Beetle care

[Maddiemaybearachnids]

So , I’m very new to all of this stuff, I have nearly no experince, the closest to hands on would be that I have picked insects up before I also watch the dark den, and have done some reasearch on zophobas morio, and that pretty well where all knowledge of mine ends, and I would like to expand it. I really want a single zophobas morio, which on a previous thread I was told would be fine to keep one by itself, but may other species legal in the us, not quite sure how much of a thing this is, but are there any that are extremely personable? Haha sory, i keep fish and i know that fathead minnows are very underrated, i have four and can tell all of them apart, and they definelty have their own personalities so I was wondering if there were any maybe underrated beetles, anyways i appreciate it in advance, and I’m a beginner but don’t mind some work, ALSO, can insects drink tap water, stupid question probably, bt do you/should you treat it if they drink and don’t simply get all of their water from their food, I’ve always wondered this and every time I look it up it doesn’t give me a direct answer haha and sory off all of the questions that are to come from me on this site, I’m sure you all will get used to immediately seeing my name and hating my dumb questions but nonetheless they are actual question also apologies for spelling and grammatical errors

 

[chanda]

I have not kept Zophobas morio, but I do keep other darkling beetles, including the local Eleodes sp. ("desert stink beetles" or "headstanding beetles"), Eleodes osculans (wooly darkling beetle), and some of the death feigning beetles (locals - unknown species), as well as Phloeodes diabolicus (diabolical ironclad beetle). As far as "personality" goes, I'm not sure that any of them are really all that personable, but the Eleodes are at least a little more fun to hold or interact with because they are pretty active and don't play dead every time you touch them. I particularly like the little wooly darkling beetles - probably because they are cute and fuzzy. All of them are easy to take care of - I have them all together in a mixed desert beetle enclosure. I do mist the enclosure once or twice a week, even though they get most of their moisture from their foods. We have a reverse osmosis filter in the house, so I give them the r/o water instead of the regular tap water, but I do use tap water sometimes for some of my other cages with higher moisture needs. As long as you leave the water sitting out overnight, any residual chlorine should evaporate off, so then the only issue with using it in your cages is the possibility of mineral deposits (hard water spots) on the glass/plastic sides of your enclosure. If you're worried about chemicals or impurities in your tap water, you can just buy bottled water or a gallon of distilled water. If you've only got one beetle, a single 16 oz bottled water would last quite a while.

 

[Maddiemaybearachnids]

Could I keep one of these species by itself? Lo l sory is prefer them to not breed and keep them as pets

 

[Dave Jay]

I treat water I use with my inverts, I don't know that it's essential but I'm pretty sure it can't hurt. The treatment "neutralises" chlorine/chloramine, ammonia and heavy metals. Chloramine is sort of chlorine bonded with ammonia and takes more than 3 weeks to dissipate on its own, as you may know being a fish keeper, standing overnight won't remove it. Being that I can treat thousands of litres for $10 and I buy it for the fish anyway I figure why not?

 

[chanda]

Could I keep one of these species by itself? Lo l sory is prefer them to not breed and keep them as pets

Actually, they don't really breed all that often. I've seen two larvae in that communal desert beetle tank in the past few years - and one of them was being eaten by a cage mate at the time. (I have taken absolutely *no* steps to provide a suitable environment or food sources for larvae in this tank - as opposed to my Dynastes grantii tank, which I set up specifically to encourage breeding - and I've been rewarded with a bunch of big, fat grubs in that one!)

But no, you don't have to keep them communally or mix species - that's just what I chose to do with my tank. You could just as easily keep a single beetle (or single beetles of multiple species).