beetles in B. dubia colony...

[hamfoto]

Does anyone know what these are? and where they came from? (are they rice flour beetles)
I'm guessing they came as one or two on some produce and have multiplied...
they're little red/maroon beetles and the yellow ones look like their babies...but maybe something else...what do you think?

and do you think they are a problem? could they be fed to small spiderlings and scorplings?

thanks,
Chris

 

[8Pat]

Hi! I'll go with my guess. Looks like you have Tenebrio adults (the brown ones) and some kind of termite (the little guys).
Good day!
Jean

 

[bugmankeith]

I dont know if beetles are a favorite or spiders or scorpions?

 

[zinto]

The hind legs on the little guys make me think they're not termites. They almost look like jumping legs of an immature cricket or something. Although I can't see the antennae very well, they don't look bulky like a termite's antennae. Just my thoughts. Good luck!

Nick

 

[reclusa]

Hi! I'll go with my guess. Looks like you have Tenebrio adults (the brown ones) and some kind of termite (the little guys).
Good day!
Jean

Termite workers are also blind and these appear to have eyes. The antenea are straight so it is not an ant. could be a roach nymph possibly. The beatle could be a confused flour beatle or red flour beatle. do you feed dog food to the roaches? If so that is where the beatles came from. Many beatles give off a natural repellent making them unpleasant to many spiders.

 

[jw73]

These beetles looks like termites. The little ones.

 

[hamfoto]

Termite workers are also blind and these appear to have eyes. The antenea are straight so it is not an ant. could be a roach nymph possibly. The beatle could be a confused flour beatle or red flour beatle. do you feed dog food to the roaches? If so that is where the beatles came from. Many beatles give off a natural repellent making them unpleasant to many spiders.

reculsa,

son of a...I do feed them some dog food! Wow, thanks for the info...
and the little ones...I just don't know. They are really small. I thought they were mites at first, but seeing them in the photo, I don't think so. Are B. dubia nymphs this small? like, could be confused with a mite? that seems pretty small to me.

thanks again for the info.

Chris

 

[Stylopidae]

The small ones aren't roaches, ants or termites but I have seen them before.

Can't remember where, or even what they are.

 

[bugmankeith]

The small things arent springtails right? You could breed the mealworms for your spiders.

 

[reclusa]

The small things arent springtails right? You could breed the mealworms for your spiders.

springtails will appear as small dark insects which will jump like a flea when disturbed. They are a turf pest. Its possible if these are approx 1/8th inch. You must have a great macro camera.

 

[dtknow]

Maybe booklice(psocids).

 

[zinto]

Dang! You beat me to it dtknow. That's what they are - booklice. They generally survive in paper-like material: books (duh!), cotton, cardboard, maybe the bag the dog food came in? They're very prolific and difficult to get rid of because the babies are so small. They shouldn't harm your roaches though, so as long as you don't mind them there, they should be fine. Good luck!

Nick

 

[crashergs]

i know what they are

hey there, im glad I could help you out in some assistance...


what you have there are meal worm beetles also known as darkling beetles. which come from mealworm larvae

 

[FourDeadFish]

They are also EXTREMELY easy to culture and are a useful prey species for very small herps. I fed a pile of toadlets these a couple weeks ago while I was waiting on the rest of the tads to transform.

A friend of mine that breeds small frogs (Dendrobadids and Mantellas) was very happy to get a started culture from me recently. I'll have to follow-up to check on palatability for his animals.

I had them crop up in a tin of Algae disks (fishfood) and in my mealworm colony a year or so ago.
Since then, I have set them up in their own shoebox full of oatmeal, old flake fish foods. They are easy to contain with a bit of vaseline along the rim.

As for collecting them to feed out, wet one end of a popsicle stick and set the dry end down in the substrate. They are attracted to humidity and will crawl up the stick. Once there is a good number on it, remove it and place it in with the animal you are feeding

The species I have are absolutely tiny, same size as a springtail. The one's you have may be even better as they look to be a bit bigger.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

 

[FourDeadFish]

All you needed to know:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2080.html

BTW: I would be interested in getting a starter colony of these. P/M or email me.

 

[hamfoto]

good call on the booklice! that's what they are.

about the beetles...I don't know how big mealworm beetles get, but these are very small and it would seem that mealworm beetles would be bigger.

thanks,
Chris

 

[FourDeadFish]

Mealworm beetles are between 5/8"- 3/4" long. How long are these?

Also, how large are the booklice you have?

BTW: There are many, many species of "darkling beetles".
Tenebrio molitor (common mealworms) is only one of many.

Do a search for Tenebrionidae, you'll see what I mean.

You have to love the internet (sitting at work, learning about bugs!):
http://eny3005.ifas.ufl.edu/lab1/Coleoptera/Tenebrionid.htm

 

[hamfoto]

well I've seen mealworms before, but not the beetle. These are smaller than the size you gave...much smaller. These are about 1/2 the size of a grain of rice.
the booklice are really small, but the size of what I would think the other kind of "lice" would look like.

I would send them to you...but before I got your first message, I had already killed them...sorry.
I put them in the freezer to kill them because I didn't know exactly what they were and didn't want to just throw them in the trash, therfore releasing them...
But...if I get more I'll let you know and I can send them to you if you wanted them.

Chris

 

[FourDeadFish]

Not a problem, sounds like your's are too small as well. I was gaging the size of the booklice by comparison to Tenebrio molitor beetles, your beetles are clearly something different. Did you keep any of these though?

There are companies advertising "Mini-mealworms" these days (at much higher prices than T. molitor too!), they identified their's as Tenebrio obscura.

As for the booklice, I'd like to try to find some of the larger booklice (~1-2mm long) for culturing as feeder insects. I am reluctant to try termites.

They would clearly fill a need for smaller insect prey without the destructive potential, just the one's I have are too small for the smaller tarantula slings (IE: Brachypelma spp.)

BTW: Your camera has great macro capabilities!

 

[hamfoto]

I didn't keep any of these...but I'm pretty sure they'll come back at some point, since I didn't clean each roach before putting it in the new container.
If I find more I'll definately let you know...

Chris