Baby mealworm beetle??

[Moppel]

I found this little bug in with the mealworms last night, and I'm wondering if that is a baby mealworm beetle? (I don't know if they have a name.) The mealworms have been shedding like crazy, but I thought baby beetles are bigger. But then again, I've never seen one before. We didn't know what it was and put it out in the yard, just in case.

I'll also attach a picture of the container we keep the mealworms in. They are in a mix of chicken feed crumbles (for chicks) and Insect Chow from Rainbow Mealworms. I need to order more of the chow, and then I'll switch the worms to just that. (Or is the chicken stuff okay?) I keep them in the fridge, covered with a lid with lots of holes in it. I take them out in the late afternoon and put some carrot slices in the container. After feeding the geckos around 11pm-ish, I take out the carrots and pick out all the dead skin from shedding, and then I put them back in the fridge. Does that sound okay? They are definitely doing WAY better than the pet store mealworms we always bought before. (These came from Rainbow Mealworms.)

Anyway, the hubs thinks that beetle might have been something that came in the chicken feed. I looked up baby mealworm beetle pics, and they do look like what we had. What do you think?
Thanks!

Oh, and if it is a mealworm beetle, what do we do with it? Do we put it in a separate container? In the fridge? What do we feed it?
Thank you!!

 

[Tongue Flicker]

Yup, they're mealworm beetles. My leo can eat superworm beetles but most keepers fear of impaction coz of their hard exoskeleton. Unlike mealworm/superworm larvae, they can't really bite meaning they pose little to no threat. If you plan on breeding mealworms you could separate them unto another container and put some soil where they can lay eggs. I have some skinks that prefer eating beetles than crickets so i usually end up keeping them. They're very hardy bugs as they can survive for many weeks without food.

 

[Moppel]

Awesome, thank you! I was starting to feel a bit ignored. We would love to breed our own mealworms, so convenient. Too bad we put this little beetle out in the yard. Any future beetles will be separated and hopefully they'll produce more mealworms.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

Haha no prob. They turn to beetles faster than superworms so i guess it'll be easier to breed

 

[DrCarrotTail]

There's no such thing as a "baby" mealworm beetle. The worms are the babies and the beetles are the adult breeding stage. Once they get to the adult stage they never molt again so they cannot grow. They just breed and eventually die. Mealworm beetles can be smaller or larger depending on genetics and their health when they pupate. My guess, as it's so small, is that you may have another species of flour eating beetle that has invaded your mealworm colony. Not a big deal, you'll just have some smaller worms and beetles living along with your mealworms.

 

[Phantom240]

Agreed. That beetle is WAAAY smaller than your average darkling beetle. DrCarrotTail, you think it could be a dermestid beetle?

 

[Moppel]

Thanks! I thought it looked kinda small, compared to the worms it's supposed to come from. Just from looking at pics online, it looked very similar. One website I looked at said that "baby beetles" are about half an inch in size, and that sounded about right when looking at that little whatever-it-was. So much to learn!!

So it's not going to be a problem, whatever that thing might have been? Do you think it came in the chicken crumble? Should I throw that out and then use all Insect Chow? I have to get more first though.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

It could be a dermestid but I doubt it. They tend to look rounder and more "armored" than flour beetles and they have clubbed antennae. I currently have an infestation of annoying little mini-flour beetles in my mealworm colony that are driving me out of my mind. I wouldn't mind them if they stayed put but they fly and get into EVEYRTHING!! I bet its something along those lines...hopefully for you too big to fly...lol