Beetles = No good?

Slash

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Messages
132
So I have these pretty big beetles roaming around the window wells in my basement. I don't know whether I'm right or not, but I think I read somewhere that its not good to use beetles as feeder food. :?

Is this true? I'd love to feed one to my big P. regalis or rosehair. Any objection to this? Thanks for any insight.:)
 

chilean

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 25, 2007
Messages
69
first of all, you should never give your T freshly caught food (neighbours may be using pesticides)
 

Slash

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Messages
132
first of all, you should never give your T freshly caught food (neighbours may be using pesticides)
Yes I'm fully aware of this. However these beetles are only in dark damp places. What I want to know is if the beetle in and of itself is OK for food. This is considering that there aren't any contaminants.
 

dtknow

Arachnoking
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Aug 18, 2004
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2,239
Depends on species. Tarantulas consume quite a lot of beetles in the wild(at least NA ones due...I think mainly Eleodes sp. darkling beetles).
 

Merfolk

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
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Dec 13, 2005
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1,323
Check your neighbours, quarantine the beetles, try to raise them. They are indeed a food of choice but can indeed be laced with pesticids, especialy that many of those are directed against them!
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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Apr 11, 2007
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I don't know much about beetles but don't they usually have a long grub stage? I'm thinking of mealworms, superworms, etc. They take forever to bust out into beetlehood. It seems that perhaps rearing them as a primary food source would be difficult. On the other hand, sometimes i let mealies and supers finish and then feed the resulting darkling beetles with no problem. My smithi loves them but neither rosea seems interested. I haven't tried them on any other t's yet.

On the subject at hand tho... I'd not reccomend feeding the beetles you caught right away if at all. At least quarantine them for a while before you feed them and if you have any high zoot (expensive or rare) t's don't feed to them.
 
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