Found beetles in Spikeys cage

[spikeysmom]

Hi guys new here. We have a male beardie who's about a year old. A couple weeks ago I found a beetle looking thing in his cage and freaked out. I threw it away and couldn't figure out how it could have gotten in there. The cage is in my son's room upstairs in our house. Today I found another one and now I'm really freaking. I don't want Spikey to get ill from eating them. Something I read on here made me wonder; do mealworms turn into these gross beetles if they are in there long enough? Spikey has cut down on his eating since it's gotten colder so they do hide in the nuggets if I don't find them all. Thanks! Melanie

 

[Jess]

Yeah, they are probably hiding and pupating in his cage. :shock: Eeek! Beetles freak me out!!
Do you just let them loose in his cage? That really isnt the best idea, since as youve found out, they can hide from him. You can get special food dishes that they cant crawl out of to put them in.
Oh, and if your beardie is at least 15-16" long, I would switch him over to super worms instead. They are more nutritious than meal worms, and they dont have such a hard exoskeleton so they are easier to digest. My boy absolutely LOVES them!

 

[spikeysmom]

No I don't let them loose in the cage but they can eventually crawl out if he doesn't get to them right away. He used to run to his food dish but he's lazier now that he's bigger and it's colder. I do hunt for them but don't always find them all. Gross gross gross. Will they hurt him if he eats them? I'd say he is probably about the size you mentioned so I'll try giving him the super worms and putting them in a deeper dish. Better get all new nuggets too.