Worms /beetles in with the crickets...

Just curious if anyone knows what the worms/beetles are that always seem to come with the crickets I order. Funky looking little worms that turn into small black beetles. I'll take a photo if need be, but I am sure someone knows what I am talking about.

I'm fairly sure I know what you're talking about because I've gotten a number of the small (black?) beetles and very few small centipede type worms too.

The small beetles are nasty buggers that can fly well, I've had to track down 3 of them so far from them just jumping right out of the tank I had the crickets in.

I don't know what they are though. They are annoying though

The worms I got with the crickets were cricket larvi and perfectly safe for the chameleon and he loves them.

If they turn into black beatles then they must be the larvi of the beatles.

Beatles are sometimes included as they clean up the bottom of the cricket box by eating all the shed carcasses and dead crickets etc. They are also perfectly safe to feed to chameleons.

Psi said:

I'm fairly sure I know what you're talking about because I've gotten a number of the small (black?) beetles and very few small centipede type worms too.

The small beetles are nasty buggers that can fly well, I've had to track down 3 of them so far from them just jumping right out of the tank I had the crickets in.

I don't know what they are though. They are annoying though

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Yep black centipede looking worms! Thats exactly what I am talking about. And yes the beetles fly

If they turn into black beatles then they must be the larvi of the beatles.
p

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If they turn into black beatles, I want to hear them play!

I also get the black centipede looking worms in with my crickets. Never seen the beetles though. I wanst sure if they came with the crickets or the cricket food. I do see small brownish gold looking beetles in the cricket food sometime.

I would suspect it is "skin beetles", Dermestidae, of some sort.

I have been told they are potato bugs. They give the crickets potatoes to eat at the supplier and pack potatoes in with your order. This may or may not be what you are seeing.

jojackson said:

If they turn into black beatles, I want to hear them play!

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lol, good one!

There's no such thing as cricket larvi crickets hatch out crickets.

Well whatever they are, my chams readily eat them. I swear there were more worms then crickets in this last batch of crickets I just got, and they seem to be multiplying. Needless to say I am going back to my old cricket supplier.

ciafardo 4 said:

There's no such thing as cricket larvi crickets hatch out crickets.

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crickets lay eggs that hach out crickets

Surfrat said:

Just curious if anyone knows what the worms/beetles are that always seem to come with the crickets I order. Funky looking little worms that turn into small black beetles. I'll take a photo if need be, but I am sure someone knows what I am talking about.

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if the black centipede looking things are dead they are probably dead meal or superworms which are usually raised in the same facilities as crickets , both meal and superworms turn into weired looking grubs that turn into small beetles which in turn create more meal/super worms do the beatles look like this ? the pictures are of tenebrio beatles the parent/ adult form of meal worm / superworms and their beatles are not much different

pictures of dead mealworms and the weired grubs that live mealworms turn into before they turn into the beatles pictured in the previous post

HairyScaryMark said:

The worms I got with the crickets were cricket larvi and perfectly safe for the chameleon and he loves them.

If they turn into black beatles then they must be the larvi of the beatles.

Beatles are sometimes included as they clean up the bottom of the cricket box by eating all the shed carcasses and dead crickets etc. They are also perfectly safe to feed to chameleons.

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Thanks for telling me! i was getting concerned about them.

JustAGeckoReasercher said:

Thanks for telling me! i was getting concerned about them.

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This is a 12 year old thread with incorrect information. There's no such thing as cricket larvae, they're hatched as tiny pinhead crickets. Larvae go through a metamorphosis, like beetle grubs. What's found with crickets is usually dermestid which are used to clean up(sometimes too well, eating live insects as well). Sometimes lesser mealworm beetles/larvae are used too which basically look like tiny mealworms/beetles.