These prolific beetles are a great addition to most insectivores diet. Whether it be a young panther chameleon or an adult frog. These beetles are packed with protein which is critical to the growth of all animals. They are great for animal owners who are looking for a low cost, nutritious, and easy to care species that will not make offensive odors.
Keep Cultures 74-80 , Feed Off as Needed, Culture will last 4-6 weeks
How should I care for and culture bean beetles? Bean beetles are easy to culture and care for. Simply provide some black eyed peas for the adult beetles (which do not need food or drink) to lay eggs on, keep the culture at 75-85F, and wait! Within 4-8 weeks you'll have plenty of bean beetles to feed from. Initially, bean beetles will be reluctant to fly. After the culture has many eggs and larvae present, the next generation of bean beetles will fly/glide around the culture - feed out of the culture then, as that means the culture is full and it's time to feed out the adult bean beetles, and use the eggs/larvae present in the beans to make a new culture.
After mating, the female bean beetle will lay eggs singly on the surface of a black eyed pea. That egg will hatch, and the larvae will burrow into the bean, where it will dine and grow until pupating into the adult beetle. Adult beetles only live 1-2 weeks, and do not feed. This entire life cycle can take up to 7 weeks at room temperature, but temperatures in the mid 80s F will speed it up to 3-4 weeks. After a culture has boomed 2 times, it's time to make new cultures. Split the old beans and some beetles into new cultures. If your aim is to have a constant supply of bean beetles, you'll want to stagger your cultures and make new ones every 1-2 weeks.
How do I collect Bean Beetles from a culture? There are several different ways to harvest bean beetles from the culture, but all involve 2 basic strategies - removing the surface area from the culture (generally paper, paper towel, a cardboard tube, or a coffee filter) and shaking the beetles off, or sifting the beans using a colander. Either method works, but I prefer to remove the surface area and shake the beetles into a waiting container. You won't remove as many beetles as when using a colander, but more beetles will be left to breed in the culture.
How do I Dispose of an old Bean Beetle Culture?As bean beetles are a crop pest, it's important to dispose of all old beetles and beans with care. Place the materials in a sealed plastic bag, then freeze them for at least 72 hours. This will kill any eggs, larvae, and beetles present.
You get one culture either already started (at least 2 weeks) and producing or a freshly started culture (the freshly started ones include a portion of beans from an already started culture with eggs and larvae already in them to help production start) with visible bean beetles crawling around.
Some of the beetles develop the ability to fly (glide really) so keep that in mind when using them.
