2 replies to this topic

[evanmancini2011]

I was looking into keeping Beetles as pets specifically Darkling Beetles. Since all of my ant species are in hibernation I want some other insect to keep that will keep me busy. My goal with these Beetles is to make/buy a bran substrate for the meal worms and a terrarium where the adult Beetles will be hopefully reproducing and laying eggs. I know that meal worms hate moisture so there will have to be fake plants in the terrarium and the reproduction will be slower since the mealworms will eat some of the eggs that the adult Beetles lay. But overall I hope this will be good.

Does anyone have tips on how to keep these Beetles? And any tips on this enclosure I will hopefully make?  

Thank you for your time!

Evan Mancini

Edited by evanmancini2011, December 28 2025 - 5:49 PM.

[ANTdrew]

These insects live out their whole lives in the bran. There is no need to make a separate terrarium like enclosure for adult beetles. Look in the archived for how to raise mealworms.
If you want to make terrariums, I suggest looking into isopods instead.

[Stubyvast]

Yeah usually I just go with putting oats down in a big bucket, and then cotton on top for the adults to breed in. Gives a pretty simple feeder for my ants, with limited casualties, but needs pretty frequent cleaning for the shedskin and beetle corpses. The problem with a terrarium, as you mentioned, is in part because of the moisture. It would also be problematic because depending on your setup the hatched mealworms will have to migrate back to the food source. Somehow, if you wanted this to work, you'd have to put both in one set-up. 

What you could do, which would look pretty weird, admittedly, would be to have an old fish tank or glass container, and place some rocks and decor in it, with large basins of bran (perhaps with cotton on it) disguised by the fake plants in front and around it. That way, you can still watch your beetles wandering around in the terrarium, but mealworms will still be able to hatch and eat without limits. 

 

Overall, however, I agree with AntDrew's more succinct answer, that isopods would be a much better option. Beetles are great as feeder insects, but they really aren't very entertaining, and in my experience, adult beetles are kind of clumsy and any foraging behaviour will basically not be noticeable in a terrarium set-up, while mealworms...well, they basically just eat and sleep 24/7. Isopods would be a better option, because A. They can live and thrive in a terrarium set-up, they look really cool, and paired with other organisms they will really help boost your terrarium's growth, removing fungal outbreaks and breaking down fallen leaves and branches into useable soil.