Ground Beetle(Carabidae) Care Advice Needed

[JohananV]

Hi Everyone,

I live in Richards Bay, South Africa; and I have an incurable obsession with inverts.

I've been looking at these tiny Ground Beetles that we get around here for a while now, and every now and then I wonder what I would need to keep them. They are about 4mm long, and I know, from my observations, that they feed on other small soft-bodied insects.

I think that keeping and breeding these beetles would be a great challenge, but I really know next-to-nothing about keeping them. Does anyone have any tips or advice for me? I'm mostly worried about their probable heating/lighting needs.

Thank You In Advance,
JV

 

[Entomancer]

You basically have it right; for water, just spray the inside of the enclosure. A plastic shoebox should be fine.

I live on the west coast of the US, and there are some larger carabids here, which are easier to feed because I don't need to secure tiny prey items for them.

It's also cool to watch them slice up crickets like potatoes.

 

[Curious jay]

I had a communal of 8 or so of the larger natives here in the UK. Before owning them I wasn't aware how fearless they are when preys about, man. A adult cricket would be mauled as soon as it came in contact with any of them. I may have some pics in my photo bucket ill have a look when I finish work. The ones I had also drank very regularly.

 

[JohananV]

Hi LordRaiden,

Thank you so much for the information. I have a specific type of tupperware container in mind for them. I've tracked down some really nice containers that are very cheap, uniform in shape(they stack great), and not too big, but also see-through.

Should be just perfect for small Carabids. We also get larger Carabids, but they are quite uncommon(except for Tiger Beetles which, apparently, need lights), and are usually of the eacid-spraying variety.

Curious Jay,

Thank you also for the information you gave, I appreciate it. I would love to see some photos of your beetles, if you can find them.

I have one question to ask both of you. Did your beetles ever fight?


All the best,
JV

 

[Curious jay]

Hi,

I kept two types together one was: http://www.uksafari.com/violetgroundbeetles.htm
The other I can't find a picture of but was a smaller specie lacking the purple hues.

I never witnessed any fighting usually when they came in contact they would either run opposite directions or pass each other by. Although towards the end of my time keeping them (I'm unsure if this is common in old age for beetles) I noticed the odd leg missing.

But I actually owned them kinda accidentally lol I was actually hunting Staphylinus olens but I got the larvae confused thinking they were the latter but a few months down the line all these Carabidae beetles started showing up in the tank lol.

One thing I wasn't too sure on was how often to feed as I'm used to tarantulas and true spiders so weekly/bi-weekly feeding.
It appeared they had a lot quicker metabolism than spiders as after feeding there abdomen would buldge out under their wing cases and within a day would be down to normal size again. So I feed them 2-4 times a week depending on the size of the feeders. Also in their setup I had some earthworms, isopods, springtails etc so maybe they also fed on some other inhabitants that I wasn't aware of, but thy seemed pretty tolerable of each other often hid under than same cork bark (I provided a lot of hides, but I often see them in their natural settings grouped together).

Edit: I got a couple of pics of the larvae form and I think maybe a few vids I can upload to photobucket ill post them once its done uploading.

---------- Post added 03-06-2013 at 10:18 AM ----------

Ok so I finally got some pics uploaded, I got some videos too but im having issues uploading them (few of the larvae feeding and a couple with adults feeding).

Warning: thread is about to become pic heavy lol.


I actually had three types of beetle (I'm unsure of the genus of this it seemed less carnivorous and ate fruit more so than other insects unlike the others I had, lovely bronze sheen to it though)

This is one of the larger species I had, feeding on a slug:

Hmm for some reason alot of the other photos I've just uploaded have somehow disappeared..... I work nightshifts so I gotta get some sleep but I'll try and sort it tomorrow.

Afew pictures of the larvae feeding on an earthworm (like I said fearless)

'If it's soft it's food'

---------- Post added 03-06-2013 at 10:19 AM ----------

Ok so I finally got some pics uploaded, I got some videos too but im having issues uploading them (few of the larvae feeding and a couple with adults feeding).

Warning: thread is about to become pic heavy lol.


I actually had three types of beetle (I'm unsure of the genus of this it seemed less carnivorous and ate fruit more so than other insects unlike the others I had, lovely bronze sheen to it though)

This is one of the larger species I had, feeding on a slug:

Hmm for some reason alot of the other photos I've just uploaded have somehow disappeared..... I work nightshifts so I gotta get some sleep but I'll try and sort it tomorrow.

Afew pictures of the larvae feeding on an earthworm (like I said fearless)

'If it's soft it's food'

 

[Curious jay]

For some reason I still cannot see the pictures on my laptop for some reason or another (Photobucket layout has completely changed since I last used it lol) but on mobile I can see them but not post images. So here's a link to a few of the pictures (page1-3) http://m1074.photobucket.com/albums/jaylong1?o=16&newest=1

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

I think they tend to pick off the weak and leave one another alone for the most part, especially if they have access to other food options. It's been a while since I posted the following video on here but it illustrates competition for food and that live foods are not the only food options for many ground beetles. I put some fish food pellets into their container before turning the camera on.

It's almost carabid season here!

[YOUTUBE]Jxqj_j8TCEg[/YOUTUBE]

 

[beetleman]

i can't wait!!

 

[JohananV]

Thank you for all the help, assistance, and information. But, for the time being, Carabids will have to wait. I had started catching Fruit Chafers for breeding purposes, and gained species more rapidly than I expected. So, I have a bit of a backlog where insectaruiums are considered. Once I have an insectarium for every species of Fruit Chafer, then I will look into ground beetles.

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

lol...every species? I look forward to your update in 437 years!

You'll have a much easier time reproducing the chafers though. We'd love to see some photos of your local species if you get around to it.

 

[JohananV]

Haha. Sorry about the bad wording, it did change my sentence considerably :-D I meant to say that I need to buy an insectarium for every species that I possess. This far, I have collected Elaphinis Micrelaphinis latecostata, Pachnoda sinuata, and Porphyronota maculatissima. I'm hoping to add Dicronorrhina derbyana derbyana, Diplognatha gagates, Anisorrhina flavomaculata, and some Leucocelis species to my collection. That is the list that I would like to start with, at least. I will gladly post photos when there is a data bundle on the computer. So, it might be quite a while before I actually get to post photos.