Western Hercules Beetle, The Best Pet Insect?

Well, hi there. The famed biologist J.B.S. Haldane was once asked what his study of creation had taught him about the Creator. Haldane responded simply that the Creator has an inordinate fondness for beetles. And how could you not? Beetles are amazing! I mean, look at this thing! This is a Western Hercules beetle, a species of rhinoceros beetle native here in the western United States. It looks very similar to their close cousin, the Eastern Hercules beetle. In fact, the two species are so similar that there is considerable debate about whether or not they should be considered to be the same species. So even though we're going to focus today on the Western species, Dynastes grantii, a lot of this information will apply also to the Eastern Hercules beetle. Now this is a male. It's easy to distinguish the males from the females because the males have these giant vertical pincer horns growing off of their faces, hence the name rhinoceros beetles. And really, only part of this pincer comes off of the face. The larger of the two actually comes off of the shield that covers the thorax, called the pronotum. And males use this pair of horns to dislodge and hurl other rhinoceros beetles in battles over mates. This is very similar to the giant weevil battle that we observed during our leaf cutter ant video in Peru. Both male and female Western Hercules beetles are very large and both possess the same striking coloration. They look like a black beetle that was spray painted a light glossy gray from above and then spattered with brown paint. They're a work of art. Now this is an adult and it's easy to distinguish the adults from juveniles because the adults look like glorious beetles and the juveniles look like engorged semi-translucent termite queens. Like all beetles, Hercules beetles are hollow metabolous insects that start out life looking nothing like adults, go through a pupil stage, and then emerge as a totally different looking insect that generally has wings. Like most beetles, those wings take two dramatically different forms. The first pair is modified into a sort of a shell called elytra that cover the second set of wings that are folded beneath and that are used for flight. And this is part of the reason that beetles have been so successful. Haldane suggested that the creator has an inordinate fondness for beetles largely because there are so many species of beetles out there. Over 400,000 described and probably more than that are yet to be described. The fact that they can both have wings to fly and protect those wings so that they can burrow into and under objects at the same time gives them a huge advantage over other insects and most other animals on the planet. Beetles are just so rad. It's no wonder that I chose to study beetles for my master's thesis. And this beetle, the Western Hercules beetle, is certainly one of the raddest of them all. But is it a good pet? And is the Western Hercules beetle the best pet insect for you? To help you figure this out, we're going to have to give the Western Hercules beetle a score based on our five categories which are handleability, care, hardiness, availability, and upfront costs. When it comes to handleability, these frankly look pretty scary. Those pincers look like jaws and I'm pretty sure you don't want to end up in them. But as it turns out, these guys are not going to hurt you at all. Those pincers are formidable for lifting and tossing rival males, but they're not going to be used on you. They are not inclined to bite with their actual mandibles. Really, the only thing they will do to inflict any pain at all is hold onto you with their tarsal claws. You can hardly fault them for holding onto the giant that is picking them up. You'd do the same. Add on to that the fact that these are big, durable beetles and there's just no reason at all to take away any points here. They get a five out of five and they totally deserve it. The larvae are considerably more fragile. They are pretty durable, but they look like water balloons and I wouldn't want to see what would happen if you dropped one. I can imagine, but I wouldn't want to see it. Today's video is sponsored by the Ridge wallet, which is legitimately every bit as tough as these amazing beetles that we've been talking about today. I've been carrying this one for years and other than just a little bit of scuffing to the corners, which honestly, like I hadn't even noticed until I spent some time really studying this. I mean, it still looks basically like it's brand new and it has a lifetime warranty. So even if somehow I managed to destroy this thing, Ridge will replace it for me. You can even get your key carrier paired up with a matching wallet as part of the daily driver kit. Save some money and have a pretty cool matching set. And if you want to save some money on these, you can save up to 40% by going to our exclusive URL ridge.com slash clint. So if you're interested in these or any of the other, frankly, just a ton of awesome products these days, go to ridge.com slash Clint. When it comes to care, we give the Western Hercules beetle a score of five out of five. Also now care will vary a bit based on the age of your beetle. It is possible to purchase or even catch adult beetles like this one. If that is what you intend to do, then you only need to know how to care for the adults. But if your adults end up breeding or you purchase your beetles as larvae, which is one of the main ways that you're likely to get one, then you will need to know how to care for them at all life stages. Like we mentioned before, beetles are hollow metabolous insects. Odds are good that you're familiar with butterflies. Those are also hollow metabolous insects. Like butterflies, Western Hercules beetles hatch out of eggs as larvae. Larvae are different from the juvenile forms of insects like grasshoppers, cockroaches, and true bugs in that they look nothing like the adults and pass through a pupal stage before molting into adults. The juvenile forms of grasshoppers, cockroaches, true bugs, as well as things like mantids and earwigs are called nymphs and they essentially look like smaller wingless forms of the adults. They also never pupate. They molt directly from the final juvenile instar into an adult that again usually has wings. Western Hercules beetles pass through three larval stages called instars, each separated by the molting of their exoskeleton called a dysis to enable further growth. After the third instar, they molt into a pupa which looks somewhere between a brown relatively sedentary adult and the aliens from Independence Day. So weird. The whole process can take about two years. The adults should then live a few months, perhaps as long as about nine months. If you get your beetles as larvae, you ensure yourself that you will get to enjoy the adults for the entirety of that adult phase of their lives. So let's discuss their care. I think we'll start at the very beginning as that's a very good place to start. Eggs. It is very unlikely that you will start with eggs. You are much more likely to start with larvae or adult beetles. But these beetles do start life in eggs and the eggs require a fair bit of care, you know, for eggs. The biggest thing is that they take somewhere between one and about seven months to hatch. During that time, you need to keep conditions right and remove any hatched larvae so they do not damage the other eggs. The right conditions mostly involve a container with several inches of moist, but not wet, flake soil. And if you're unfamiliar with flake soil, it is a fermented wood soil, usually hardwoods, that is really important for beetles like these where the juveniles feed primarily on decomposing wood. A good rule of thumb for the amount of water to add is similar to that of incubation media in snakes and other reptiles. Squeeze a clump of the mixture. It should stick together, but not be dripping. And when you drop it, it should fall back apart. With eggs, err on the side of a bit more water than you will with larvae. No heat should need to be added unless your home is very cold. Once the eggs hatch, they will be in the first of three larval instars. And it may take them as long as two years to go through them all, so this is likely to be the stage at which you will spend the most time with your beetle. As we mentioned, the best substrate for your larvae will be several inches of moist, but not wet, flake soil. In this case, err on the side of being a bit drier than your egg substrate, but pretty similar overall. Keep them in a container with a tight-fitting lid. Poke a few small holes for ventilation. Now, this is really interesting. If you house your larvae together, they will all pupate at about the same time. And this is really good if you want to breed them. But if you house them individually, the males will take longer to develop than the females. But they will emerge larger than they would have if housed with the ladies. Notice the difference between the sizes of these two males. Housing them alone versus housing them with the ladies. These will come out at the right time, so all your beetles will be the same age. They'll all be able to breed at the same time, and that's just fine and dandy. But if you want a particularly spectacular looking male, house them alone. As the larvae eat the flake soil, you will notice that the flake soil will be replaced by droppings. When the majority of the soil has been replaced, it's time to change it. Dump out the container, give it a rinse, and add new properly moistened flake soil. Add a little of the old flake soil to the top and replace the larvae and the lid. The larvae only molt twice during their larval stage. That is two molts in two years. And most of them will come when they're younger. That third instar lasts quite a bit longer. Just be careful not to mess with them if you ever catch them molting. For about the last month of the third instar, the very end of their larval existence, they will turn sort of a yellow color. This will indicate that they're about to molt into a pupa. Try not to need to change the substrate during the latter part of this month, as they will begin building a pupation chamber that you don't want to destroy. Once they pupate, your job is to leave them alone. They will pupate for about a month, and then the adult beetle will stay in the pupation chamber for another month to harden adequately. And just leave them alone. Once they emerge from the pupation chamber, you will begin the care for your adult beetle, which can last up to nine months. One of the reasons complete metamorphosis has been so successful for the holometabolous insects is because the adults and the juveniles feed on different things and don't compete directly. Thus, adult care is very different than juvenile care. They still like to burrow, so a substrate in which they can dig will be much appreciated. Also add cork bark or other similar structures that they can use to right themselves should they get flipped over, which will totally happen. And speaking of being flipped over, don't keep males together. You can keep a male with multiple females, but the males will fight if housed together. As for food, they don't eat rotting wood so much as adults. They feed on tree sap and other sugary foods. Beetle jelly and freshly sliced fruit are great options for food. They are also kept at room temperature. Really, these beetles are very easy to care for so long as you get the moisture level of the substrate right. When it comes to hardiness, we give the Western Hercules beetle a score of four out of five. This is a pretty durable insect. I mean, they spend a month just hardening that exoskeleton. The main things to avoid would be improper moisture levels, disturbing them while molting, and mold. If you can do this, you can expect up to two years with your larvae, and as long as nine months, though probably more like six with your adult beetle, assuming that you have it for the entire adult lifespan. And, you know, when their beetle power runs out, they will make amazing pinned specimens for decades. When it comes to availability, we give the Western Hercules beetle a score of three out of five. There are actually quite a few breeders that work with them, and they're often available online. I've never as yet seen them at pet shops or at expos, but I wouldn't be shocked to find one of them in these places in the future. For one thing, these beetles belong to my friend Nick, who works at Prime Pets in Spanish Fork, Utah, which is a really, really cool pet shop that's under new management, and they're getting in a lot of really cool stuff and just starting to do some really neat things there. I have a feeling if you're looking for these in the next few years, that would be a place you could definitely go. Wouldn't that be exciting? If you live in the desert southwest, you can even find them in the wild, especially if you blacklight for them, but this wouldn't be my preferred way to get them as they're likely very near the end of their lifespans. But the point is that if you want one and you know how to use the internet, you can probably get one. When it comes to upfront costs, we give the Western Hercules beetle a score of four out of five. This is actually a pretty expensive insect. I think in parts of Asia they can cost an absolute fortune, but here in the United States, they're not crazy expensive, at least for an animal, but it's a spendy insect. The rest of the supplies that you will need are pretty cheap. Some food containers, flake soil, beetle jelly, cork, a small enclosure of some sort for adults with a lid. Other than the beetle, which really isn't all that expensive, the rest is very affordable. And that is why overall we give the Western Hercules beetle a score of 4.2 out of 5. Let's face it, this is a rad insect and a pretty darn good pet. If what you want is a beautiful, big, and burly bug, well you should check out our video on horrid king assassin bugs, but if you want a beautiful, big, and burly beetle, then the Western Hercules beetle might be the perfect pet for you. As always, like and subscribe, and we hope to see you real soon. We'll be glad we were a little more patient. Yeah, I know for sure, because we would have to modify everything about these videos to get down to four categories. Just use your other hand. And it doesn't work. That's right, that's right. Man, that was always a source of good bloopers. Yeah. You've mastered it now, haven't you? Unfortunately. Yeah. Let's see. This is the other problem with handling. It's not up to you when it ends. Here, dislodge him.