How to care for Beetles??

Rost

I also got puppae very early. Collected them on the tower and after the beetles form, they sooner or later move down. I have the feeling, they are dizzy for the first day, which is no wonder, as they just found themselves in a new body.
After two weeks i moved the beetle tray into a new layer, as some many of my oldest mealworms had either dyed or become puppae. I wasn't quite shure, if i received eggs, since ther were also small pieces from oats etc. However, two weeks later, I have no new mealworms in that layer now and it is getting time to move the beetle inly to the next layer...

Would be nice to receive some official instructions from LivinFarms.

bugburger

Rost I have the same question! When do you know to move the beetle inlay. I have moved it once. No new mealworms.

Clay

jbenhahn But now I'm wondering whether I should have put the food on the Tower?

Food is recommended to put on the beetle inlay, but NOT on the tower.
Place the pupae on the tower
Place the beetle on the beetle inlay (not tower)

marcofoo I have read the manual cover to cover yet there is no explanation about what to do with beetles after placing them in the beetle area.

Are they for eating?
Do they just stay there and lay eggs?
How do we separate eggs from beetles? Or do we wait until the eggs turn into metalwork and then separate?

Beetles / Pupae are not for eating. Pupae are waiting to be evolved to beetles. Beetles' purpose is to produce the next generation of worms.
After pupae evolve into beetles on the tower, they will be drawn by the scent of food and slide to the bottom layer. No need to nudge or move them manually. Do NOT place any food source on the tower or else they will stay there.
They will stay on the beetle inlays and lay hundreds of eggs. The eggs will fall through the perforated holes in the beetle inlay to the bottom of the tray.
The eggs which will evolve into small worms. The small worms can eat the leftovers that the beetles are done eating.
Beetles eat the same thing as worms except they usually eat much less than worms.
Separation of beetles from eggs is not required since the eggs will fall through the holes. The only time to separate is when harvesting is ready.

Please refer to this video for harvesting intro.

https://youtu.be/nL8DHRCrzoM

bugburger When do you know to move the beetle inlay. I have moved it once. No new mealworms.

The beetle inlay is moved at the same time when worms are ready to be harvested. Please refer to the following video.

https://youtu.be/nL8DHRCrzoM

Rost It is hard to see the eggs, but I found some tiny mealworms.
However, I didn't think and fed them oats, which they might not be able to eat. I think it is better to give them flour. I'm not shure about fruits and vegetables though, cause they might no finish them or even find them. Does anyone have any experience on that so far?

Tiny mealworms eat the same thing as bigger mealworms/beetles, except they eat the leftovers from the beetles. You do not need to feed the tiny mealworms on purpose when they are still with the beetle inlay. When the beetles are eating, the leftover bits will fall through the perforated and the tiny mealworms can get to it.

Dominique

I have many beetles since two weeks now and I noted that they only walked around during this time. Now I begin to see beetles copulate. Perhaps they need a while before getting adults. Anyway I don't have eggs for the moment.

Rost

It is hard to see the eggs, but I found some tiny mealworms.
However, I didn't think and fed them oats, which they might not be able to eat. I think it is better to give them flour. I'm not shure about fruits and vegetables though, cause they might no finish them or even find them. Does anyone have any experience on that so far?

jodrell

Found my first beetle today. I've put a bit of cucumber and broccoli in the beetle tray but no oats...should I feed them the same as the Mealworms and add some oats too?

jbenhahn

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with questions.

marcofoo

Hi Jodrell,

What are your beetles liking to eat since you offered them the selection of delicacies?

jodrell

marcofoo I only had the one and it didn't seem to have eaten anything

I've got about 6 Beetles now so I'll drop a few carrots in and see what happens

Rost

I realized that my beetles are crazy for radish and stuff like that. They flock on vegetables from all sides like a swarm of piranhas on a piece of meat. I have the feeling the can't really eat oats. Maybe they just need more water/moisture.

Rost

Clay Okay, but what happens after i move the beetles inlay. I then have tiny worms in different development stages and also eggs. In my case then the always die very quickly. I don't know what is the error. It seems as if the dehydrate. Do they need more moist food?

Clay

Rost Okay, but what happens after i move the beetles inlay. I then have tiny worms in different development stages and also eggs. In my case then the always die very quickly. I don't know what is the error. It seems as if the dehydrate. Do they need more moist food?

They will be relatively same age. They eat the exact same thing as bigger worms. Carbohydrates (grains) and moist food. For the moist food, you will need to feed very small slices to them and they don't eat a lot.

PNWW

QUESTION: What about dead beetles? I have been picking them out, but I'm sure there are some I haven't seen. Do the adult beetles eat them?

Also, how to clean the pupae tower?

GeordieKorper

I have the same question as PNWW. How do I deal with the dead beetles. Since I am not eating any of the mealworms they are all ending up as beetles and I have at least a hundred in the tray now. I can tell a few are dead or at least very lethargic but manually sorting through them to find dead ones seems like a lot of work. Also there are a lot that went under the tower to die which makes them hard to get to. When I removed the tower to look (and also toss a few dead pupae) it was difficult to put it back without crushing the really active ones that kept scurrying across where the legs of the tower go. I plan on of tilting the tray to move them all to the back and then put a bunch of tasty carrots in the front for them to swarm to so that after a day or two the back will be mostly dead ones but has anyone else come up with a better strategy?

Elt

GeordieKorper You are doing a good job having that amound of beetles! I'm having about half that number. I've been removing the dead beetles one by one using a spoon. I don't have a lot of death and some have already been eaten. My beetles are pushing the dead ones all over. I just wait for them to appear beside the tower. I sometime check and remove the tower. And then, I'm using a spoon to avoid them being crushed when I place the tower back.

Did you already try step 2?
http://livinfarms.helpsite.io/articles/20404-how-do-i-clean-the-dead-beetles-and-pupae.

GeordieKorper

Some of them held on to the surface but a lot just ended up in the pile in the corner wriggling around. They are so vigorous that even the tilt and then put treats on the opposite side trick only helped a little.