# Bean Beetles Good or Bad



## Detrick105 (Apr 16, 2006)

Hello,
I was wondering what is everyones opinion on Bean Beetles? Good or Bad. 
Thanks,
Steve


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## Petersi (Jan 31, 2008)

They are great. Its just hard to keep them going mine tend to have an exponential growth curve. One week I will have thousands and next there will be only 50. But they are easy to grow and BIG Plus they don't smell


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## Detrick105 (Apr 16, 2006)

Thanks for the reply. I used to culture them myself, but when I did some down sizing I quit culturing them. I would put the culture in the fridge for a few minutes, to slow down the beetles, before getting them out. Anyhow I was thinking about getting a culture again. Currently my frogs just have: Golden hydei, Wingless melanogaster, dwarf white isopods, Spanish Red isopods, & tropical springtails. But I was wondering what the overall opinion is on them as a feeder for darts, and treefrogs (in my case N. pictus)and just culturing them in general. And if anyone has some please pm me too. 
Thanks,
Steve


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## Mikembo (Jan 26, 2009)

Bean beetles are a great alternative feeder!!!

Petersi: Are you adding more beans after the first boom? This could be the reason for not having a second large boom. Another note bean beetles take almost 30 days to develope.

-Mike-


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## Mikembo (Jan 26, 2009)

Great link with everything you need to know plus on bean beetles: 

BeanBeetles.org/A Handbook on Bean Beetles: Laboratory Methods

-Mike-


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## Petersi (Jan 31, 2008)

yeah I add beans. I just cant get a steady rate. I think it a temperature issue.


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

IMO It's not a bad idea to have a couple cultures going to use in addition to fruit flies. As was mentioned, one of the problems is that when it rains it POURS...you harvest the beetles about once a month and you will have a ton of them (typically much more than I can actually use in their short lifetimes). It's nice, though, because usually I don't have to make flies every weekend, and all you do to make beetles is split the culture, and add new beans. I end up throwing out (flushing) half the beans because I don't need any more cultures going. They don't smell (well, barely). Some of my animals will eat them grudgingly (leucs, auratus) and some of them will DEVOUR them (galacts, azureus, tincs). Everytime, after gorging on them, my azureus lay record clutches.

The one major downside as far as I am concerned is that the damn things are escape artists! They will push their way through cracks that ff's half their size couldn't get through. I lined the tank lids with weatherstripping, clamp down all my lids tightly, and still have to pick wayward beetles off the wall for a few days after feeding them. Fortunately they don't live long without a bean supply.


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## evolvstll (Feb 17, 2007)

To get around that boom bust cycle.................I have several cultures in different stages of development.


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## Detrick105 (Apr 16, 2006)

I kept my cultures on the top rack, and under the the top rack are two double T5 lights. So that kept the cultures at a fairly warm temp for me, and the beetles started producing pretty good. I remember the 1st time I fed out of a culture and a couple of beetles flew off into the air, after that incident I learned about chilling the culture.


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## Petersi (Jan 31, 2008)

I got mine next to my firebracts. Which are a sweet alt to fruit flies too. There is a heat pad under it but I still dont time the temp is high enough for them out side that tank.


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## Michael Shrom (May 20, 2004)

They are great to sit on the back shelf for back up food or to use all of the time. To get a constant yield you will have to set up cultures at least twice a month.


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## johnc (Oct 9, 2009)

I got my first been weevils/beetles from Michael Shrom in September (mostly as a novelty to try out). I've tried them with various salamander species and several different species of frog (salamanders don't seem interested, some frog species are pretty apathetic to them but a couple, such as tree frogs and darts, seem to like them). Aside from the fact, as already mentioned by someone else here, that they can escape from almost anything, I have found them to be a handy extra feeder to have around. About 3 weeks ago I had an explosion and no one to eat the thousands of weevils, so I dumped thousands of them into my Barking Tree Frog youngsters' terrarium. Now I don't pay much attention to these particular frogs but checking on them a week later I was shocked at just how much they had grown in that time - the frogs had grown about as much in that week as they had on crickets in the preceding 6-8 weeks or so. So now I'll put up with the odd escaped weevil for this result!

This is just common sense so please forgive me if it goes without saying, but regarding beating the explosions, the weevils last a few weeks after a hatch begins and lay eggs constantly while they are alive, so if you start a new culture from an exploding culture every week for 3-4 weeks, you should have a near constant supply of weevils after about another 4 weeks (in my experience, the weevils go through a cycle every 4-5 weeks when kept in the late 60s F, or early 70s). Obviously you then have to keep starting new cultures each week in order to have a constant supply.


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## Michael Shrom (May 20, 2004)

johnc said:


> I've tried them with various salamander species and several different species of frog (salamanders don't seem interested, some frog species are pretty apathetic to them but a couple, such as tree frogs and darts, seem to like them).
> 
> I've used them as a staple food for 6 month old Tylototriton verrocusus. Some salamanders will eat them on land. I've fed them to juvenile Triturus marmoratus. I've frozen them and fed to Pleurodeles waltl in water. One time I didn't freeze for long enough and the beetles weren't dead. One of the ribbed newts came up on the cork bark to chase them down.
> 
> I think one way of using the explosion of offspring could be to freeze them and use as fish food, shrimp food, and ribbed newt food.


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## johnc (Oct 9, 2009)

Michael, I deliberately didn't use the word "newts" - all of those species you mentioned are newts .


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## Morgan Freeman (Feb 26, 2009)

I use these as a back up to fruit flies and to add a bit of variation. Always good to have as many different foods as possible.


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