Breeding Giant Beetles
Each year we keep a collection of Giant tropical beetles. Some of these we manage to breed from super-sized grubs, the size of sausages. The whole process often takes us two years. We feed the grubs special wood and leaf mould mixes, often with fungi hyphae in. The grub then pupates much like a caterpillar does and comes out as a beetle after five or six months.
Over the years, we have had many of the largest beetles, some of which are absolute characters. Recently, the Trust has had success breeding many of them, such as the colourful Rainbow stag beetle pictured below.