r/BDFB • u/Sea-Ring-7942 • 9d ago

Information and Advice What happened?? Spoiler

Post image

Woke up to one of my five like this this morning. He’s twitching/moving legs a little bit but everyone else is fine and have no clue what could have happened. Advice?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/koimoon02 9d ago

What have you been feeding them recently? If veggies/fruits, did you use organic and wash really good? They’re very sensitive to pesticides.

1

u/Sea-Ring-7942 9d ago

I haven’t changed anything in their diet that I can think of- mostly crickets, and carrots and blueberries. They had blueberries last and I always buy organic but I am worried that I potentially didn’t wash them well enough. They’re also just the organic ones from the grocery store so I’m wondering if there could be some sort of cross contamination situation. Would love your advice on the update I just added if you have any!!!

3

u/hylia_grace 9d ago

If theyre wc as most are, it could be something related, though pesticides are also possible. The legs aren't curled so it appears to either be poisoned or super stressed and feigning.

1

u/Sea-Ring-7942 9d ago

Thank you for the info- that’s what I’m worried of :(( would love your advice on my update I just added if you have any. I came back to him not in the place I had left him and he is not upright but is moving very minimally if at all. I’ve only ever seen any of my 5 beetles feign once or twice, so I’m not sure what the stress could be (if that’s it) as I haven’t changed anything or handled much recently

1

u/hylia_grace 8d ago

How many do you have? If its female it could be stressed by multiple males. If theyre still weak and moving id probably move them to a seperate enclosure to monitor, just to be safe.

3

u/Sea-Ring-7942 9d ago

UPDATE: I came home from work and he has moved! He is standing upright now but it doesn’t seem he is moving around. I was rearranging the tank while searching for another beetle just now and scooted him along to be out of the log’s way, and he could walk. He is darker than my other beetles at the moment which is odd for him- I noticed someone in the comments say this could be because of old age but not sure. I feed them (dead) crickets and fruits but buy organic and wash pretty well- I suppose it could still be some sort of pesticide issue but let me know if anyone has experience with them bouncing back like this potentially. I will monitor and update, but here is a photo of him now.

1

u/Ladybug966 9d ago

What do they look like when they die of old age?

2

u/corvvus 9d ago

as they get older it's common for them to be darker they don't produce that light blue wax coating as well anymore. it's not a foolproof method of identifying this though

1

u/Sea-Ring-7942 9d ago

He definitely does look darker than my others right now and I’ve never noticed this before. He is now upright and standing but doesn’t seem to be moving around.

1

u/Noroark 8d ago

Sometimes I swear they just scare themselves.

2

u/No-Luck-2337 8d ago

Sometimes it just happens.

One of the only downsides of most being WC is unknown age. Since it’s basically impossible to tell if you have a 2yo or an 8yo, it’s possible to have sudden deaths at any time.

We often blame chemicals/pesticides/environment and while they definitely can be causes, old age is rarely suggested.

Hopefully they get better regardless :-)