Ordering dung beetles.

[bugmankeith]

I know this sounds weird, but the thought just entered my mind. New York has native dung beetle species, but by me I usually dont see any. I had an idea that if I ordered native dung beetles I could bring them to the park here and place them on areas where dogs went to the bathroom, sort of like a natural cleanup crew, you dont know how many people step in this stuff each day. Since there is alot of poop, the beetles will thrive and hopefully keep the park cleaner after the dog owners who dont clean up after their pets.

As long as they are native species whats the harm right, they are cool beetles.

 

[cacoseraph]

i know some ppl disagree with me... but i feel pretty strongly that we should not release anything once it has been by/in our exotic collections. odds are we are already introducing microbugs to our local areas from WC's and from trading other ppl that deal in WC's... so to deliberately release bugs just seems like an awful idea to me

i fully understand they are native... but i just think the risks outweigh the rewards

 

[bugmankeith]

I dont have any, I wanted to know if any companies breed them, like the companies that breed ladybugs and praying mantids to release in our yards to get rid of garden pests. If any of you order these you know what i'm referring to. I dont see whats so bad about natural waste removal?

Seriously nothing eats the dog waste here, not even the earthworms! Flys go for the garbage in the cans, but that's it. When dogs go, it stays for weeks until we get a heavy rain.

 

[ScorpDemon]

Being a city employee, I would have to advise against it for monetary reasons on your part, and for the beetles safety as well. Parks are usually pesticide palaces. We spray the parks here for ants and mosquitos. While the mosquito spray is only supposed to affect mosquitos, the chemical we spray for ants, will kill most any insect that it comes into contact with.
Just something to think about.

Chris

 

[bugmankeith]

This is a tiny public park, and there are loads of mosquitos (guess no spraying), not to mention the small forest. Also there are houses against the park fence. I dont think it would have been wise on their part to spray next to peoples backyards. I honestly have never seen them spray, only put down grass seed, and I see the park everyday it's on my block. The area I would be placing them is near the park, but not in it. It's by railroad tracks, but the tracks are on a hill so the beetles would be placed at the bottom of the hill in the undergrowth (undisturbed trees and shrubs) That's where all the dogs go to the bathroom. Not to mention there is a lot next to that with lots of vegetation and more poo. Plenty of places for the beetles to safely roll the dung without being disturbed.

It seems nobody sells dung beetles here anyway, only in Texas or Australia as part of a new waste control program.

 

[lucanidae]

New York has a good diversity of native dung beetles, however most are very small, less than one centimeter. We only have one or two genera that get much larger than that. It is possible that you don't see them because you are looking for something too big. Also, if the environment is correct and food is plentiful, you should see a good population of the natives already. If not, something in the environment is probably bad for beetle survival, otherwise you would already be finding plentiful numbers of them. If the park can't support them now, it will most likely be unable to support them if a large number are released.

 

[bugmankeith]

Can you give me links to the native species here, I remember finding one about the size of my fingernail, it appeared to be shiny black. I do see them occassionally around the neighborhood, but a backyard is not the place for them, not to mention predators can be eating some too. I have seen some at the park
lucanidae, im just too lazy to go searching for them, and im not going to breed them in my house,lol. If I buy them then they would be in a bulk size, not just one or two you know.

I even have a plan how to gather up dog dung in bulk. If I can find some to order i'll do what it takes to make sure they survive and have plenty of food and a safe place to thrive. Thats one good thing about unmowed land, and there is a bit of that thankfully.

 

[lucanidae]

If you have a large perfect open field in which you want to hunt deer, and you find 15 deer in it, you may not consider this enough to feed yourself. However, if you go to a farm and buy 200 deer to drop on the field so that you will have plenty to eat for a long time, the field will not be able to sustain all those deer. Food availablitly, diseases, parasites, and predation are density dependent.

If the local environment which you think is so perfect for dung beetles really is, you would see a higher population, and if you don't, you can not expect dumping a large number of them on the field would be viable. The environment works through equilibriums, tossing a huge population into a habitat throws that equilibrium off. That logic is fundamentally flawed.

I suggest American Beetles, Vol. 2, Chapter 29 as a good source. You could also just google search for Geotrupidae of New York or Nearctic. I've seen the local Geotrupidae key once and it is difficult to work through.

 

[Taceas]

I've never seen dung beetles frequent dog poo to be honest. They tend to like herbivore poo much more. We used to have them around the manure piles from our horses, goats, and chickens. Dog poo only attracted carrion beetles.

If its not an official dog park, why not talk to the authorities over the parks in the city and have them post signs requiring people to pick up their dog's poo and properly dispose of it or make it no dogs allowed period? If they disobey or are caught, they get a fine.

It's a hassle, but chances are if you own a dog I'm sure you've seen and dealt with a lot worse than poop in a bag. And now they have those bag rolls that go on leashes and stuff, how easy is that.

Living out in the country, we don't have to mess with such things as my dog goes to the woods behind our house and does her business. But I can imagine with a 100+ dogs or so it could be pretty nasty.

Bottom line, there are inconsiderate people everywhere, but I think the urban areas of New York is a magnet for them to congregate.

 

[bugmankeith]

I live on the island and there is a no dogs allowed sign at the entrance, but i guess they dont care as the 18 years I have been here and that sign was up, dogs have always been there. I dont see too many, mabye 10 a day.

 

[Timmy]

I say you still get the dung beetles. Then you can just poop in their terrarium and they can clean it up!