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Deformed Darkling Beetle

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:08 pm
by ThatOneReptileNoob
Just found this interesting, and thought I’d share it; a while back (early 2020) I decided to keep a few mealworm pupae that we unexpectedly got when we left the mealworms out of the fridge too long. It was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot more than Google would have told me from it. I had no idea the developed legs a couple days before becoming a full beetle!
The first one that finished the transformation was alert and moving well; which was interesting because it’s back still looked partway like a pupa! We named it Nemo and gave it its own little house made out of a medium sized container (it was ACTUALLY a mansion, by beetle standards). Pretty quick after I put it in it buried itself in the Eco Earth, which we had given it about an inch and a half of (we didn’t know what they acted like, so better to give it the option to burrow). It was tunneled right up against the side, which was cool because I got to watch Nemo do darkling beetle things.
It survived a couple days; exploring its habitat and using the little paper cup hides I had given it. It was a bummer to check on it on (roughly) day three and find it dead, but I had kept myself from getting too attached by guessing it wasn’t really going to live all that long. It’s back was the exactly the same for its entire life as a beetle; never got better or worse. Nemo was a cool little bug, and I thought I’d share about it to see if anyone else had had any experience with a beetle being deformed?
Looking back it was probably banged around or smushed too much as a mealworm or pupa, so it was probably on us that it came out that way. :lol:

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Here’s what Nemo looked like, if anyone was curious.

Re: Deformed Darkling Beetle

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:16 am
by splashy07
I have been breeding my own mealworms forever. Many beetles come up deformed, not really an odd occurrence. Some actually come up wingless and look like a pupa with legs. A perfect one would be looking like an all white beetle after final pupal shed.

Re: Deformed Darkling Beetle

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2021 8:39 am
by ThatOneReptileNoob
Alright, interesting. So I DIDN’T cause Nemo’s unfortunate deformity. xD
Thanks for the information, I had no idea it was common!