How to Breed Allomyrina Dithotomus
People are fascinated at keeping a pet. Hundreds of thousands of animals are kept as pets in Taiwan. To those pet lovers, nothing is better than watching their beloved pets having babies. Aside from normal pets, such as cats and dogs, there is also a kind of pet being popular among kids. That is, an Allomyrina Dithotomus. An Allomyrina Dithotomus is a beetle with a big single horn on its head. Due to its unique appearance, not only kids but a number of collectors fall for it. However, it is expensive to buy an Allomyrina Dithotomus in a pet shop for its scarcity. As a result, Allomyrina Dithotomus keepers have developed various ways to breed the beetle by themselves. I also figure out my own ways, which are quite practicable, and they will be introduced step by step in the following paragraphs.
To breed Allomyrina Dithotomus, you have to get a male one and a female one first. Allomyrina Dithotomus are available in pet shops during summer. If you don’t like the price pet shops offer, you can catch beetles on your own. In Allomyrina Dithotomus’ breeding season, they are everywhere in medium-altitude mountain. However, for the pollution these years, they have become more difficult to find. As a result, you can prepare some traps to increase the chance of catching them. Allomyrina Dithotomus likes fermented fruit. In that case, smashed banana mingled with alcohol could work. Put them in a breathable bag, and then hang it on a tree where insects might gather. Allomyrina Dithotomus are phototactic, so if you can leave a flashlight nearby, the light source will seduce more insects to your trap. Midnight is the best time to check your trap, but if you are worried about safety, you can leave it overnight until the next morning. Just beware that not only Allomyrina Dithotomus will be attracted, but some unfriendly animals may be interested in the scent.
After you capture a pair of Allomyrina Dithotomus, you can start to arrange their house. The best way is to buy a terrarium from pet shops. They are firm and multifunctional. Otherwise, containers that are sturdy and can let air through are also good choices. After the shelter is done, the next step is to create a similar environment to their natural habitat. First, carpet the terrarium with some soil because they need to lay eggs in soil and the larvae also feed on the soil. Then you have to keep the terrarium moist, just like where they live, or they will not bear eggs and die soon. As for food, there is jelly designed for Allomyrina Dithotomus. Jelly’s advantage is its abundant nutrition, but it is not cheap. Fruits are another option. Allomyrina Dithotomus eats fruit, but don’t provide them with fruits with too much water, they can get diarrhea and die. And if you try to feed them with fruits, ants and flies can cause some trouble. Last, put some leaves and sticks as covers, because they don’t like to be watched all over the time. Once the house is arranged, it is time to wait until you find larvae.
Allomyrina Dithotomus die soon after they bear eggs, so if you find your pet beetle not moving anymore, dig out the soil, and there is a chance to find some white, little, soft worms. Those are Allomyrina Dithotomus’ larvae. They are fragile and easy to die. To take care of them, you have to prepare humus soil about eighty percent full of the terrarium. Humus soil contains plentiful nutrition. They can be found in pet shops, flour shops and woods. I suggest buying it from pet shops because humus soil in mountains is likely to have parasite or mold, which are deadly to the larvae. Besides, flower shops sometimes add pesticide in the soil they sell, and it will definitely kill your pets. In addition, the consumption of humus soil can be massive, and if you don’t change and add new soil, hungry larvae may devour its siblings.
After about one to two months, larvae will move on to the next stage, cocoon stage. In this period, they will build a space under the soil and become totally another thing. Please don’t interrupt it when it is a cocoon. Allomyrina Dithotomus’ cocoon will struggle when it’s touched, and some people will take it as an entertainment, which is so wrong. If a larvae moves too much in this stage, it would be unable to leave [to?] cocoon because it had lost too much energy before, and it will die from that. All you have to do while your larvae become cocoons is waiting and checking in case the cocoon rooms collapse. After a month or later, Allomyrina Dithotomus will break its cocoon and become fully-grown. Then you can turn back to the step of arranging their house. Keep doing so and you are likely to breed a great number of the fascinating beetles on your own.
It takes a lot of time and efforts to breed Allomyrina Dithotomus. And the process can cost money. But it is wonderful to observe a full life circle under your hand. Due to the pollution and climate changes nowadays, Allomyrina Dithotomus has become less and less. If you can breed and release some of them, there might be a chance to see them flying in the woods again. And of course, you can sell them to the collectors for extra incomes. But it will be much funnier for me to see Allomyrina Dithotomus family keeps growing. These steps are available to other beetles. After you catch them, arrange their house, feed them and provid what their baby feed on. The method is so simple that even a kid can handle it. Next time try to breed them by yourself, because the miracle of life always brings you surprises.