Are these dermistid beetles?

[Lain]

Hello all!

I recently picked up a colony of dermistid beetles, or so I was told. They have started to breed and the larvae look like that of mealworms. I thought the dermistid larvae were fuzzy.

 

[JoP]

Those definitely look like darkling beetles, not dermestid beetles. You're correct that dermestid larvae are fuzzy, so if you paid for that colony, you may want to contact the seller and let them know that you've got darklings instead.

As an aside, I've actually found numerous dermestid beetle larvae in with crickets purchased at big box pet stores (like Petsmart, etc.). They tend to keep some in with their live crickets to help consume the crickets that die, and it's not unusual to find a few in with your crickets if you buy a bag. So you might want to check your local Petsmart/Petco, and if they do have them in with their crickets, you might be able to request that they bag a bunch of those up for you instead and start a colony that way.

 

[Lain]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I thought they looked like mini darklings of some sort. I've seen those fuzzy larvae with my crickets from time to time, great idea to ask the petshop for some! It was one of those spontaneous transaction at a show, if I see the seller again I'll be sure to let him know, maybe I misunderstood what he was giving me...

Now I need to figure out what to do with them....

 

[tewebag]

I actually got my beetles from an order of dubia roaches. Worked out for me to get both my feeder colony and feeder clean up crew colony started at the same time.

The larva of them are indeed fuzzy and I agree that yours are not what you ordered.

 

[JoP]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I thought they looked like mini darklings of some sort. I've seen those fuzzy larvae with my crickets from time to time, great idea to ask the petshop for some! It was one of those spontaneous transaction at a show, if I see the seller again I'll be sure to let him know, maybe I misunderstood what he was giving me...

Now I need to figure out what to do with them....

If it were me, I'd just keep these as a separate breeding colony and use the larvae (mealworms) as feeders. My Ts, scorps, pedes, and even beetles all love to eat them, and you can even cut them up for feeding tiny slings. Plus they're a relatively "safe" feeder if you crush the head before tossing them in the enclosure; they'll still wriggle to get a feeding response, but won't risk burrowing or chomping on your T if it molts.