Stag Beetle

Stag beetle (Lucanus servus) – geograph.org.uk – 1340474 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Stag beetles don’t mess around when it comes to finding food or mates, making them a somewhat hard-to-handle insect in some parts of the country. Competitors at heart, male stage beetles have large mandibles used to joust and rival other male beetles, and will go great lengths to find food sources. Attracted to rotting wood, stag beetles are often found in the interiors of tree stumps and in decaying building material. Fortunately, stage beetles are easily controlled.

Stag Beetle Characteristics

Stag beetles inhabit wood, and will make rotting tree stumps their mansions. They feed off damp, decaying wood, and may invade in large numbers if conditions are just right. In fact, stag beetles have been known to infest homes, usually older ones, and feed off the wood in the walls, doors, and window sills. Stag beetles are especially common in the southern part of the United States, but are also present in many northern states during the warm spring months. If handled, stag beetles may bite.

Stag beetles are often mistaken for ferocious insects, yet they are not generally aggressive toward humans. In their larval stage, the beetles are most damaging to wood and fruit. Larvae spend a few years feeding on decaying wood before reaching maturity. When competing for females, adult male stag beetles wrestle each other during mating season, so preventing such fights may temporarily halt the mating procedure. This is just one control method you may use if you are seeking ways to drive these bugs away from your property.

 How to Control Stage Beetles

Stag beetles will frequently wander off on their own without interference. However, if you are seeing an abnormally large infestation of stag beetles on your property, there are a few things you can do. First, carefully remove all decaying wood from your property, including old tree stumps, branches, rotting trees, wood planks, wooden barrels, and anything that is made from wood but hasn’t been used in years.

Also, if  you experience buildup of moisture around your property, make sure you do everything you can to install a draining system. This will help create drier conditions, which will in turn discourage stag beetles from hanging around. Most homeowners find that pesticides and insecticides are unnecessary in the fight against stag beetles.