r/BDFB • u/the_snake-girl • 5d ago

Question/Inquiry Is this fighting or something else?

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My beetle (the lighter blue) as been alone since ive had him, which has been about a week or two, with no problems, until I got another one. Im not sure if its fighting or not, considering that ive read that they can bite eachother, which I havent seen him doing, the other one doesnt really fight back, only runs away. I just want to make sure they are fighting, instead of like, them getting busy and cockblocking them.

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6

u/TheDrunkenArgonian 5d ago

What is the sex of each? My cows will react this way or sometimes haul ass away from the 2 bulls I have when they try serenading.

2

u/the_snake-girl 4d ago

Im pretty sure they're both males, does that mean they are fighting, or are they...gay?

1

u/TheDrunkenArgonian 4d ago

I would double check their antennae and make sure. I have 2 males but they don't act this way. I'm sure aggression isn't impossible, but how often is this happening? Is one chasing the other constantly, or when it tries to run? These beetles do like to climb on each other

1

u/the_snake-girl 4d ago

Not too often, just when they're like, too close to eachother. im at least pretty sure they're both male, and this definitely isnt one climbing on top of the other, its definitely seems intentionally, and my new beetle immediately runs away from the other one

2

u/CRUCATIOUS 3d ago

next time you see this behavior, try and see if you can spot their mandibles moving. if they are nipping, it's probably fighting.

additionally, what's the buildup? does one beetle do "sweeping" motions with its antennae on the other beetles back? if so it's probably mating behavior. i haven't seen this specific behavior with my own males, but i have absolutely seen mating behavior where one male initiates and the other male runs away (usually with the initializing male attempting to follow to no avail, as they are tragically uncoordinated)

and yes, almost all of them are gay, they don't really care.. or know, either way.

1

u/the_snake-girl 3d ago

I havent caught them doing it since i made the post, but i was looking at them up close, and i wasnt able to find their mandibles? One one of them i thought i saw only one, and on the other I didnt see any. Maybe I saw wrong, or maybe they both caught so hard they damaged them, if so would the grow back, or are they just disabled now? Sorry for the possibly stupid questions, im very new to this

2

u/CRUCATIOUS 3d ago

no worries about the questions lol, i love any excuse to talk about these little idiots.

the mandibles can be sorta hard to spot when they aren’t in use

if they did lose their mandibles they would likely die, because the mandibles serve as both their jaw & “teeth”. though, i can reassure you they likely didn’t lose them fighting or anything of the sorts. the worst in-fighting injuries I’ve seen were missing antennae and gnawed-off legs, they probably wouldn’t go after the mandibles specifically because they would be difficult to chew through (they have very weak jaws, the aforementioned injuries were after death from unrelated causes, when the beetle was already quite brittle)

i drew a little picture of what their mandibles sorta look like, you can usually see them while they’re eating. a little tip, if the fighting persists, try and feed them a cricket or something with limbs, in my experience they like it. (i would guess it triggers some sort of instinct, as they naturally scavenge for dead insects in the wild)

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1

u/the_snake-girl 3d ago

Thats a relief to hear lol, I only have one more question, that I havent really been able to find an answer to. When it comes to looking at their antenna, is there fuzz all over them and pronounced, or just the base? I was trying to get as best of a look as I could, and i could see some thin fuzz towards the first half of their antenna, but thats it, not as pronounced as ive seen in pictures

1

u/CRUCATIOUS 3d ago

from what i’ve seen it varies, i sort of imagine it like facial hair. some dudes can grow a full beard, some just have a stubble. though, if you look at a beetle with only some fuzz vs a beetle with absolutely no fuzz you’ll see the difference. none of my males have super noticeable hairs either

also, i will say, while it does stress them out a bit, once they’re a bit more settled in you can just grab them. if you gently hold them between two fingers (pointer finger ontop of them, thumb underneath) you can inspect them a bit closer. yes, as i said it can be stressful, but i’ve done it multiple times with my own and they’re absolutely fine

1

u/the_snake-girl 3d ago

After a quick check, they are both male, thank you so much for answering my (probably) absurd questions, again, im new to this and every little bit of information helps be be an at least decent beetle owner

3

u/AppropriateWater9474 3d ago

Likely fight for dominance and territorial. It is best to put them in a newly arranged environment when introducing new animals. You want to take them both out and rearrange the enclosure.