r/BDFB

I officially have my second captive bred BDFB!

They emerged (eclose? eclosed?) yesterday. I've been checking on them daily after discovering that it had pupated, and I'm very very happy to see that it was completely successful!

It took around 20 days for this one to fully form give or take, assuming I found it the very day it had pupated but it very well could have been a few days longer. My current theory is that 20-30 days is how long to expect future beetles to take before reaching adulthood. I did not check this one's antenna to verify if it was a male vs female, but this one is definitely bigger than my first captive bred beetle but it is slightly smaller than most of the females in my BDFB enclosure.

I didnt handle this one for very long as I didnt want to stress them out or risk injury to them incase they were still soft anywhere. I added it to the enclosure with the rest of my BDFBs to give it room and spaces to hide with more climate control than their previous cup.

I'm noticing that behavior between adult beetles and newly emerged beetles is interesting. Newly emerged beetles seem uninterested in socialization and avoid interaction with other beetles. The other adult beetles were not immediately interested in them upon introduction but one tried inspecting this new beetle, which prompted it to slowly find somewhere more secluded to call home for the time being. If anyone hasn't seen my previous post about my original captive bred beetles current status, he also has the tendency to be less active and less social than the other beetles. Time will tell if their behavior will vary with age or not.

Currently, none of the other larvae have shown signs of pupating yet, but there are definitely other large ones that have a good chance. One of the larger larvae have been at the surface for longer than they usually stay there, around a few days I believe, and I am anticipating and hoping that one will pupate next.

So far I'm very happy with my captive bred beetle progress! None of the pupae in my care have not reached adulthood, albiet there have only been two, I hope my success record continues. :)

They’ve never had watermelon before (at least not with me) and I think it’s safe to say it went down pretty well!

Hello! As others had suggested, here is a small frame of the color progression on my captive bred BDFB. The red color unfortunately does not last very long but it was super cool while it lasted. This little guy is doing really well so far!

His mannerisms are a tad different than the other BDFB I have. I cant tell if it is somehow due to being captive bred, due to him being so much smaller than the others, or just because he's young and strange and just learning how to be a beetle.

He is less likely to be social with the others and never seems to intentionally initiate contact or social behavior with another beetle. He's more likely to be hiding somewhere secluded or under something. Much to my surprise, when I was moving some decor, I even found him an inch or more under the sand directly underneath a small corkbark log which I haven't ever seen my other BDFB do before! I was digging around in the substrate looking for eggs and I was very shocked when I dug him up instead. I dont see him wandering around too often but its always pleasant to see him out and about.

I just love when they hide like this with their blue butt hanging out!!

since last week ive seen them tease each other with their antennae. the only male died last summer... they are behaving just like he did... are they just gay?

finally found the first emerged beetle on the surface this morning after almost two months incubating, so far it looks healthy!

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with 4 adorable perfect little blueberries inside it. Right now it’s pretty warm but a cold front is coming and my house isn’t too insulated. I need to heat their tank but what is good for a tank this small? And what watt? And what type of bulb? Please help me my beetles will be really cold without it.

Hello everyone! Exactly one week ago I adopted 6 beautiful blue death feigning beetles who were in an improper enclosure. They have been mating and today I found 8 (was 9, until one exploded in my hand :( ) eggs in their enclosure. I haven’t even had time to set up their 10 gallon tank and they are still in a large critter tote. I separated the eggs and put it in some damp coco substrate in a little container. I was looking at incubators earlier this week in case this happened, I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon! Can anyone recommend a nice incubator for them? I would like one that has a fan and is already made. I’d rather spend $200 on an already made incubator than $200 making and failing at multiple tries and losing several eggs due to inaccuracy. I do kindly ask to not recommend the Vevor 25L one, I looked at the reviews and almost every recent review says how it broke down after a few weeks or months. If anyone has any personal tips they can recommend for raising these beetles please let me know! I know there is a guide on this Reddit, but if anyone has any personal tips I’d appreciate those as this information is hard to find and not many people have done this successfully. I’ll take anything you got, whether you know for sure it works or for sure it does not. Thank you!

One already played dead for several minutes 🙄

He crawled in there yesterday night, hasnt left since. Will he be able to get out on his own?

He's a big fan of fresh peppers.

I haven't had them for very long. This female in particular tends to be a little more timid than the others. She has been doing well otherwise.

Two days ago I noticed her ovipositor was out while she was eating. Then last night this came out of her. I segregated her from the rest and am keeping an eye on her. She is moving around, not twitching. She seems a bit like she's straining sometimes, then she rests, then walks around again. What is happening ?