Large black beatles?

[CraftingDreams]

Large black beetles?

Can anyone tell me what these are?

guess it would have helped if I put the picture in there.

So Waldo came to us last night, and as we bought his big habitat in, and then his tree.. we noticed there were a few crickets still in there. Ok, no problem. I had to re assemble the lower part of his habitat (the tray trap), and almost lost (what I thought was) a cricket, so I flicked it back in and it made a loud thunk when it hit the wood. The tree wasn't in yet. We got that in, and at the time, left the wood on the bottom because I couldn't see and didn't want to wake everyone up.. (it was like 10:30)... Waldo was placed up into his tree for the night, and my daughter and I washed up and went to bed.

This morning, I go in there to wake everyone up, and I lift the wood and fix it so its part on the floor of the cage and part on the tree in his habitat, and HOLY cow, there are these big black beetles in there. I don't think what I flicked was a cricket, and I have NO clue what these things are..

can anyone tell me if they are a stage of worm or something?

Thank you

 

[Blink]

It looks like either a superworms or mealworm beatle.

 

[Vanjan]

If it is big then probably it started his life in a form of a superworm. A breeder told me that chams will not eat it because they taste bitter.

 

[CraftingDreams]

ya, these things are a good inch at least.. will these things breed if in the right condition? not sure I really want to go that route since starting my dubia colony. .my husband might have a melt down.. but I would hate for them to go to waste..

 

[ChameLIonLover]

ya, these things are a good inch at least.. will these things breed if in the right condition? not sure I really want to go that route since starting my dubia colony. .my husband might have a melt down.. but I would hate for them to go to waste..

I've read that it's pretty easy to breed superworms assuming you have the beetles. I believe I read that you just keep them in a dark place, probably a warmer place and that's it. I'm sure you could search it as well.

 

[Wowbango]

Yep, definitely a super beetle. Probably a super worm that you lost track of in the enclosure that turned into the beetle. Ive done some research and it appears they are simple to breed, but a little time consuming. My chameleon doesn't have a problem eating them, he seems to like them.

 

[CraftingDreams]

Ok, makes a lot of sense.. seems the guy just threw stuff in the cage.. there was no substrate in the bottom.. just a big potted tree, so Im guessing that they were in the bucket of the tree with the rocks. If they have been in there that long, I don't think he will eat them, so Ill take them out and do a bit of research tonight and see what I can find out. Oh yay..lol..

Thank you guys.. appreciate it.

 

[chamfriend1]

mealworms are real simple to breed and raise.. did it for years.. however the superworms for some reason need something more.. I tried to breed and raise them on several occasions.. got plenty of beetles.. usually had no less than 10-15 in to make sure plenty of both sexes.. but never got any worms out of it.. if you can find the missing link please let me know..

 

[Wowbango]

mealworms are real simple to breed and raise.. did it for years.. however the superworms for some reason need something more.. I tried to breed and raise them on several occasions.. got plenty of beetles.. usually had no less than 10-15 in to make sure plenty of both sexes.. but never got any worms out of it.. if you can find the missing link please let me know..

How long did you wait? All my research seemed to indicate that after breeding them you would need to wait 6-8 weeks for baby worms. That's quite a long time for worms...

 

[chamfriend1]

to be honest.. I don't remember how long it was but it was long enough that for mealworms I would have had hundreds of babies by then... I'm guessing 3-4 months.. maybe I didn't wait long enough...??

 

[PatsyB]

Looks like a super worm beetle. It is a long process to breed them. The beetles mate and lay their eggs and you can't even see them. The only way you know if it is successful is you can eventually see the substrate moving a little bit. The newly hatched worms are smaller than a grain of rice. It takes MONTHS for them to get large. I have about 12 beetles in a plastic shoe box with a little bit of substrate and some egg crates and I give them greens to keep them hydrated. Every couple of weeks I move them to a clean container and move the old substrate and the dried greens to a bigger container and hope that there are eggs and they hatch.

The other day I went to water Bumble's hibiscus that has been outside for a few months and a super worm beetle popped out!