Identifying insect

deadfeds

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
39
20200709_174606.jpg
I apologize if this is not the correct place for this thread, or if the pictures are not that great. I need some help identifying this, it seems to be young, perhaps larvae or pupae, although pupae suggests inactive, i just dont know. I put some crickets from a pet store in a tem gallon with eco earth, hoping they breed but just trying to keep them alive til I feed them to something, and the population declined rather rapidly, and i see several of these feeding off of dead crickets. Any help or insight is very much appreciated.
 

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chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
That's a dermestid beetle larva. Dermestid larvae are frequent hitchhikers in cricket bags and are common in the breeders' enclosures. They help by eating dead crickets, molts, and other debris. If you leave it alone, it will eventually pupate and turn into a small black or dark brown beetle - and if you get multiple of them, they will breed like crazy. I have them in my assassin bug cages as a cleaning crew, since assassins just suck out the insides, then drop cricket husks all over the place.
 
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