Rearing Strategus anteus
Strategus aloeus (the Ox beetle) is my favorite of all the dynastidae. S. anteus is a very nice shiny red-black and the first rhinoceros beetle I was able to catch alive. Although never reaching more than 40mm this is still a great beetle to play with.

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Food: The ox beetle adults will eat a variety of sugary liquids like most dynastids. The larvae, however, are strange for dynastids. Larvae of this beetle eat decayed roots and leaves in the sandy soil.

Life cycle: Adult Ox beetles live up to 6 months. Anteus adults dig deep holes in the sandy soil which they use to hide in during the day. Females lay eggs singly in sandy soil and the larvae take one year to grow to become adults. Although larvae do not feed on live roots the adults can do much damage to lawns because they are very proficient diggers and do not try to avoid roots.

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Difficulties: Ox beetles are easy to raise from egg to adult. There is one catch: it is very difficult to get them to lay more than a couple ova. Females will only lay eggs in very sandy soil with old grass and rotten leaves and without these conditions are unlikely to lay any eggs.
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