Desert beetles that aren't death feigning beetles

[Ajohnson5263]

I have a 10-gallon terrarium with about 10 blue death feigning beetles and 2 black death feigning beetles. I love watching them but there is still a lot of vacant space in the terrarium. what are some other long-lived desert beetles that are fun to watch that I could add to this? I personally like the texas ironclad beetles but never see them for sale.

 

[squidkid]

wholly darkling are fun

 

[chanda]

Eleodes species darkling beetles do well as do Ironclad beetles.

 

[Aquarimax]

I have kept Eleodes sp (soemetimes called desert clown or desert stink beetles) with my BDFBs too. They seem to be a little more day-active, in contrast to the BDFBs, which are more crepuscular. They also seem to be more attracted to water droplets when I mist the vivarium. They’re a really nice addition, and depending on where you are, they may be easier to collect.
I can collect them within a few minutes’ drive of my house, but is have never seem BDFBs in the same area.
They tend not to discharge their repugnatorial fluid unless you really upset them. I recently (and aaccidentally of course) did that while moving all of my desert beetles to a larger vivarium. I had a handful of BDFBs and one Eleodes. The latter discharged all over the poor BDFBs. It didn’t hurt them, but it messed up their beautiful blue waxy coating for a few days, and didn’t smell all that great. That’s the last time I pick up an Eleodes beetle with anything else in my hands!

 

[chanda]

That’s the last time I pick up an Eleodes beetle with anything else in my hands!

Interesting! I've never had an Eleodes sp. discharge fluids when I pick it up - or even when I let my students pick them up and hold them. The only time I've ever had any noticeable odor from them is when I'm collecting them and I have a bunch of them in the same jar. Now, Carabids on the other hand... pee-ew!!!! My son found one that had hitched a ride indoors on his soccer bag the other day - and you could smell the dang thing from one end of the house to the other! It took a lot of scrubbing to get the smell out of my hands, too, after I put it out.

 

[Aquarimax]

Interesting! I've never had an Eleodes sp. discharge fluids when I pick it up - or even when I let my students pick them up and hold them.

I believe you...that is why I unhesitatingly picked it up along with the other beetles...I had never had a captive one discharge before. A very unpleasant surprise...and during a livestream, no less!

 

[Arthroverts]

Diabolical Ironclads, and the various other Eleodes that populate our deserts. Wooly Darklings are great too, they are a lot of fun to watch.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[davehuth]

I've kept combinations of 10 or more different Darkling and Ironclad beetle species in communal tanks. Sometimes I hear stories about crowded tanks in which one or two beetles turn aggressive against other occupants, but I always include lots of hides and climbing perches and so far haven't had any problems.

 

[pannaking22]

Interesting! I've never had an Eleodes sp. discharge fluids when I pick it up - or even when I let my students pick them up and hold them. The only time I've ever had any noticeable odor from them is when I'm collecting them and I have a bunch of them in the same jar. Now, Carabids on the other hand... pee-ew!!!! My son found one that had hitched a ride indoors on his soccer bag the other day - and you could smell the dang thing from one end of the house to the other! It took a lot of scrubbing to get the smell out of my hands, too, after I put it out.

I believe you...that is why I unhesitatingly picked it up along with the other beetles...I had never had a captive one discharge before. A very unpleasant surprise...and during a livestream, no less!

I've had Eleodes discharge on me a few times before. Might be that some species are more likely to do it than others. Definitely not a pleasant odor, but I agree, carabids are way way worse. Calosoma seem to be especially nasty.

 

[mantisfan101]

Eleodes, embaphion, is all I can think of.

 

[chanda]

Sometimes I hear stories about crowded tanks in which one or two beetles turn aggressive against other occupants, but I always include lots of hides and climbing perches and so far haven't had any problems.

I've never noticed any of the adult beetles turning aggressive toward each other, but there were a few times some of the darkling beetles laid eggs - and I walked in a few times and found the adult beetles eating the larvae, even though they were well fed and had plenty of hides and things to climb on. None of the larvae made it to adulthood.

 

[AceXprt]

I’ve got some Wooly Beetles and some Diabolical IronClad Beetles. The wooly beetles are fun to watch. The Diabolical are just awesome looking.i also have some stink beetles, they get pretty big.

 

[All About Arthropods]

Eleodes are always a good option.