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Grey curved things

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  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

    I though stag beetle larvae fed on wood, and eggs were laid in a rotting log or smilar?  And they're bigger than a 10p piece, and not grey!  Apart from that....

  • They do start off smaller Steve, and sometimes by the time they've eaten the rotting log they're in soil - but then they'd be bigger.

    I'm wondering whether they're rosechafer larvae - often found in compost heaps.


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,494

    I've found them in soil near rotting wood and they looked greyish to me. Didn't see any beetles this year. Hope they're still about.

    We once had a cat who would deliberately flip them onto their backs. We were forever flipping them upright again.

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,032

    That's a useful chart, Dove.

    I have stag beetles and larvae. The larvae, when I come across them (not often) are very big. I have smaller larvae in my compost heap, had wondered if they were vine weevils but now I think they are rosechafer. I shall look them up. I usually chuck them out for the birds to eat. Apparently chickens like them! I did Google it all some years ago, but there wasn't a foolproof answer. I think the legs, or lack of, have it!

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,032

    Have just looked up rose chafers. Rather confusing, the English sites describe them totally differently to the American sites. But they are agreed that they are toxic to birds and shouldn't be given to chickens. English beetles are metallic green, I definitely have them. I also have rose leaves eaten down to skeletons. American ones seem to be reddish brown and slim.

    http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/rose-chafers-on-garden-roses.htm 

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • The American rose chafer appears to be Macrodactylus subspinosus  whereas the one found in the UK is Centonia aurata http://www.uksafari.com/rosechafers.htm

    They appear to be quite different - I think it's the ones in the USA that are bad for poultry.


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Rose chafers used to make doilies of the leaves on my cherry tree. I got rid of them by putting bird feeders nearby. The birds must have eaten them and I still have birds so....image

  • Busy-Lizzie wrote (see)

    Have just looked up rose chafers. Rather confusing, the English sites describe them totally differently to the American sites. But they are agreed that they are toxic to birds and shouldn't be given to chickens. English beetles are metallic green, I definitely have them. I also have rose leaves eaten down to skeletons. American ones seem to be reddish brown and slim....

     

    That'll be the suntan and the Californian Diet imageimage


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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