After years of trying, I finally bred Xyloryctes thestalus, something I wanted to do for a very long time. At the time of writing, I have gotten adults emerge from captive bred larvae.
The adults of this species is very long lived, I still have individuals collected from Aug 5th, 2022 alive at the time of writing, and they have not slowed down. My adults did not breed much before the winter, only laying a single egg, with that individual emerging to be an adult male 1 month ago. All other eggs or larvae I acquired were laid in the months of April - July, where the adults became active after hibernation.
My adults did not eat from late October to April, and simply burrowed down. They thus became active again in the spring and heavy breeding activity occurred. They were overwintered at 68-75 degrees. They don't seem to enjoy soft foods, preferring apples and other harder fruits.
The breeding material was easy to make and setup, flake soil on the drier side (not dry, simply the level I would use to breed lucanids, a bit dryer than most dynastid substrate) covered with bark. The flake soil was not well fermented, and 4-5 inches deep. I kept very high ventilation for this species.
All in all, this is a very long lived and interesting species to keep, with wild adults living over 1 year, who knows how long cb ones can live! Plus they are just so adorable. Give them a try! And don't give up if yours didn't breed in fall, they seem to be a spring breeding species. The wild adults seem to live well into the next year, with lots of records of them active in the spring.
