purrfectdarkness

Yeah, Me too. They are awesome. But the Larva/Grubbby guys are terrifying. The first picture up top is of the Larva AFTER he chewed through the plastic lid.. In a one week span, I went through about 25 lids. Their jaws are super strong.

Thank you. =) It was a tough call on what kind of beetles to get first, but I couldn't resist these guys. Their colour is what did it for me. They are absolutely gorgeous. A little smaller than what I thought they'd be. Everything I read said they were the second largest/heaviest of the beetles.. But they just seem small. Maybe I was hoping for something gigantic? Here's a picture of my second male as he emerged. He has the cutest little horn on his face. Haha.

Took a picture of my Mantis eating a little Dubia. It's his first ever Dubia Meal, and he Loved it. =) I can't remember the name of the species of Mantis, My friend gave it to me. Sorry.

I imported 8 larva of Mecynorrhina torquata last year. I had never ever had beetles before, but wanted to try my luck at raising them. Well, what a shocker it was when I opened up my parcel to see these GIANT larva with huge mouth parts that were ready to clamp down on anything that touched them. They were terrifying, and nobody wanted to look at them but me. I was fascinated with them. I read all the information I could before I got them, and I had set up little deli cups for them. Anyway, it was quite a trial trying to find things these guys would eat. They all seemed to like WELLNESS brand dog food, as well as apple chunks, and pear chunks as well as all the weird kind of woods that Beetles prefer. You can imagine my shock when some of them actually started to pupate. I was so happy. I had no idea what they were doing when they stopped eating. I thought they were all dying. I was lucky enough to have my female larva pupate up against the wall of her container, so I got a front row seat to watch the full transformation. It was amazing.. It's too bad my camera didn't agree with me, and took horribly blurry shots every time. My female was the first to emerge. She was so shiny and green. She had a bit of brown on her back, but lost it after a couple days of emerging. Soon after a male followed, and then another. I ended up with 3 Beetles all together. One larva died from a mite infestation I could not get rid of and One died building its little nest/cacoony area. I still have one that is a little strangler and hasnt pupated or anything. I think he likes being a larva. I put all three beetles together in a 20Gallon tank, and let them do their beetle thing. I threw all kinds of food in there for them, and water, and wood and stuff. They all seemed to ignore each other, or bury themselves. At night I would hear them flying around inside the cage. One night I was lucky enough to actually catch some breeding action. The male used his little nose/horn to grab hold of the female underneath a leg, and shove her around, positioning her. I would liken it to Beetle "Rape". He was not nice with her at all. He tossed her all over the cage. Poor girl. A few days later I found her dead. I was really upset. I figured the tough love he gave her wore her out. A couple days after the female died, I found the male clinging to life. He soon passed away as well. By now I was really upset. And the little male that got no action was all alone. Its been a few weeks, and I noticed some of the food was starting to spoil, so I figured I would clean it out. So I took out all the gross food, the started to mix the dirt around so it was all damp, instead of dry and wet patches. Guess what I found? 3 baby larva kicking around in the dirt. They are so tiny, I can't believe it. I never exected to find babies, because of how fast the female died after I saw breeding action. I must have missed the important egg laying process. Damn my need for sleep. =)

I had to take care of a 7 foot Croc Monitor for awhile. She was amazing. Hated all the men, but she trusted me because I was always gentle with her. They are so smart. She never lunged at me, or tried to attack me. Always the guys. Eventually I could get really close to her, and pet her.

I don't want to feed it Goldfish, because they don't usually make the best feeders most things. I was thinking of tossing some Guppies or minnows in there. What would be the best way to remove them? Q-tip? Tongs? I just don't want to hurt him while I try and remove the parasites.

Well, I won't try and pull them off until I know they are bad. When I found him, he was all dry, and it was a cold day, so he barely moved. Then when I got him home I plopped him into some room tempature water, and he slowly came back to life. He has been a very interesting bug to watch. He sits motionless at 45 degree angle most of the time. And I have been tong feeding him crickets every couple of days. I have no idea how often he should be eating.. I keep him in my Reptile Room, so its pretty warm in there, so I figure his metabolism will be a bit quicker than if he was outside right now.. since it is still fairly cold outside here. He is voracious. He will grab onto the cricket and the tongs. When I fed him today, it took almost 5 full minutes to get the tongs away from him. Hes got a death grip with those front arms. He swims around at night usually, and during the day he sits motionless. I have actually seen him sit out on the cork bark too, and dry out completely. Hes a very neat insect for sure.

Hey guys, I found this little guy in a parking lot. I couldn't resist poking at him. Turns out he was alive, and not dead, like I previously thought. So of course I had to bring him home. I've never seen one of these guys before. So I immediately did a bit of reading, and got him set up in 5 gallow, tight fitting lid, good filter, and some leaves/banches and a piece of cork bark for him. He's doing awesome. Ive had him for about 2 weeks now. He eats great. Loves crickets. Going to try a fish soon.. My question is though, I tried to take some nice action pictures of him eating. And when they were up on my computer, I noticed that he has all these tiny little pink things on his head and back. Almost looks like tiny pink grains of rice attatched to him. Does anyone know what they are? Are they a type of parasite? If so, Can I just pull them off him? Any help would be awesome. Thanks. Cassandra.

Hi there. My name is Kat. Im from Canada. I keep a variety of Exotic Animals. Kinda sounds like an AA Meeting. Hehe. I'll list my Reptiles: Iguanas, Bearded Dragons, Frilled Dragons, Leopard Geckos, House Gecko, Corn Snakes, Ball Pythons, Carpet Pythons, Dumerils Boas, Solomon Island Tree Boas, Amazon Tree Boas, Emerald Tree Boas. Fluffies: Spiny Mice and Hedgehogs. I recently got into insects and such. Like my animal addiction wasn't bad already. I've got three Tarantulas so far. (I like Common Names.. Im sorry for those well versed in Latin.. Im still learning.. Bare with me. ) Ive got an Indian Ornamental. A Singapore Blue. And a Colbalt Blue. I currently keep four different species of Roaches. I have B. Dubias. Fuscas. Discoids and Hissers. Im looking to get a variety of Roaches. I find them all so fascinating, and they make great feeders too. But unfortunately, Canada or atleast Ottawa where I am from, lacks in the Cool Insect Department. I am having a hard time finding anyone that has Roaches up here. Anyway. Just wanted to say Hi. And say a little about me. Im always up for chatting about animals. =)