# Anyone breed Sun Beetles?



## Rowena (Mar 9, 2012)

I'm getting a few as pets/for breeding, just wondered if there are any fellow keepers/breeders?


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## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

I keep them and have a colony in my phelsuma tank. They go well in the plants vivarium and add some colour and activity when the phelsuma are in their bamboo tubes. 

They probably have been breeding in the substrate but I have seen any evidence if it. I find it cheaper to buy a box of grubs and let them cocoon and hatch them out. I find it only takes about two months. The price of some adults is very high. I just have the normal brown an yellow ones but am on the look out for other colours such as green and purple.


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## Rowena (Mar 9, 2012)

Bradley said:


> I keep them and have a colony in my phelsuma tank. They go well in the plants vivarium and add some colour and activity when the phelsuma are in their bamboo tubes.
> 
> They probably have been breeding in the substrate but I have seen any evidence if it. I find it cheaper to buy a box of grubs and let them cocoon and hatch them out. I find it only takes about two months. The price of some adults is very high. I just have the normal brown an yellow ones but am on the look out for other colours such as green and purple.


The green and purple ones sound amazing, the ones I'm getting are the normal brown and yellows.
I read up that they're pretty good breeders however knowing my luck mine will all turn out to be female or all male.
I noticed the price was quite high of some of the adults, I'm not really sure what I'll with mine once they've hatched out since I don't have anything to feed them too, just wanted them as a little project thing


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## ExoticInsectsUK (Nov 15, 2008)

Hello I breed a few beetles:lol2:

I think the ones you have are _Pachnoda marginata peregrine_
these are easy if you get the soil right if you just feed compost or other garden centre products then you wont get many larvae and the ones you do get may not reach adulthood or will be deformed. They will also eat each other if the soil is bad.
If you add well rotted wood/leafs this will then help produce much more larvae or you could get some Beetle soil. I will link a care sheet Flower beetle care sheet

The purple ones are smaragdesthes africana oertzeni and there are lots of green beetles like smaragdesthes africana africana. But both these are smaller then Pachnoda. There are green Pachnoda but they would cost alot.
Other easy species:
Pachnoda sinuata
Pachnoda aemula


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