CAPTIVE BREEDING MANUAL FOR BEETLES OF THE FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE,

SUBFAMILIES CETONIINAE (FLOWER BEETLES) AND DYNASTINAE (RHINOCEROS

BEETLES)
BY: C. CAMPBELL
LAST REVISION - Feb. 27, 2002
NOTE: The author of this site is not a supplier of beetle specimens, living or preserved. All of my
personal beetle photos (both native and exotic species) were made during the years that I was employed
at a public insectarium.
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. Breeding Scarab beetles The captive breeding of scarab beetles of the families cetoniinae and dynastinae will be discussed in
this online manual. There is a general technique for rearing such beetles which involves creation of a
rearing substrate consisting of two basic materials: wood mulch and leaf mulch. The process for
creating these two substrate components will be described early on in the manual. The manual is
divided into two sections. Section 1 concerns mainly the procurement and preparation of the materials
you will use to create your rearing substrate, and section 2 deals with the actual biology and life cycle
of the beetles themselves. The mulch ratios and extra additives used in the final substrate mixture will
vary depending upon the species you wish to rear, and all beetle hobbyists have their own personal
variations and techniques of using it. I would like to point out that the rearing of scarab beetles is by no
means an easy thing to teach someone, and it is actually a skill which must be learned by personal
experience. To become a real master of scarab beetle propagation, one must often work at it for many
years as one would for a hobby such as exotic plant culture. In time, you will develop an innate sense
about things such as substrate quality, and will be able to determine its precise moisture level and
consistency just by touching, smelling, and looking at it. The sequential instructions presented in this
manual however, will give you a good head start about what to do.
Section 1 - Substrate collection and preparation:
Before you even obtain some pairs of adult scarabs for breeding, it is always a good idea to at least
have the materials prepared that will be used to create the rearing substrate. The materials used to rear
beetles of the subfamilies cetoniinae and dynastinae are heavily decomposed deciduous hardwoods and
old leaf litter that has aged to the point that it has become a bit soft and moldy. When found in nature,
these two materials are very seldom of the proper consistency for ideal use as a rearing substrate for
captive beetles, and they usually must be broken down further. So, the first section of this manual will
be concerned with explaining the methods by which one actually prepares these two materials, and uses
them to create the rearing substrate which is the very foundation of captive scarab breeding.
(a - collection of the substrate materials)
Obviously, the first thing you need to do is locate some sources of decayed wood and leaves. If you
have access to some deciduous hardwood forest or woodland (see figures 1 & 2 ), that will certainly be
one of the best places to look for what you need.

Figures 1 & 2: Shown above are some examples of the sort of deciduous hardwood forest that are excellent places to find a ready supply of very old,
decayed logs and leaves. From these materials you can create the mulches which will form the basic components of your scarab beetle rearing substrate.

Fig. 3: Here is an extremely old Oak (Quercus) log which is in the advanced state of decomposition ideal for creating wood mulch for beetles. The wood
has become yellow-white with age, is very brittle, and is easily crushed with bare hands.

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Fig. 4: In this instance, the decayed wood is a stump rather than a fallen log. Note that the color of the wood is of a rusty brown hue. Often, you will be
able to determine if a log or stump is at the proper state of decay just by looking at it. This stump is infiltrated by the burrows of many beetle larvae and
other insects, and the mushrooms of wood fungi are present on the bark.

Note: If you live in a part of the world where venomous snakes and spiders are common, use caution
when exploring a wooded area.
For the wood, what you'll be looking for are rotten, decomposing logs and stumps of deciduous

hardwood trees. These are non-coniferous trees which shed their leaves each year, and have wood
which is quite hard when in the living state, hence their name. A large hardwood log lying on the forest
floor can take upwards of 10-15 years to become aged to the point that it will make an attractive food
for scarab beetle larvae. Wood that is fresh is completely useless. Even an old hardwood log can be
difficult to break into pieces of a manageable size to transport home, so it's a good idea to bring some
strong tools to break up logs.
Fungal action is the decomposing agent that makes these logs suitable as a component for rearing
substrate. When the spore (microscopic seed) of a species of wood-eating fungus lands on a log which
is of proper age and moisture content, it starts sending out tiny roots called mycelia. Over many years,
these mycelia spread and gradually party digest the hard cellulose of which the log is made. In time,
the log is transformed from a very solid wood to one that is very soft and crumbly.
In addition to the fungus, there are other living things which help get the log into a condition
appropriate for your use. Ants, termites, and the larvae of many beetles and other invertebrates all take
up residence inside logs and dead stumps once fungal transformation has begun, and further aid in
breaking down the wood into a suitable, crumbling consistency. One of the very best varieties of
decomposing wood and leaves to use is that of Oak trees (Quercus spp.). Also, that from Beech (Fagus
spp.) is very suitable.

Figs. 5 & 6: Some further examples of well decayed wood that is suitable to be made into rearing mulch. If a log readily shatters to the core when given a
hard kick, it's definitely at the right level of decomposition to serve your purpose. For logs and stumps that are well decayed on the inside yet retain a hard
outer layer of wood, a sledgehammer or pickax will prove useful in breaking the wood up into more manageable pieces.

In general, decomposing material from all species of deciduous hardwood trees can be used, but one
should generally avoid the use of coniferous (needle-leafed) trees such as Pine (Pinus) and Cypress
(Cupressus). The reason is because the wood of these trees contain resin and oils which are toxic to
scarab beetle larvae. Thus, the many commercially available forest products such as pine bark mulch
and cypress wood mulch are quite useless to the beetle hobby. If you live in an area of very old growth
coniferous forest, and find a log which has obviously been decomposing for an extremely long time
and has become exceptionally soft and crumbling, it can be used so long as you cannot detect any resin
smell upon close examination. If it has a strong fungal smell when moistened, then you can be
reasonably sure that it has reached a stage of decomposition that would make it suitable for scarab
beetle larvae. The main concern with coniferous wood lies with the presence of resin. Very old and
rotten conifer logs and stumps lack this compound, as it gradually evaporates out of the wood during

the decomposition process.

Fig. 7: A huge and very old Cottonwood (Populus) log whose degenerative state is not especially apparent from an external point of view. However, there
is a lot going on inside it, as is evidenced by the numerous mushrooms of "shelf" fungi which have sprouted from its sides. Shelf fungi are one of the most
commonly encountered varieties of wood-eating fungi in the woodlands of North America. Given time for a bit more decay, a decomposing log of this size
will yield a vast supply of rotted wood for use in beetle breeding.

It does take many years for this to occur, however, so only use conifer wood which you are quite sure is
extremely old and decomposed. Some types of conifer wood, such as Cedar (Cedrus) never really
become suitable for use, as their wood is so dense and strong that it can withstand the forces of decay
for many decades, remaining completely hard and intact.
If you can get access to fine shavings or sawdust from hardwood trees however, that would be suitable,
but it would still be fresh and un-decomposed, and some alteration would be necessary using
commercially available fungal cultures. Making your own decomposed wood using fungi is a process
complex enough to warrant its own section in this manual, and so it will be discussed at some point in
the future after I have gained experience with it. For now, I will continue to describe the means by
which one makes rearing substrate by simply using materials gathered from nature itself.

Fig. 8: A typical compost pile, consisting primarily of layers of leaves, grass clippings, and various other plant materials. A compost pile can be a
convenient way of maintaining a ready supply of decayed leaves throughout the year. The feeding activity of bacteria and many other small organisms all
help to party break down the leaves and get them into a condition suitable for creating the decayed leaf mulch which is one of the two main components of
scarab rearing substrate. An added bonus of a compost pile is that by creating such an accumulation of plant material, you can often attract the native
scarab beetles which you may find interesting to captive rear.

As for the decomposing leaves, I think you'll find this a much easier material to find and collect.
Deciduous hardwood trees such as Oak (Quercus), Beech (Fagus), Elm (Ulmus), Maple (Acer) and
many others are all suitable. It is best to use leaves from species which have rather large leaves,
because this will end up amounting to a greater quantity of the leaf mulch which will be created from
them. It is possible to use rather freshly fallen leaves once they have been on the ground for several
months, but if you can get leaves that have been "composting" for a couple of years and have obvious
signs of decay, that will be even better. To quickly gather old leaves for transport, I just rake them into
large piles and then stuff them into ordinary plastic garbage bags, compressing them periodically. To
always have a ready supply of decomposing leaves year-round, you might want to consider creating a
special compost pile for leaves only. A small space enclosed with fencing or wooden panels will work
well for this purpose. All you need to do is keep the leaves in a somewhat sheltered area to prevent
them from being blown away in the wind. (See fig. 8).
(b - preparation of the substrate materials)
Assuming that you have obtained the decaying wood and leaves that you need to create your beetle
rearing substrate, the time has come to further break down those materials, and turn them into a soft
mulch. The leaves, being thin and brittle will be very simple to process into a finer consistency. The
wood will likely prove to be considerably more labor intensive, and I will discuss how to break up the
wood first. You'll need a standard plastic 5 gallon (19 liter) pail (sold in hardware stores), a strong flat
edged shovel, and possibly even a sledgehammer for harder, more stubborn pieces of wood. If the
wood is very dry and tough, it is helpful to submerge it underwater for 24 hours or so in a large
container such as a plastic trash can. An easy way to do this is to get a large trash can with a tight
fitting lid which can be locked down on the sides. Fill it nearly to the top with the decomposed wood
chunks and secure the lid. Make a small hole in the lid that is just large enough to pass the end of a
garden hose through, and then fill the can with water until it starts flowing out the hole in the lid. Then,
let it stand for a night and a day. You'll find the wood much more pliable and easier to break up after
this water saturation treatment. After you have taken your wood out of the water the following day
(assuming that you needed to use that extra step), put enough of the decayed wood chunks into the 5
gallon pail to fill it up about half way. Then, with many strong, fast downward chops, use the shovel to
chop and pulverize the wood to the point that it consists of particles that are between the size of a grain
of rice and about 20 mm. It's okay to have a number of much larger chunks than that, but you really
want most of the wood to be composed of fine particles and shavings. This can take some time and
effort to do, but it is necessary. Wear heavy work gloves to prevent damage to your hands. This can be
a rather laborious effort if you are working with decayed wood that still contains a considerable amount
of harder pieces, and make sure to take frequent breaks if you feel it necessary. Be mindful of the
outdoor temperature in warm climates, and do this work in the shade.

Fig. 9: Pulverization of the decayed wood pieces into finer particles.

Fig. 10: The finished product - wood mulch.

Fig. 11: A close-up view of the wood mulch.

Just keep repeating this process of half filling the pail with wood chunks and pulverizing them with
the shovel, placing the finished product into a large storage container such as a plastic trash can. An
example is shown on this page (figs. 12 & 13) of the type of trash can with lid that works very well for
the storage of mulch. As you can see, it has handles on the sides that can be used to lock the plastic lid
down securely.

Fig. 12: A 32 gallon (121 liter) plastic trash can filled with decayed wood mulch. Note the side handles, which lock down over the lid when in place.
Galvanized steel trash cans would probably work fine, but I am unsure of whether zinc leaching from such metal cans could act as a contaminant to the
mulch. Therefore, it is probably safest to use plastic cans.

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Fig. 13: Be sure to cut or drill some large ventilation holes in your mulch storage cans to allow the mulch to breathe. Decayed wood and leaves are
practically a "living" substance, alive with millions of microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria. If not allowed some access to outside air, the mulch can
sour and become an anaerobic sludge, rendering it quite useless for creating rearing substrate.

A can of this type costs about US$10. Several large holes should be cut or drilled in the lid as shown
(fig. 13) to allow the mulch to "breathe", continuously, otherwise your mulch can develop problems
with anaerobic bacteria. These bacteria will cause a bad sulfurous smell, and can turn your mulch into
an oily sludge over time.
The next paragraph concerns your wood mulch only if you did not use the water pre-soak step
mentioned earlier. When you submerged the wood, you not only softened it, but you also pretty much
cleared the wood of any unwanted organisms at the same time. If you did not use the pre-soak to
soften the wood for chipping, you'll still need to soak your finished mulch for a 24 hour period to serve
this purpose, in the event that it happens to contain ants or other small animals which could potentially
be pests in your beetle terrariums. After 24 hours, you should retrieve your soaked mulch and spread it
out on a large sheet of plastic to dry somewhat before gathering it up and placing it in its storage can.
Do not allow it to sit in the water for more than a couple of days, otherwise it can begin to develop a
sulfurous smell from bacterial build-up. If the sun is hot, you can dry it to about the right moisture
level in one day or less, but when it comes right out of the water, it will be far too wet for immediate

storage. You may want to use a rake to periodically rotate the mulch to speed up the drying process,
especially if the weather is cool or there is no sun. Do not over-dry the mulch. It only needs to be
moist enough that you can squeeze a clump of it very hard and only have it stick together rather loosely
momentarily. If you squeeze it and a lot of water freely runs out, it is still far too wet. You will come
to develop a sense of when the moisture level is right. It should merely be moist to the touch, not
soaking wet.

Now, here's how to process the dried leaves - the leaves need to be chipped into a finer consistency
just as you did for the wood. The simplest and most time efficient way of doing this is to use an
electric or gasoline powered leaf blower (such as the electric model shown in the photo (fig. 14) which
has a function for turning leaves into mulch. This allows you to reverse the air flow from the leaf
blower, so you can use it as a leaf vacuum. When the leaves are sucked into the machine, they are
chopped up nicely by the internal blades and sent into a collection bag which can then be emptied into
a large container like a trash can. If the leaves you have collected are quite damp, you'll need to spread
them out on the ground to dry them for a while, as these machines are designed to suck up dry leaves,
and not ones with a lot of moisture in them. Also, take care not to suck up any twigs or sticks, because
they can jam the mulching mechanism.

Fig. 14: A high power leaf blower which converts into a leaf mulcher. If you want to process large quantities of decayed leaves into mulch that is of the
proper consistency for creating beetle rearing substrate, a device such as this is extremely useful. This particular model is the Weed Eater (tm) Barracuda.
In only about 20 minutes it made 32 gallons of leaf mulch from 2 bags of compacted Oak (Quercus) leaves.

Of course, if you don't already have a mulching leaf blower, and don't want to spend the money on it,
you can just chop up your dried, decaying leaves by some other means. If they are brittle enough, you
can get some protective work gloves and try crunching them up by hand, but if you are trying to make
really large quantities of leaf mulch, a mulching leaf blower or some other sort of mechanical
chipping/shredding device is really the best way to go. If you use one of these devices, make sure to
wear a protective face mask to filter the air you breathe, because they can generate quite a lot of dust
when chipping the leaves. Wear protective goggles as well, to keep the dust out of your eyes.

Fig. 15: The finished product created from decayed leaves. These leaves have been processed through the leaf blower/mulcher shown previously, then
soaked overnight, drained, and dried to just the right moisture level in the sun.

Fig. 16: A close up view of the leaf mulch.

Once you've chipped all of your decayed leaves either mechanically or manually, you'll have a material
that's likely to be extremely dusty and dry. Soak the resulting mulch in water for around 24 hours in
the same way as was described earlier for the wood mulch. This will both moisturize and rid the leaf
mulch of unwanted organisms. Again, a large plastic trash can works well for this purpose. The
material created from mulching 2 large plastic trash bags full of compacted leaves will fill a 32 gallon
trash can to nearly full capacity. Put enough water into the can so as to allow for some stirring of the
mulch with a shovel, but do not put so much water as to overflow it. Once you've stirred your water
saturated mulch to the extent that you can see no more dry patches, you'll have a mixture of leaves that
is like a thick soup. Let that stand for 24 hours, and the next day, remove it and spread it out to dry to
the right moisture level as you did after soaking the wood mulch. You may find that the easiest way to
remove it from the soaking can is to use a strong net, which will also allow a lot of the excess water to
drain out as lifted. The moisture level should be essentially the same as for the wood mulch. It is often
helpful to first spread the mulch out on a large screen to allow excess water to gradually drain out of it.
It may take a few days to do this. Afterward, you may still need to spread the mulch onto plastic sheets
to dry in the sun further. How you dry your mulch to the appropriate moisture level all really depends
on how you are doing it, and the condition of the weather. What you'll end up with is a very soft,
moist, (but not dripping wet) material.

(c - combining of the substrate materials)

Now that you have created the two basic components that will form your beetle rearing substrate, the
labor intensive part of your work is basically over. The step in the process I will now describe is the
final step in getting your breeding substrate ready for your beetles. Get a large plastic bin, box, or other
sturdy container to use as a mixing vat. For a general scarab breeding substrate, mix a 50-50 ratio of
wood mulch and leaf mulch, thoroughly mixing it together by hand. That's it, you've created your
substrate. For dynastine scarabs (rhinoceros beetles) it is better to have a higher wood content, around
70% wood mulch mixed with 30% leaf mulch.
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