Care Guide - Giant Stag Beetle

Distribution - They have a wide distribution across most of china all the way down to indonesia and across to Japan, this covers many subspecies of the Dorcus titanus range.

Rating - (Ease of care) - Intermediate - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Setup Requirements - When you get one they usually get sold with another one female one male, the male is an impressive size compared to the female due to sexual dimorphism. Seeing as you are usually sold a pair it is advised to buy an encosure for both, the female can be put ina 20x20x15cm terrarium and the male can be housed in a 30x30x20cm terrarium, it is advised to keep them seperate until you are breeding them due to the males aggressive towards anything that moves. As you can see below these enclosures are top opening, the reason for this is it gives you more control as these are terrestrial they can climb out but cannot climb the glass so there is a very low risk of escape. Also from above you are able to avoid the males pincers easier. I ahev used a side opening door exoterra for the male nad found he would chew and push his jaws into the grates loosening the door fixings, its not worth the hastle just get a top opener for a easier life.

Substrate options and decor -

If you are not looking to breed them and just want them as singular pets a mix of sedge peat and coco fibre will be sutable in a 30:70 mix, to get them to breed get some decayed wood substrate, you can either do this by buying pre made substrate or get a peice of oak log and chip it into a fine powder and layer it at the bottom substrate layer of the vivarium, the damp layer and wood will encorage egg laying within it.Add a layer of leave litter as the non permiable layer of leaves will keep the humidity higher under the ground. You dont really need to add much decor, offer a shallow dish of water and a hide for them to climb and thats about all you need.

Heating and lighting -

Heating them isnt essential if your room temprature doesnt drop below 18c in a 24 hour period they can thrive between 18-28c just dont go to much above this for prolonged periods otherwise you will effect there health. If you dont heat your room in the winter then you can get a lamp and dimmer thermostat no more than 25w

Diet and nutrition -

A very easy diet you can feed these beetles all types of jelly pots weekly and suppliment with various different fruits some gotos are Bananas, Mangos,

Behaviours

Day and night Cycle

Common health issues

Temprature requirements

Cleaning

Brumation

Avalability -

References-

Gallery -

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