Explore everyday life in Japan

Horned Beetles

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When you think of animals that make good first pets for kids, what comes to mind?

Cats? Dogs? Fish? Maybe even gerbils, guinea pigs, or hamsters?

While all of these animals are quite popular in Japan and do make good first pets, one animal that many children here can claim as being at least one of their first pets is a horned beetle of some kind--usually either a rhinoceros beetle or a stag beetle.

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These beetles can be found in the wild here in Japan, but it is more common for them to either be bought at a pet store (including those that are online), or for them to be given to you by someone who has been raising them through their various developmental stages over the winter: from egg to larva to pupa and finally to beetle.

The latter was the case with my family. We went to a barbecue one weekend and, thanks to another family that was in attendance, every kid at the barbecue ended up going home with his/her own beetle. While I can't say that I ever thought I'd be the owner of two fairly large horned beetles, I have to say that it has not only been fun watching my children learn how to hold and raise these things, but it has been fun learning how to hold and raise them myself.

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They really are great first pets for a number of reasons:

They are fairly easy to hold. They tend not to run away all that quickly (though you do have to be careful not to let them fly off). They don't require daily feeding or watering. Their tanks can hold for a week or more without being cleaned, and they have a naturally short life cycle which is easy to explain to children and have them accept.

If you're looking for a slightly different kind of pet that your kids will be excited about having and which will give them practice for owning larger pets with longer life spans, why not try a horned beetle?

Image Credits: All images in this post are original.

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This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.

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If you missed my last post, you can find it here Suika Wari.