Beetles For Sale

The beetles here come two ways: adult flower beetles you can keep and breed straight away, and grubs of stag and flower beetles that you raise to adulthood yourself. Alongside them is the fermented flake soil a beetle larva lives in and eats. Livestock is posted Monday to Thursday with the live arrival guarantee.

If you want a beetle to watch now, start with the adults. The Sun Beetle (Pachnoda marginata) and the African Fruit Beetle (Pachnoda fissipunctum) are easy to keep and breed in a well-set-up tank, so a group of adults of both sexes gives you the whole life cycle. New to beetles altogether? My guide to the best pet beetles for beginners is the place to start.

Adults or larvae?

Adults are the quick way in. The Pachnoda flower beetles are active, fly readily and feed on soft fruit, so an adult tank wants a lid that fastens and ventilation they can't slip through, with a deep layer of substrate for the females to lay in.

Larvae are the other way in. What arrives is a fat white grub in a tub of dark, crumbly substrate, and it spends months underground before it pupates and the adult digs its way out. My guide to keeping beetle larvae covers the part you will actually be doing, getting a grub through to emergence.

How the larvae are listed

Rainbow Stag Beetle and Stripy Flower Beetle larvae are sold by instar. L1 is a freshly hatched grub, with the longest wait and the least margin for error; L3 is the final stage before pupation and the shortest route to an adult. The two Pachnoda listings sell their grubs as a single mixed L1 to L3 option when there are grubs to sell, alongside the adults.

Larvae come and go with the breeding season; a sold-out listing has a Notify me when available button. Set up the substrate before the grubs arrive, which is the right order anyway.

The substrate is the food

Fermented flake soil is not bedding with feeding on the side. A beetle larva eats what it lives in, so its substrate is its whole diet, and running out, or letting it go stale, is the commonest way a grub is lost. Air a new bag for a few days before it goes in, in case it is still fermenting, and keep it damp enough to hold its shape when squeezed without dripping. Dried kinshi is a food you add on top, not something to rear a grub in. My explainers on what flake soil is and what kinshi is go further.

Care guides

The African fruit beetle guide covers the Pachnoda from grub to adult, and its care carries straight across to the sun beetle. The rainbow stag beetle guide and the Sapphire flower beetle guide cover their species end to end.

Frequently asked questions

Can you buy adult beetles in the UK?
Yes. The Sun Beetle and the African Fruit Beetle are sold here as adults, and as grubs when there are grubs to sell. Both are posted Monday to Thursday to anywhere in Great Britain with the live arrival guarantee.

Is the African fruit beetle the same as the sun beetle?
No, though the names get mixed up. Both are African Pachnoda flower beetles and they are kept the same way, but the sun beetle is Pachnoda marginata, the one most shops sell and the one the livefood trade calls the fruit beetle, and the African fruit beetle I sell is Pachnoda fissipunctum, a separate species.

Do these beetles fly?
The adults do. Pachnoda fly readily, and adult rainbow stags fly too, so an adult tank needs a lid that fastens.

What do beetle larvae eat?
The substrate they live in. For the grubs here that means a bed built on fermented flake soil, with leaf litter and rotten wood worked through it for the Pachnoda, topped up before it runs out; the adult Pachnoda eat soft fruit.

Which beetle is easiest to start with?
The Pachnoda, as adults or as grubs, and they are the usual first beetle. Stag larvae ask for more patience: a long time underground, and a bigger container as they grow.

Packed and posted in the UK.