Mealworm Beetles

[gmagee]

Is it in the first so many hours that they develop their black beetle shell or something? The first beetle I had I may have noticed late (I segregate the pupae into a container) but today I noticed I had a new beetle addition and its way more red as opposed to my other one that is black.

Just making sure this isn't like a different species or something crazy, been trying to google the color of them but everyone is saying its black. Wikipedia has pictures of various species that look like a variety of different :S

 

[Pixall]

Yup. They darken over time. When they first shed they are actually white.

 

[gmagee]

Ah kk I must've been really late on noticing I had my first one because it was already black by the time I did. I knew I thought I read that somewhere too I just had to make sure, lol.

The new one looks a lot bigger than my first... who knows... maybe I lucked out and got a male/female right off the bat fingers crossed

 

[esn]

When I get new beetles they darken to black within a few hours. As soon as they have darkened and eaten, and can witness them having little beetle sex every time I check on them. The males aren't always larger - it depends on the size of the worm at the time of pupation, but they usually are a teensy bit larger. You'll notice the males will get on the back of a female and it will look like they have little prongs coming out of their beetle butts. Bet you know what that is. They'll start going at it immediately, and I've had a pupation prep container that had beetles morphing over the course of two days before I moved them to the beetle container and they'd already laid eggs in the deli cup. They'll breed as soon as you get a pair! Which isn't hard with the rate of pupation for mealworms vs. superworms.

 

[gmagee]

Yeah, I`m just wondering cos I just read there are flour beetles that are from the darkling beetle family which also come from a mealworm... but are much more red.

Because my newest one... is still bright red.. its been more than 24 hours.

My only hope is that where they are part of the same family that they can breed together, but maybe someone could tell me, if they can`t I`ll just use one as a nifty feeder, lol.

 

[CloomenNArty]

are the beetles just as bad or worse for feeding, digestion etc.?

 

[gmagee]

not sure, heard its okay as a treat.

 

[KDK241]

Mealworm beetles can be black or reddish brown. It doesn't mean anything, just different colors. They can still mate and lay eggs the same.

 

[gmagee]

ah heh okay, that makes sense. Guess I was just over reacting