Eastern Hercules Beetle (female)

Description:

Huge size, greenish elytra with variable amounts of dark spots. Some are nearly black. Male has massive horns projecting forward from head and pronotum -- so this is clearly a female specimen. We found her, of all places, in the basement of my grandmother's farmhouse in Ellijay, GA. She was almost 2 inches long and almost that tall.

Habitat:

D. tityus lives in the eastern and southeastern United States, from New York state, Illinois and Indiana, south to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, with eastern Texas marking the western limit of its range

Notes:

Because we read that these are sometimes kept as pets and can live for up to two years, I let my daughter keep "Beatrice." We gave her plenty of soil to tunnel through, and fed her crushed chickasaw plums we collected under a wild tree and kept in the fridge and which she seemed very pleased to eat! She lived until the beginning of October. I later read that they only live about 3-6 months after they emerge as adults - seems about right.