There is some evidence of egg laying... not in the logs but in the substrate.

Female:
Untitled by Darkrai283, on Flickr

Eggs:
Untitled by Darkrai283, on Flickr
Untitled by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[11.01.15]

I had a rummage in the top few centimeters of the substrate to check if the logs had been gnawed into and found 4 eggs.

Untitled by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[04.02.15]

I stumbled across a newly hatched larva while changing the jelly pots.

IMG_2587 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2575 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2576 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[08.02.15]

I had a proper dig in the whole laying tank and found 26 eggs and 6 larvae. So in total, I have 10 larvae and 26 eggs so far. :clap:

Untitled by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[CosbyArt]

Congrats! Looks like you had no problems breeding them again.

 

[Darkrai283]

[18.12.15]

A screenshot of the male from the video.

IMG_0044 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[19.02.15]

The number of eggs and L1 larvae I have now in their pots (2 in each).

IMG_1103 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[15.03.15]

I finally managed to snap a pic of the female on the surface as she was scoffing her face in the jelly. I also noticed that her left jaw has snapped in half which I imagine would make it somewhat harder for her to 'chisel' into the logs for oviposition...

IMG_1743 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[29.03.15]

I checked on the larvae today and found the first lot of L2s!

IMG_2227 by Darkrai283, on Flickr