Desert beetle Reproduction Question

[devinc]

Hello! I am about to take my first adventure into beetle keeping. I am thinking I am going to get the assorted desert beetle pack and a few of the death feigning beetles from Bugs In Cyberspace, but am slightly concerned about them reproducing.
I really just wanted to have anywhere from 5-10 beetles for the tank (will start with 5 then see what happens). I have read other threads where people have ordered these beetles from BIC to have them immediately start laying eggs in the tank. I have ordered the large size IRIS Insect Keeper from Amazon (Dimensions: 14.37"L x 8.46"W x 9.65"H) and don't want it to be quickly over run with hundreds of baby beetles.
Can anyone tell me about their experience with these beetles and how you handled all the babies? Is there something I can do to discourage reproduction while still keeping my beetles happy and thriving?
Thank you so much!

 

[The Seraph]

Which death feigning beetle? They have blue, black rough and smooth. If it's blue death feigning beetles, then you don't have to worry. They are notorious for being nigh impossible to raise the larvea. If it's anything else, I would just keep the enclosure bone dry. I assume that will kill the larvae very quickly. Honestly, I assume the larvae will burrow if they survive meaning they won't be distracting, and besides you get free bugs!

 

[pannaking22]

If you get the blue death feigning beetles the larvae have very specific pupation requirements, so even if you get larvae they won't survive to adulthood. Other tenebrionids reproduce much more readily in captivity, but even then not a ton make it to adulthood. They also all have a fairly long larval time, so even you do get some adults it'll be years (probably decades) before your tank is overrun.

 

[The Seraph]

Which death feigning beetle? They have blue, black rough and smooth. If it's blue death feigning beetles, then you don't have to worry. They are notorious for being nigh impossible to raise the larvea. If it's anything else, I would just keep the enclosure bone dry. I assume that will kill the larvae very quickly. Honestly, I assume the larvae will burrow if they survive meaning they won't be distracting, and besides you get free bugs!

Saw that there were a few typos. I meant to say what pannaking said about the blue death feigning beetle larvae. Rain you autocorrect.
EDIT: . . . Damn autocorrect, not rain.

 

[devinc]

Thank you both so much for the info! I was planning on ordering the blue variety, so pretty. This definitely calms my fears of too many beetles. I was so worried I would end up with so many that the tank will quickly become too small. A few more will be totally welcome though!

 

[MurrayTheMailman]

I bought a bunch of blue death feigners maybe a year and a half ago. Awesome beetles but as for breeding them I’ve been told “good luck “ from many people. Sarcastically of course but hey these beetles have longevity. They live forever and they’re blue. Haha

 

[All About Arthropods]

Hello! I am about to take my first adventure into beetle keeping. I am thinking I am going to get the assorted desert beetle pack and a few of the death feigning beetles from Bugs In Cyberspace, but am slightly concerned about them reproducing.
I really just wanted to have anywhere from 5-10 beetles for the tank (will start with 5 then see what happens). I have read other threads where people have ordered these beetles from BIC to have them immediately start laying eggs in the tank. I have ordered the large size IRIS Insect Keeper from Amazon (Dimensions: 14.37"L x 8.46"W x 9.65"H) and don't want it to be quickly over run with hundreds of baby beetles.
Can anyone tell me about their experience with these beetles and how you handled all the babies? Is there something I can do to discourage reproduction while still keeping my beetles happy and thriving?
Thank you so much!

Keeping the substrate bone dry and having it made out of something like coconut fiber discourages many darkling species from laying eggs and even if they did, any resulting larvae wouldn't make it far at all.

 

[All About Arthropods]

They also all have a fairly long larval time, so even you do get some adults it'll be years (probably decades) before your tank is overrun.

I don't know if you were just referring to all the death feigning beetles or not, but as for darklings in general, I've found that many can go from egg to adulthood in 3-4 months. My Eleodes osculans and Embaphion muricatum colonies are both at the brink of being considered "over-populated" with over 50 adults being produced in each colony in the 5-6 months that I've had them! Note that I did start out with rather larger groups of each though. lol

 

[pannaking22]

I don't know if you were just referring to all the death feigning beetles or not, but as for darklings in general, I've found that many can go from egg to adulthood in 3-4 months. My Eleodes osculans and Embaphion muricatum colonies are both at the brink of being considered "over-populated" with over 50 adults being produced in each colony in the 5-6 months that I've had them! Note that I did start out with rather larger groups of each though. lol

I was referring to the death feigning beetles, but thank you for coming in to clarify! I definitely botched clarity in my earlier post lol. That's really cool that you have those species reproducing at that rate. The larvae are grow up in your tank then and then you separate them when they reach the wandering stage to pupate?

 

[devinc]

In case anyone was interested, this is Peter's, from Bugs In Cyberspace, response in regards to his blue death feigning beetles and his assorted desert beetle pack that he offer's on his site:
"The assorted ones, despite being different species, are much more likely to drop eggs/larvae than death feigning beetles because they are wild caught and could have been fertilized at any point. Death feigning beetles never reproduce in captivity. You are unlikely to be overrun by any of the ones in the sampler in terms of reproduction, either. "
Thank you all so much for your responses, this info is all so helpful!

 

[All About Arthropods]

I was referring to the death feigning beetles, but thank you for coming in to clarify! I definitely botched clarity in my earlier post lol. That's really cool that you have those species reproducing at that rate. The larvae are grow up in your tank then and then you separate them when they reach the wandering stage to pupate?

Ah, ok. lol

Thanks! Nope, I think I discussed it with you on FB before, but I try and breed all of mine with the "pupation in situ" method where I just provide a deep (usually around 8 inch) mix of sand and coconut fiber (the top 1/4 or so I keep dry and the bottom 3/4 or so moist) and as long as I don't let the larval population get too high, they are able to safely pupate in there. The adults are able to safely live in there since I keep the enclosure lidless BTW.

 

[pannaking22]

Ah, ok. lol

Thanks! Nope, I think I discussed it with you on FB before, but I try and breed all of mine with the "pupation in situ" method where I just provide a deep (usually around 8 inch) mix of sand and coconut fiber (the top 1/4 or so I keep dry and the bottom 3/4 or so moist) and as long as I don't let the larval population get too high, they are able to safely pupate in there. The adults are able to safely live in there since I keep the enclosure lidless BTW.

Ah that's right, I do remember talking with you about that! Sounds like it's a killer setup then since you're getting buckets of beetles!

 

[BenLeeKing]

I don't know if you were just referring to all the death feigning beetles or not, but as for darklings in general, I've found that many can go from egg to adulthood in 3-4 months. My Eleodes osculans and Embaphion muricatum colonies are both at the brink of being considered "over-populated" with over 50 adults being produced in each colony in the 5-6 months that I've had them! Note that I did start out with rather larger groups of each though. lol

Bit of a side track, but where can I get myself some Embaphion? They are so cute~

 

[All About Arthropods]

Bit of a side track, but where can I get myself some Embaphion? They are so cute~

I could spare a few.