What you need in advance
Although the size of container will differ depending on the number of insects to be raised, prepare a wooden box or plastic container 30x30x30 ㎝ or 40x28x25 ㎝ in size, fill half of it with leaf mold and oak stubs, and put two or three branches that are 5㎝ thick and 15㎝ in length into it.
Notes
When it is necessary to put male and female beetles in the same container, the ratio between males and females should not exceed 1:3.
If there are too many males, there will fiercely fight for the females, and that will shorten the male’s life expectancy.
The gender can be determined with the end of abdominal bottom during the chrysalis phase.
If you pick up a chrysalis from the soil, you should not attempt to bury it back.
Beetles are sensitive for two to three weeks before the chrysalis phase and should not be touched.
You can raise Lucanus maculifemoratus and long-horned beetles in a similar manner.
Food and ecology
- 1. When you catch a female beetle in the wild, it is regarded that it has already mated.
- 2. Females that were bred from larvae and pupae should have plenty of food and then be placed with a male beetle for three or four days to mate them.
- 3. Once the mating is complete, separate the female and put it in a box for spawning filled with leaf mold and oak stubs.
The female will come out at night to eat and stay inside the leaf mold to hatch its eggs in time.
- 4. To raise eggs and larvae, make sure to use different containers with plenty of room.
This is to prevent damage from the sharp legs of the adult or between larvae.
- 5. The collected eggs should be set on the leaf mold with some distance in different containers. Then, put 5 to 6 ㎝ of leaf mold on them and spray it with water to avoid drying.
- 6. To observe the process of hatching, place disinfected sand in a petri dish and close the lid, then cover it with a black cloth.
The time required for hatching of the egg depends on the temperature.
- 7. The egg is around 3 mm and milky colored immediately after spawning.
Then the egg becomes bigger over time and its eye and body sections become darker. After about 10 days, a larva (about 10 mm long) hatches.
Raising a larva
- 1. A larva eats the corrosive materials in leaf mold and compost, so you don’t need to feed fruit to it as with an imago.
- 2. After you put a first instar larva on lightly tramped leaf mold and oak stubs that are 10 to 20 ㎝ in depth, it will dig and eat the leaf mold by itself.
- 3. To observe the first and second instar, use a bottle with a wide opening and surround it with black cloth or paper to cover the light.
- 4. To raise eggs and larvae, make sure to use different containers with plenty of room. This is to prevent damage from sharp legs of the adult or between larvae.
- 5. For the last instar, five larvae are adequate to put in high density in a 30x30x30 wooden box or plastic container, as the larvae will crawl out of the surface.
- 6. You must pick a place where the temperature does not change and there is no sunlight. Keep the moisture stable, and you should change the leaf mold even during winter if they are feeding off it due to a higher temperature.
- 7. Larvae that pass over the winter will become active after April and will increase the amount they eat. During this period, more black droppings will be present, so make sure to change the leaf mold often.
- 8. Almost fully grown larva at the last instar will be about 10 ㎝. They eat a lot, and you can see feces at the end of their abdomen.
- 9. When the time for larva to become a pupa approaches, it starts eating less and feces will be reduced. The old larva will become 7 to 8 ㎝ pupa.
Although the larva looks big and strong, it is extremely fragile at this point, so don’t touch the larva and pupa if possible for two to three weeks.
- 10. To observe the larva becoming a pupa, select several larvae and put them in a different container.
- 11. Use a container with a large opening and put 6 to 7 ㎝ of soil in it. Then, make a hole with your finger and put the larva inside the hole.
Spray with water, close it with a lid with one or two holes in it and then cover it with black cloth or paper to block the sunlight to store it.
- 12. Make sure that the pupa’s head is facing up.
- 13. Add soil and make a puddle, then put a pupa longitudinally in the container. Then control the humidity by spraying water sometimes.
- 14. After a month, the pupa becomes a fully formed, sexually mature adult beetle.
In its natural state the beetle will wait until the body and wings become solid before it crawls out of the ground.
- 15. A container with a large opening is extremely useful because you can observe the whole process.
Raising imagos
- 1. For imagos, it is ideal to raise two males and five or six females in a container.
- 2. Ideally, it is important to maintain space and humidity in the container so as to be close to the natural state that the beetle lives in.
As they may fight each other in a limited space, put branches in the container. You can also use boards or pieces of wood if you have no branches.
These are also used to install a place for food and define territorial space. In addition, the leaf mold is important not only as a hiding place, but also for controlling moisture.
- 3. Because leaf mold has a lot of leaf mites and germs, it should be dried in sunlight and then moistened until the clods don’t break and it becomes wadded up a little.
Spray water on the surface of the leaf mold if it becomes dry, and change it regularly to prevent leaf mites and germs.
- 4. Artificial sap, honey, and fruit are suitable as food for imagos.
If you are feeding fruit to it, it is better to have a lot of sugar.
- 5. Put the food in at night, and when the fruit, such as peaches, softens, exchange it every day.
Large pieces of apple and pineapple with peels can last up to three days.
- 6. If you are feeding them artificial sap and honey, absorb it on a cotton ball and put it between branches.
- 7. Food with a lot of moisture can make the container dirty, so you should manage it regularly if you are feeding them.
Korea Biodiversity Information System > Insect Resource > General Knowledge on Insects > Raising an insect
