Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Battling beetles has been a national obsession in China for centuries, with the most popular beetles being used the Stag Beetle, Rhinoceros Beetle, Kabutomushi, Cricket, and Goliath Beetle, due to their sheer size and jumping ability, which make them formidable opponents.

In China, owners take them to the designated fighting arena and the insects fight each other, in front of a dedicated and enthusiastic audience. The beetles are unharmed during a fight. Generally the aim is for one to throw the other off an object, or push them out of a ring, drawn in sand. The best and the brightest beetle grand champions are hugely prized possessions, of course.

Is this something which could take off in the UK...or is it, indeed, already going on somewhere? Any information, thoughts, or word from Beetle owners who would like to take part in exploring this would be much appreciated...

Right, just so you know, the "kabutomushi" is a rhino beetle too. Crickets aren't exactly beetles... turns out beetle fights are more common in southeast asia and Japan, China uses crickets.

More importantly, yes it could. If you can keep them, I suggest keeping/breeding them, I know how to generally care for stags, so if you are interested...
See, the thing is that when stags/rhinos fight, they are doing it for a female, and generally don't hurt each other, and an occasional fight is accepted. Too much will stress them out though. A different type of invertebrate would have different rules, like the european mantis. I'm pretty sure these happen once in a while, but you guys are seemingly less interested than Asia. If you are interested, you could always research, and catch a common beetle, and see what it can do. Hope this helps, I'm new on forums.