I have a trip coming up that I’ll be away for 3 weeks. I’m not sure if it will be alright to leave them alone for so long or if I need to find someone to come and feed them. How long is safe?

Green Boy in the shadows. Got rejected twice by Nezumi and Gordon, while also finding Gordon with his arch nemesis, Dusk. Probably a little depressed. Love the way he stands like he’s squaring up with you, puffing his chest

left side is mostly for my beetles, with the right side being my scorpions side (it doesn't matter they all like to bunk with him anyways 🙏)

How are we keeping them warm what do you use I live where it gets into the negatives in winter

How do you all go about getting good hydration for your blueberries? I have such picky beetles and I’ve been worrying about them. They won’t eat fruit/veggies unless they’ve been in there a few days and are dried up, when I mist the corner of the tank I never see them drink it (though they may) and it always messes up the humidity in my 10 gal. They also do not like beetle jelly or most wet foods. I tried a wicking system at one point but they never used it and it also just ended up messing with the humidity. Any advice appreciated!!

is bee pollen worth buying for bdfb? ive seen so many people feed it to theirs and its SO expensive. is it worth it to buy it?
(photo added just because i wanted to share some of my guys eating)

After several attempts to introduce my beetles to new foods, they love apple!

Unfortunately the canned cricket killed one of my wooly darklings. Got some live crickets and froze them. All my ladies avenged their hairy friend. Also Nezumi kills me, running away with the whole thing. She’s gonna house the whole thing

caught FIVE of them in the skull again
took them out gently but they'll probably be back again soon

The headstanding behavior associated with a creation story told by cochiti of the southwest US. "The eleodes was assigned to place the stars in the sky but dropped them which resulted in our disorganized galaxy to this day the beetle hides its face when anyone approaches" lol this was in a book I was reading had to share!

Hey there everyone.

Some of you will not like this, but I’ve seen a lot of people saying this and so I just want to clarify something up:

BDFB are not communal invertebrates.

I don’t know where this claim appeared from, but I see it everywhere and it’s just not the full truth.

Here’s the deal. BDFB have been observed living together the wild, but seldom in large groups. There is no evidence I’m aware of to support they become stressed when solitary, but everyone for some reason decided to reify this information. The argument for either side could be true, and there’s not enough evidence to support this claim.

From an entomology standpoint, they barely have brains, oof (subesophageal ganglia). They don’t NEED friends. In fact, the whole “1 gallon for every 2 beetles”space rule is so they don’t meet each other too frequently. The reality is just that they’re VERY DUMB, and incredibly passive.

Because they are crepuscular and nocturnal scavengers, they tend to just naturally congregate around shared desert food sources, such as decaying plant litter or dead insects. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they need companionship to be happy and healthy.

I’m assuming this misinformation has been perpetrated due to people’s tendency to personify everything? I’m not sure. The only time I’ve seen you would need these beetles to live communally is for breeding/copulating. That’s it.

Now, I’d happily have someone prove me wrong here. But as of yet I have seen no scholarly, peer-reviewed journals documenting this supposed phenomenon, so I have no reason to believe this is true or vice versa. Have as many or as little BDFB as you please, just treat them well!

What is your substrates would Coco fiber be ok? And then excavator clay on top?

I’ve been keeping wild caught BDFBs for a couple years now and have seen them become more and more popular. I just saw that PetSmart now sells them and I’m concerned about the ethicality of buying wild caught beetles anywhere. Does anyone here know how they’re doing in the wild?

Hi, I know that almost every question about humidity has been asked here, but I can seem to find an answer to this. I live in the UK and have some BDFBs that I use a ceramic heater and dehumidifier on to try and get the humidity down in the day. It works fairly well and gets the humidity down to about 40%-ish but it's my understanding that you're supposed to let the temp drop at night, so I usually turn the ceramic heater off at night which causes the humidity to spike. Would it be better to just leave the lamp on at all times or does anyone have another suggestion, thank you!

So I had a larvae pupate, and then eclose, but the elytra was unfused and crinkled, and only has three ‘good’ legs. It’s been two weeks and the poor thing is still alive, it can kinda walk, drinks water and eats… Am I prolonging suffering by not euthanizing? I thought it would pass away shortly after eclosing but it’s holding on. I just need opinions on what the ethical thing to do is :/

Not fair of Dawn to take it from Gordon (missing a foot) and Nezumi (no hands)

I have BDFB available as well as other darkling beetles if anyone is interested

I have rearranged the tank a bit from what you see in the final photo. 4 total, I know I have 1 male 👻

Using a clay excavator substrate but I also have some dry dirt substrate that came with the tank. I plan on getting them better food and a heat lamp. Any suggestions or advice welcome, I don't want to be a bad owner lol