from sunny south of france

[RX13]

Doei,

My name is Eric, I'm 34 years old and I live in south of France.
I am very sorry to not speak dutch..

I work into horticulture and I breed tropical frogs since years.
I started in the beetles breeding hobby with few pachnoda & cetonia in the past but I had to stop.

I re start since few monthes with more species.
Let's go!!!

[Annette]

Hi (Salut),

Welcome on this forum. Funny to read your message. It don't mind you don't speak Dutch. Everyone in the Netherlands could understand a little bit English. Do you also speak French? I'm following a French course since September. But my French is not good, perhaps as good as your Dutch is

What kind of beetle species do you have? It's a beautiful hobby.

If you have any questions you can always ask it in English

[Peter]

Hi Eric, Welcome! It's always nice to have some foreign people on a forum!
It doesn't matter that you don't speak dutch, I'm sure there are enough people here who speak English (and dutch isn't that hard to read, it's like ch'timi with a little bit more north influences) .

What kind of frogs do you breed? And which beetles did you have in the past? I can imagine that with the good weather in the south of France it's a good place to breed beetles. Are you planning to breed beetles again?

Oh by the way I've given you access to the rest of the forum. It's policy here that you introduce yourself first (which you have done by this).

[RX13]

Thanks for the welcoming & the full access

Of course, I speak french. Dutch is very difficult for me, I have to use the google translator

About amphibians, I began with newts and salamanders when I was a teenager.
During the last 10 years, I had various tropical frogs in my terrariums (dendrobates, epipedobates, phyllobates, mantella, agalychnis, heterixalus).
Actually, I have "only" few Dendrobates auratus 'bronze'

About my beetles past: I started with a small leaf beetle (Chrysomela americana) when I was a kid.
Ten years ago, I have breed during few generations the classic Pachnoda marginata peregrina and Cetonia aurata from my garden.
I restart in this hobby more seriously with help of my 5years-kid

These are the species we have now:
Anelaphinis similima F3 (L1)
Chlorocala africana oertzeni (L3)
Leucocelis plebeja F1 (imago)
Pachnoda thoracica (L2)
Pachnoda sp upangwana (L1)
Stephanorrhina adelpha (L2)

Lucanus cervus (L1-L2)

I want to start with Dynastidae with propably Oryctes nasicornis... to be next...

We have also a bastard dog, a black chinchilla & a hamster...

[Peter]

Woah you have build up some nice collections through the years! I heard that Oryctes nasicornis is a very boring specie to breed since they live most of their life underground.

Lucanus cervus is my favorite inland specie, I've seen him quite some times when I was a kid. I'm looking forward to some photos of you're beetles.
Since you have so many species, I wonder do ever experienced the feared white mites? Or is that not an issue by the hot temperatures in France? And if so, how to you react? At the moment 'Hansje Pansje' has them and I have seen them by our beetles also.

[RX13]

Because I'm a true beginner with Lucanidae and Dynastidae, I prefer to start with local species...

About mites, I didn't have problems in past but I had only two species.
I dont want mites at home because they are dangerous for my fruitflies production (livefood for my frogs)
So now, with more species of beetles, I chose to sterilize a big part of my substrate (30% sterilized with microwave + 30% sterilized by freezing + 30% non sterilized). I know it is not the best but I will see the results...

[Saerchy]

Welcome Eric

You've already got quite a few beetles
I'd love to see some pictures

If you have any questions about the caresheets here we can always make an English one for you