Western Hercules Beetle, The Best Pet Insect?

#clintsreptiles #herculesbeetle #rhinocerosbeetle

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Clint is a professional biologist and educator, but above all, Clint LOVES reptiles and he loves to share that love with everyone he meets. Whether you're lover or a hater of reptiles, you can't help but get excited with Clint!
We post a new video every Saturday morning! So stay tuned!

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You guys are so RAD!

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Clint's Reptiles
770 East Main Street # 127
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[aappaapp]

Definitely seems like less of having a pet beetle, and more like picking up a new hobby of breeding beetles

[chirin]

Hello! Beetle breeder here. One thing I'd like to note is: while it is definitely possible for your Western Hercules Beetles (Dynastes grantii) to live 6-9 months, it is quite rare, even when they are fed a consistent high-quality diet, like with good beetle jellies, or sliced banana. More typically, they'll live 1-4 months, with males having shorter lifespans than the females generally. For me, the main appeal of keeping the species is to go for rearing big, major males, as the larval period is so long, and the adult lifespan is so short. So I don't know if I could personally call this species amazing for a pet, just because you sadly won't be able to spend a lot of time with them as adults. The Eastern Hercules beetle (Dynastes tityus), while a little bit smaller than grantii, live considerably longer, at 6 months to 1 year, if well fed, and have a shorter larval period by comparison, at around 12-14 months typically. The larvae will also tolerate a lower quality flake soil just fine, though of course it may slow their growth a bit.

Also important to note: Western Hercules Beetle males can be housed with females, only provided there's a good amount of room, and enough substrate for them to burrow in. In closer quarters, with less room for the beetles to hide, males can be aggressive toward females, especially after they have mated. They can be kept in relatively small quarters just fine, provided it isn't dry in the container, and provided there's a few things to hold onto and hide under. Just keep in mind that if your container is smaller, you should keep your beetles separated (unless you would like to breed a pair, of course).

Hope this helps, and please feel free to ask any questions if you have them! :)

[justjordyn]

One day I was walking in a shopping center and found an eastern one flipped upside down. I don’t like bugs, but I couldn’t leave him like that. So I took something from my bag and flipped him right side up, then left. When I came back, he was gone, so I was happy to help. Since then, I’ve been interested in getting one, and it’s probably one of the few insects I like

[JungleLibrary]

Rhinoceros and stag beetles (including international species like this one) are super popular with kids in Japan. I remember getting up at 3am to go rhino beetle hunting in the forest (when they were most active and could be found feeding on your lures - stockings filled with fruits and soaked in some alcohol and slung over a branch)

Thanks for bringing back some great memories.

[TakoyakiStore]

I remember reading that one of the many reasons beetles are so successful is that they are incredibly rare among complex life in that they can breakdown cellulose on their own as opposed to requiring special bacteria in their gut to break down cellulose. Apparently some horizontal gene transfer happened long ago with bacteria that gave them that ability. Some species also have a base/alkaline based digestive juices.

[haileymajewski]

Hi Clint, my husband and I breed Eastern Hercules beetles (and I'm super bummed to see this video come out before we could reach out to offer you some of ours, which are pupating right now)! A big reason for the lack of seeing these guys at expos and pet shops is they are technically restricted by APHIS and require permits to own and ship; they are considered restricted plant pests by the US Department of Agriculture. They are delightful species to keep and a lot of breeders (ourselves included) hope to change this in the future. This is also why you will not see any of those amazing foreign stags or Hercules beetles available in the United States, too.

[christopher.m.dickinson]

I found my first Eastern Hercules beetle about 5 years ago and that was the first time I ever seen one in the wild quite stunning

[kat]

I'm in Tucson, AZ and I've only ever seen brown rhinoceros beetles. They're all over the place in the summer and they're huge

[ladante]

12:26 ''Beetle Power runs out'' that is a niiiice way to say it

[MythicMagus]

These guys are featured very prominently in Japanese media so I've always been curious about them.

Similar to what I said about the silk moth, it's a shame the adults don't live longer.

[fuzsyskunk]

I love this channel, and large beetles so much! One of the most informative and wholesome shows on the internet :3

[bugtalk]

Beetles are so amazing because they're so diverse with lots of species coming in all sorts of shapes, colours, sizes and cool patterns.

[samwill]

A member of the omnipresent Japanese beetle brothers along with caucasus, stag and kabuto beetles. They show up all over japanese mythology, fables and pop culture.

[A-Gutierreeezz]

I actually had one a couple months ago, He would always fall on his back when crawling around, once I looked at him and he came running to the end of hid enclosure for food! He was really smart and felt like he knew me and that I knew him, sadly he died along with a tiger beetle I was keeping last month, I will never forget how cute and fun it was to own such a majestic special creature

[daniellesmith]

One of the main reasons your channel does so well is you pure and genuine excitement for what you do. It is contagious! I love it! Thank you for being so rad 😄

[ml]

At 5:44, those black eyes melted my heart.

[suburbanthebotalt]

I’ve had a pet western Hercules, I names him Supurpan. He lives a long time and he was always eating. He never burrowed it was fun because I always saw him.

[juliakaczmarek]

1:07 I CANT that little bristle hairstyle The cut looks sharp tho hahaha

[JeffJohnson-bxdf]

I started with a blue feigning dearh beetle video. Your enthusiasm is infectious, and now I'm hyped on beetles as a whole. They are so cool!

[pippinlatham]

They look like they would be the perfect ripeness for banana bread

Edit: Tangentially I'd love to see something about the banana slug! I've no idea if they're kept as pets but their mucus has chemical in it that has a numbing effect, so when predators such as raccoons try to eat it their mouths and lips get mildly numbed.
Slug mucus in general is really interesting and I'd love to see more research into it, especially from an engineering perspective.

Any way the only relevance there was this beetle looking a bit like a banana but I will take any opportunity to nerd out about cool insects!