Strange beetle appearing ! ?

[Jeremy l]

ok i feed both my chams superworms as a small part of their diet. now sometimes they dont eat all the worms and i find carcuses of the worm. i see black beetles in their cages occasionally and am courious if anyone else has had this happen. if so is it the supers that turn into the beetle ? i dont put the beetles in there so i dont know how thet magically appear.

jeremy

 

[Justin Carl]

The supers bury themselves into the soil of your potted plants.
About a month later they dig themselves out as adult super worm beetles.
You assumptions were correct.
Try cup feeding to eliminate the possibility of it happening again.

 

[kenya]

ok i feed both my chams superworms as a small part of their diet. now sometimes they dont eat all the worms and i find carcuses of the worm. i see black beetles in their cages occasionally and am courious if anyone else has had this happen. if so is it the supers that turn into the beetle ? i dont put the beetles in there so i dont know how thet magically appear.

jeremy

Yes those are superworm beetles. Try keeping them in a rubbermaid enclosure and providing rolled oats for bedding plus some food for the beetles like carrot, yam, wet gutload, bee pollen etc and you may get some baby superworms in a few months.

Also, how long are you leaving food in the cage? If it is long enough to let them metamorph, it is too long. You should take uneaten prey out after about 12 hours because they don't stay gutloaded.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

ok i feed both my chams superworms as a small part of their diet. now sometimes they dont eat all the worms and i find carcuses of the worm. i see black beetles in their cages occasionally and am courious if anyone else has had this happen. if so is it the supers that turn into the beetle ? i dont put the beetles in there so i dont know how thet magically appear.

jeremy

That would be the superworm beetle. Hey,for great fun, pick the beetle up with a hand, and or get it in a defensive mood. Then smell your hand.


I almost lost my lunch, first time I experienced this.

 

[Jeremy l]

i try to keep it rotated if none has been eaten by the next morning i remove and replace. but every now and then i see a beetle appear out of no where.
i saw my panther eat one and hes not dead so are they ok to eat ? ? ? if so can i use them as a treat ? ? ?

 

[SSimsswiSS]

i try to keep it rotated if none has been eaten by the next morning i remove and replace. but every now and then i see a beetle appear out of no where.
i saw my panther eat one and hes not dead so are they ok to eat ? ? ? if so can i use them as a treat ? ? ?

I would'nt recommend it, but if Panther is eating occasional stray I don't see harm in it, if the stink does'nt get to him.

 

[BocaJan]

Superworms are actually the larvae of darkening beetles. I am currently raising them to use as feeder "treats". Takes a long time, but it has been an interesting experience. My larvae or worms are currently about 1" long.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Superworms are actually the larvae of darkening beetles. I am currently raising them to use as feeder "treats". Takes a long time, but it has been an interesting experience. My larvae or worms are currently about 1" long.

Okay, without doing a search to get my facts straight, are'nt darkling beetles in the Mealworm life cycle? Not Superworms

 

[BocaJan]

Excuse me, it is the grub stage of the darkling beetle. They are also called mealworms. If you do some research you will find that the websites will use both terms. It is rather interesting how the light tan beetle will come out of the crysalis and after about 24 hours turns black. Maybe that is how it got it's name. Anyway, you won't be wrong using either name.

I actually googled and found a bunch of websites and checked out 8 of them to make absolutely sure I was telling you correctly. Go to the more info sites, not just the feeder sites.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Excuse me, it is the grub stage of the darkling beetle. They are also called mealworms. If you do some research you will find that the websites will use both terms. It is rather interesting how the light tan beetle will come out of the crysalis and after about 24 hours turns black. Maybe that is how it got it's name. Anyway, you won't be wrong using either name.

I actually googled and found a bunch of websites and checked out 8 of them to make absolutely sure I was telling you correctly. Go to the more info sites, not just the feeder sites.

Thanks for clearing that up! I always get so cofused in these treads about Mealworm, supermealworms, and Supers. Hard to tell who's talking about what, or calling something this, without showing pictures to ID.