Gigantic grubs
November 19, 2010
Found these in our compost heap (and no you are right – I do not turn it over nearly often enough…). I’ve never seen or heard about giant grubs like these – they are placed on a standard sized garden trowel to give you a sense of the scale. I was honestly a little too grossed out to try to straighten one out to measure it though I know right where to find more if you need me to.
I didn’t destroy them all outright (my 1st impulse) just in case they are beneficial or morph into something gorgeous. Can you identify them for me? Location: Rollingwood, Texas 11/19/10…Thanks as always! Deb Wilson
Hi Deb,
We love your photo. You have a good cellular camera. We increased the resolution to make your tiny file larger, and it held up nicely. We hope that by making a reference to a recipe, we could get David Gracer to salivate and entice him into sending in an edibility comment. Though we are certain they are Scarab Beetles, we are unsure if they are June Beetles or Rhinoceros Beetles.
Thank you! I do have fun with my camera out in the garden.
I am fairly certain (due to the size) these are rhinoceros or ox beetle grubs. I’m basing that (though I admit I am lousy at bug ID) on the fact that I unearth June Bug/Beetle grubs out in the soil consistently in these parts. They are much smaller – about the circumference of a pencil and rarely more than 1/2 inch though in their curled in the ground state, length is a guess.
These grubs were in our compost heap, and were up to 3 1/2 inches long, with a diameter ranging from 3/4 to a full inch or more on the larger tail end side. Since I was thinking they were ox beetles (and therefore not out there garnering strength and numbers to launch a beetle apocalypse on my garden beds) I simply put them back into the compost heap after I took the photos.
If these grubs are edible (and I say that knowing how a person defines “edible” varies), then a few of them could make a fairly decent meal, depending of course on if you have to remove any parts, if they shrink during preparation, etc. And now I have to go look at photos of puppies and rainbows because I just totally grossed myself out.
Have a great weekend! /Deb Wilson




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