12/18/2020: The giants arrive

About a week ago spurred on by the interests of a friend I decided it was time to work with some larger beetles. I’ve been quite fond of the cetoniines I’ve worked with over the years so what better way to plunge into them than by going big. After a few back and forth discussions with some some old guard beetle keepers we were directed to Bugs in Cyberspace where some decisions were made without much hesitation. Earlier this week the seven lovelies arrived: Goliathus goliatus larvae. Though I’m splitting the lot with a friend my main goal is not necessarily to breed them (though this would be wonderful!) but rather to try out some techniques that have worked extremely well for me with smaller cetoniines in the hopes of streamlining their care. I’ll be checking the extremely controversial communal enclosure in two weeks so expect an elated or depressed update then.

-Kyle