Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So here's my problem. Right now I keep my beetles in a small critter keeper. Having only 8 or so beetles it's no problem yet. However, I have about 60 pupa and tons of worms that might pupate.

I've noticed that the beetle do infact have wings. Are they capable of flight? If so could i just injure a wing so it can't fly?

Also, is it safe to placethe beetles with my worm population? I need a better container for my bettles so I can dig through my worm bedding to find good worms for my leo and to find pupa. Unless it is ok to bury the beetles as i dig. If it is then it would be no problem.

Umm... I hope everyone can make some sense of my ramblings, I'll be a mechanical engineer in a few months not an english major

Thanks for any help.

Joe Conklin
jsc230@psu.edu

PS for pictures of my girl go to http://www.personal.psu.edu/jsc230 she is fatter now those were taken about 2 weeks after I got her.

Ummmm i'm assuming darkling beetles are the adult forms of mealwroms??? if thats the case i've never had any of mine fly away although i keep them in containers with lids while my worms are in one of those deep plastic drawer units. I've tried to maintain them at differing stages (baby worms, pupate, beetles and feeder worms, but sometimes i find beetles in one of the bins and seeing as i have so many i usually leave a few every now and then in with the worms. If the bins are large enough i dont see a problem with keeping an entire colony in one but others might give better advice.

Red

>>So here's my problem. Right now I keep my beetles in a small critter keeper. Having only 8 or so beetles it's no problem yet. However, I have about 60 pupa and tons of worms that might pupate.
>>
>>I've noticed that the beetle do infact have wings. Are they capable of flight? If so could i just injure a wing so it can't fly?
>>
>>Also, is it safe to placethe beetles with my worm population? I need a better container for my bettles so I can dig through my worm bedding to find good worms for my leo and to find pupa. Unless it is ok to bury the beetles as i dig. If it is then it would be no problem.
>>
>>Umm... I hope everyone can make some sense of my ramblings, I'll be a mechanical engineer in a few months not an english major
>>
>>Thanks for any help.
>>
>>Joe Conklin
>>jsc230@psu.edu
>>
>>PS for pictures of my girl go to http://www.personal.psu.edu/jsc230 she is fatter now those were taken about 2 weeks after I got her.
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

I keep my worm and beetle in the same pot. I use several inch of wheat bran as a substrate, and they feed on that to. I know that the best way to keep a colony is to separate them but i dont want to spend more time with the mealies than with my lizard They do actually reproduce well, but i will have a better ratio if i separate them. I use about 5 mealies a day, and i buy about 5 to 6 dozen a year. Make a rapid calculation, 1800 mealies a year for only lets say 72 mealies bought...not bad

Mizar 21
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1.0 Collared lizard (Ganymede)
1.0 Florida banded water snake (Serpentard)
1.2 Cats
1.0 leopard gecko (Gethsemani)
Bunch of tropical fish

Right now the top and bottom drawers are just filled with baby mealworms. I use a mix of stuff for their bedding/food (wheat germ, wheat bran etc.) With 11 leopard geckos i go through around a thousand a week. Feeding time is rather fun. I have a tray, place everyones food cup in it (one cup per tank or gecko) then i start the process of sifting through the mealworms. They have mealworms available most of the time, but i've found my older geckos (Boo and the girls in the 40 gal) tend to eat better every second day. I order mealworms every two months or so even with my colony going good. Usually i'll include some butterworms and waxworms once a month.

Red

>>I keep my worm and beetle in the same pot. I use several inch of wheat bran as a substrate, and they feed on that to. I know that the best way to keep a colony is to separate them but i dont want to spend more time with the mealies than with my lizard They do actually reproduce well, but i will have a better ratio if i separate them. I use about 5 mealies a day, and i buy about 5 to 6 dozen a year. Make a rapid calculation, 1800 mealies a year for only lets say 72 mealies bought...not bad
>>
>>Mizar 21
>>-----
>>1.0 Collared lizard (Ganymede)
>>1.0 Florida banded water snake (Serpentard)
>>1.2 Cats
>>1.0 leopard gecko (Gethsemani)
>>Bunch of tropical fish
-----
Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)