Goliath beetles are the kings of the beetle world, and what could be more regal than the Royal Goliath beetle?

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These beetles are rarely bred in Europe and kept in the UK by a tiny handful of experienced breeders. We found ourselves to be the novices in keeping these but have made excellent developments in understanding their requirements.

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We started with a small number of L1 larvae from another UK based breeder, some of which have grown rapidly and others have taken their time. Unfortunately we have lost some along the way. Some larvae die for no apparent reason, one died due to a substrate change where the different temperature must've been too stressful for it.

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We fed our larvae every two days on moist cat biscuits and they grew rather well. We have since changed to koi pellets with a much higher protein content for accelerated growth. We have also reduced the container size for the smaller larvae as we found they were spending too much energy searching for their food.

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Once the larvae reach L3 it is possible to sex them by the  presence or absence of a small black dot near the end of their bodies. If a black dot is present then the larvae is male.