Stag Beetle behaviour

[RacingSnake]

Ok, don't know how to phrase this really....
I found a Male stag beetle yesterday - or rather, my neighbour called me over to relocate it from his garage.
So I did, I put him outside our house under our hedge next to our hedgehog house.
within the hour he'd moved off and I thought great.

Now today I was cleaning out another hedgehog house, about 10ft from the first one, and as I opened it up I found the poor beetle upside down floating in the water
I scooped him up, prodded his legs, and he was dead, stiff as a board.

So I did what anyone would do... I picked him up and took some photo's lol (the photo above was when it was found in the garage).

I couldn't bring myself to dispose of this magnificent bug, so I popped him on our patio table to show my wife

Now I've just gone out now, (about 6 hours? since I found him floating), and it's gone
naturally I thought a bird had picked him up as a snack... but then I looked and he'd fallen off the table into one of our flower pots, and is very much alive - and very active.
He rears up if I go near him so he's clearly fully functional again and waggling those pincers at me.

So, WTF?!! how did he appear dead for so long and is now alive?!!

 

[Boredwalk]

Guessing he found himself in a situation he couldn't get out of so was conserving energy in the event that things improved. Maybe then perceiving being picked out of the water as part of the same threat so it stayed motionless until the danger had gone.
Those pincers can nip hard enough to make you jump, as I found when moving one from a footpath.

 

[lukey1965]

You sure it was water in the hedgehog house and not beer !!