Hello!
So I received a goliath beetle larvae early June (its now mid november) so its been about 5-6 months and i received the larva as a L1-L2. I'm not super familiar with their lifecycle timeline (I worked with tobacco hornworm a lot previously but never these guys). From what i have observed I believe they have gone through their wandering phase and should have been entering their pupation stage. But they have just been holding on... i notice they are still up and about and often will hang out on their back on top of their substrate (currently using the white oak substrate from the beetle bros). I'm wondering if anybody can comment on their behavior during this stage and if this is normal/ if i should be doing something. Thanks so much for your time and help!
Hello Austin,
Goliathus life cycle can be quite wacky and sometimes it is confusing.
Usual larva period last about 5-6months, though there are handful of them either wander early like 3months old or late like 8-10months old as larvae. When they start wander they will stop consuming food, and will be on the surface a lot, either circling around the container or stand up tall on the wall. When your larva is on wandering phase for sure you can move them to larger container depends on larva size usually they do well in 88oz container, if your larvae is heavier than 70g + I would recommend bigger container like 1.5-2gallon. I use 1.5 gallon bucket for big larvae. Some breeder made cocoon phase with just regular flake soil, some just use inorganic soil.
Once you move them into a new environment for pupation phase and when it is clear that your larva have gone down to make cocoon, then you can start count about 5-6 months and it will be safe to open a small hole to check emerged adult beetle. Safest is opening cocoon after 6 months in my opinion.
Thanks.