Adding cleaner beetles to enclosure?

[jamest0o0]

Just wanted to see what you guys thought about adding Nick bartas cleaner beetles to an enclosure. I think they are peanut Beatles, buffalo beetles, and lesser mealworm beetles. Would they cause any harm? I have springtails and giant canyon isopods in there now.

 

[Jared910]

Don't see any reason why they would cause any harm. I would probably go ahead and give it a try if I used substrate in my enclosure. I just have nothing on the bottom so I can wipe dead bugs and rubbish away with a paper towel.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, I guess I just dont want them to run rampant and cause any sort of imbalance, hurt my plants, etc. I have 15 inches deep of substrate lol

 

[Jared910]

I'll go out on a limb here (no pun intended), and say it won't hurt your cham. Worst case scenario, if they do run rampant you could always just clean out all the substrate and dump em in the garbage. It is a cool idea to have a self sustaining ecosystem going on in your enclosure.

 

[AZChamFan]

I don't know anything about those beetles but I would just make absolutely sure they won't try and chew on your cham. I might sound paranoid but a lot of beetles can bite! I would personally stick with critters that are very well known to be safe until you can get some answers from people who have actually used them in an enclosure with their animals for some length of time. Just my two cents!

 

[jamest0o0]

@AZChamFan that's pretty much exactly what I was worries about. I just figured since they don't bother misting baby roaches, that maybe they'd be fine with Chams too. I know Nick barta doesn't sell the carnivorous beetles like dermetid in the cleaner crew, but being beetles they'll still probably chew on whatever they can.

@Jared910 my only worry with that is I'd have to rip every thing apart. My plants are planted straight into the soil and the soil is expensive lol.

 

[Lennoncham]

I would think that the beetles would breed in there and you would get tons of larva in there.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah was thinking that, not sure how much of a problem it'd be though? I guess I don't want lesser mealworm everywhere though they're creepy :/