Tenebio molitor question

nocturnalpulsem

Arachnolord
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I keep reading that T. molitor eats only plant matter and decaying insects. Has anyone had first hand experience with darkling beetles attacking something that's alive?

I was thinking of keeping them (the beetles) in my scorp (and maybe T) tank as a "clean up crew" to hopefully prevent mites and other nasties. Also, it would make me even lazier LoL

That and my scorps will eat the beetles, which my Ts will not. So I guess they can serve more than one purpose...

N.
 
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Nikos

Arachnoprince
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mealworms are known to eat almost everything including molting T and scorps.
On the other hand they will not clean the enclosure but they'll do the exact oposit...
Their molting skins will be the ideal colony setup for mites.
 

scorpio

Arachnodemon
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Yeah, mealworms are not the cleanest creatures. A few months back, I made an attempt at selling mealworms by buying a lot of 25,000 but I didnt sell one. They just left thousands of skins everywhere.

But it is true that they eat everything. They can live on cardboard if you want them to.
 

nocturnalpulsem

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I wasn't referring to the worms, but the beetles. And as opposed to superworms, I've rarely, if ever, seen regular mealworms eat each other...and I don't bother feeding them at all :rolleyes:

Also, everything I read says that cannibalism among superworms is due to dehydration, which would be tough (if not impossible) in my emps' tank. Plus, there's bit of terratium moss in there that the beetles seem to like eating.

N.

I should have been clearer. I re read my original post, and I failed to mention that I was referring to the beetles...d'oh.
 
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Nikos

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again if you have beetles living together sooner or later there will be small mealworms walking, "molting" and messing your terrarium.
 

nocturnalpulsem

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Originally posted by vardoulas
again if you have beetles living together sooner or later there will be small mealworms walking, "molting" and messing your terrarium.
What are the odds the mealworms will burrow into the water filled gravel and drown? LoL

N.
 
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