Desert beetles

[animalgirl555]

I have not posted here for a long time!
I will be getting some blue death feigning beetles and edrotes beetles soon.
I have a few questions regarding their care.
First, I am confused about diet. I am aware that they do not need a water dish, as they get their water from their food (/fruits) and misting. Do I ONLY need to feed fruit? How often? I've heard people say you can feed them cereal, dead crickets, and many other things.
I think I am most confused about exactly what I would need to feed them, and how often I would feed them.
Any other advice is welcome!
Thanks!

 

[Dry Desert]

I have not posted here for a long time!
I will be getting some blue death feigning beetles and edrotes beetles soon.
I have a few questions regarding their care.
First, I am confused about diet. I am aware that they do not need a water dish, as they get their water from their food (/fruits) and misting. Do I ONLY need to feed fruit? How often? I've heard people say you can feed them cereal, dead crickets, and many other things.
I think I am most confused about exactly what I would need to feed them, and how often I would feed them.
Any other advice is welcome!
Thanks!

Blue death feining beetles became popular after scorpion keepers, mainly Arizona Desert Hairies, kept them to clean out the crap left in burrows by the scorpion.
This was leftover feeder parts, mainly crickets, and scorpion poo.

So feeding a piece of fruit I should imagine would be quite a treat for them.

 

[PurpleDemiseFakingAnt]

I feed my BDFBs mainly on fish food (protein is very important for them) and fruit scraps. As for water, in the side of my enclosure with the deeper substate I have a little dish with a damp cotton ball on it that they like to suck from. Hope this helps!

 

[sunbeetle]

I feed my BDFBs a mix of fruits (never citrus though) and dried mealworms. I've tried them on a few vegetables but they didn't take to them as well as the fruit because of the lower sugar levels. I try to feed them fruit with a high water content as like you say, that's where they get water from, but periodically I will spray a tiny bit of water down the side of the tank walls for them. I feed them when they have run out of fruit (rare) and when the fruit goes a bit off- helpful to keep the fruit on an upturned, small lid to make removal easier and so the substrate doesn't get contaminated with the rotting fruit.

Other tips- give them plenty of places to hide, cork bark works well. I have a few desert plants in the tank which they seem to enjoy climbing on as well.

Hope that helps!

 

[grndjmpr03]

I have black dfbs (different species but really similar care/environment) and they seem to like grapes a lot.