# Bean beetles vs confused rice flour beetles



## KCS2015 (Oct 28, 2015)

I have two leucs who are getting fruit flies currently. Needless to say the FF's are going to remain a staple, but I want to give them some variety. Which is more nutritious? The bean beetles or the rice beetles? I will likely do both at some point. For now since I am new to culturing (doing well with the FFs though) and to not totally freak out my wife (who is being REAL good about the FF's considering she is scared of most bugs) I want to start out with just one of the two. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## toostrange (Sep 19, 2013)

I culture both and I'd have to say if I cultured just one it would be bean beetles. While my frogs love the flour beetle larvae, they won't eat the beetles themselves. But if you go with bean beetles careful not to over feed.


----------



## KCS2015 (Oct 28, 2015)

Good to know. I ordered the bean beetles. Thank you Tom.


----------



## Mavpa (Jan 5, 2015)

KCS2015 said:


> Good to know. I ordered the bean beetles. Thank you Tom.


One thing to be wary off with the bean beetles is that they have a knack for finding their way out of tanks. Judy (on this board) proposed that maybe it's because they live longer than flies they can keep trying other ways... but if the wife is one to freak out, be wary that she may see a few of these from time to time.

Best way to cut down on that is, as mentioned, feed in moderation.


----------



## KCS2015 (Oct 28, 2015)

I will feed in moderation. She knows I ordered them. I am glad she likes the frogs as much as she does. She wants me to get some blue ones too. I am thinking auratus but right now I am getting a new viv built for my two leucs. It's a 40 breeder. I have some plants I got from Wally World that have been going through their quarantine and fertilizer leaching. They have about 2 more weeks to go since I have had them a month now. I see you are from Philly. I was born in Philly and raised in Havertown. I could use a decent cheesesteak about now.


----------



## Mavpa (Jan 5, 2015)

KCS2015 said:


> I will feed in moderation. She knows I ordered them. I am glad she likes the frogs as much as she does. She wants me to get some blue ones too. I am thinking auratus but right now I am getting a new viv built for my two leucs. It's a 40 breeder. I have some plants I got from Wally World that have been going through their quarantine and fertilizer leaching. They have about 2 more weeks to go since I have had them a month now. I see you are from Philly. I was born in Philly and raised in Havertown. I could use a decent cheesesteak about now.


I have blue and black Auratus... they're nice and easy, but can by fairly shy.

That's funny, I was actually born and raised in Chicago and was lamenting the poor selection of hot dogs available out here.


----------



## KCS2015 (Oct 28, 2015)

Yeah Philly is definitely not the frankfurter capital of the world but Nathan's Famous used to be in the Franklin Mills Mall and they were pretty good. I will probably end up with the blue and black auratus but I might go with one of the other morphs depending. By the way how many different feeders do you culture? I am going to try doing field sweeps in the summer and I may do a garden again in the spring. I will likely do beans and squash in my garden as well. I know there are other types of bean beetles besides the black eyed pea eaters so if I can catch them I will culture them as well. I don't use pesticides in my garden but I will culture them to the point where I know no issues will occur before feeding them.


----------



## stang2000 (Oct 6, 2015)

Bean beetles can last a month and some get fairly large, my azureus sometimes don't like to eat the big ones which is odd as they are large enough to eat them.

Rice flour beetles breed slower but once you had them for year or two they grow into a huge colony and they have expected life expectancy of at least a year. They are not as easy to feed as you have to sift the flour but doesn't seem to be too troublesome. Websites say that the adult beetles have small amount of toxin that is distasteful for the frogs, but haven't seen many of the frogs turn down a good meal. The only issue bothers me currently with the flour beetles is my first culture i used a dollar store container which seemed suitable as I didn't really need to put holes in it because the container wasn't fully sealed. Couple months ago however I noticed that there are billions of mites that have grown in the culture. I didn't know it at first until i bought some pesticide papers to put the bugs containers on to reduce bug contamination. If you are going do prolong breeding these, best get a fully sealed container and make big enough hole to stick cotton bolls in them.

I think having both is worth having but remember one takes a while to build a colony but the end result is tons of beetles that can live up to a year. Or you can get the bean beetle that is similar to fly culturing which is month to month basis.


----------

