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Atlas / Library / Lucanidae / European stag beetle
AdvancedCrepuscular · waiting for duskIUCN NT
Lucanidae

European stag beetle

Lucanus cervus

Part of this is not on the page we cite. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and some of the degrees above are not stated there. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. en.wikipedia.org

Photograph: Diego González Dopico · CC BY

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. European stag beetle is crepuscular, so what it is doing changes with the light.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/lucanus-cervus

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature16–24 °C
Humidity60–80 %
Diet1–2 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
16–24°Ambient

One ambient band, 16–24°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet states16-24C (temperate; needs cool)

Humidity

60–80%Target RH

The sheet states60-80%

Enclosure
Larvae: white-rotten hardwood + flake soil, multi-year rearing; adults in ventilated tub

Identity

Adult size

1.75 m3.5–8.5 cm
1520100400 cm
3.5–8.5 cmNose to tail, adult

The size the sheet states for a grown animal.

Why

Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.

Order / Family
Coleoptera
IUCN / CITES
IUCN Near Threatened (Europe); legally protected in parts of EU
Difficulty
Advanced
Commonality
Iconic but rarely traded (protected); listed for reference
Adult size
Body 35-85mm; males with antler-like jaws
Lifespan
Larva ~3-6 yrs (very long); adult only ~1-3 mo
Growth rate
Very slow
Activity & niche
Crepuscular; adults on sap; larvae in decaying underground hardwood
Temperament
Males wrestle; docile to keeper
Venom / defense
Harmless - no venom; male jaws weak, female bite stronger

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
16-24C (temperate; needs cool)
Humidity
60-80%
Min. enclosure
Larvae: white-rotten hardwood + flake soil, multi-year rearing; adults in ventilated tub
Substrate
Larvae: decayed hardwood / flake soil; adults: coco/soil + bark
Hides / decor / water
Rotten logs, bark; mist

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 1–2 dAs an adult
28Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window. The sheet gives several ages on one line; this is the adult figure.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesAdults: sap/jelly, fruit; larvae eat rotten hardwood · Adults: jelly/fruit every 1-2 days; larvae: substrate lasts months

Staple food
Adults: sap/jelly, fruit; larvae eat rotten hardwood
Feeding frequency
Adults: jelly/fruit every 1-2 days; larvae: substrate lasts months

Behaviour and handling

HandlingGentle; support body
CommunalHouse individually
Defense / stress signsJaw display, freezing

Reproduction

Life course

Day 0Hatch
3–6 yrLifespan in care
3 yrMinimum commitment
Sexual maturityNot in our data

Read from the lifespan and maturity the sheet states, for animals in care and not in the wild.

Why

The minimum commitment is the low end of that lifespan, and the reproductive window is what is left after maturity: both are subtractions on stated figures, not figures of their own.

Reproduction
Eggs near rotten wood -> L1-L3 over years -> pupa -> short-lived adult

Common health problems

Common health issues
SignsVery long cycle losses; desiccation; failed eclosion
Red flags / quarantine
SignsLEGAL: protected in EU - do not collect wild; never release; check legality

Good to know

  • Larvae can spend up to six years underground before a single summer as an adult

What it needs

A thermometerbecause temp16-24C (temperate; needs cool)
A hygrometerbecause humidity60-80%
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Larvae: white-rotten hardwood + flake soil, multi-year rearing; adults in ventil »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

Others in this group

What this sheet states

85%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 6 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: enclosure size audit. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.