Meet the Animals:Darkling Beetles!!

These carefree giant beetles are very interesting critters! They live in the custom-made tortoise table along with our three Russian tortoises, Eon, Era, and Ages. These curious little bugs are important benefactors to the tortoises they live alongside, eating all of the tortoise's left overs and poop. We have several of the darkling beetles living in the tortoise table and they are very interesting to watch as they interact with our tortoises. They grow up to two inches long, making them the biggest native insects in Colorado! They do not bite, but have a very foul smelling spray which has earned them the slang name of 'stinkbug'. One time, I (Sebastian) picked one up and it sprayed me all across my hand! It took days for that smelly stain to come off! Though they don't really have a personality like the tortoises or many of our other animals, they are still very good pets, being extremely easy to care for and very fun to watch. We actually caught ours here in Colorado, and though they don't live very long, they reproduce so fast we never need to catch any more! Overall, they are very cool pets that you can actually buy at the petstore; their larva are called superworms, and they are sold as reptile food. If they are left in their container in a warm spot, they will turn into beetles after a month or so. We have done this before and, with any luck, the superworms turn into curious, fun-to-watch darkling beetles!