Breeding Bean Beetles

One of the small feeders that I like to include for micro geckos, small frogs, or other small insectivores are the bean beetles. Fortunately, these small beetles are extremely easy to breed. The supplies one will need to do so can be seen below: 16 ounce deli cups, screened insect lids for the cups, and black eyed peas or mung beans. You can get cups and lids from neherpsupply

I have had some issues with moisture building up if the beans are stacked too high, so I only add a small amount of beans.

To move the beetles from an existing culture to the new one, tap the top and sides of the existing culture to knock back the beetles at the top. A small piece of egg crate placed in each culture is helpful in transferring the beetles. Quickly move around 50 beetles into the new culture and close the lid on both the new and old cultures. I like to add 2-3 rounds of adult beetles with a number of days between each addition. You want the culture to end up with a large number of eggs and it is a good idea to have numerous cultures going at all times as the adult beetles do not have a long lifespan.

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