Beetle bonanza!

I didn't have time to check my "farm" this morning before we left for the day.  When I got home in the evening, I found a few new pupae and forty-six new beetles!!  I've posted a picture of them before I added them to their friends.

I've found that the best way to pick up the beetles is to flip them on their backs and touch them with my finger.  They'll just grab the tip of my finger with their feet and I can move them to the cup I use for transfer.

Morphing pupa and beetle

Today I found both a pupa and a beetle who were in the final stages of morphing, and I took some pictures.  I also took a picture of my collection of beetles which is growing.

LOTS more pupae!

Several times today I've taken a few more pupae and beetles out to move them to their next drawer.  Tonight I looked one more time, and just pulled out 18 more pupae!  Now, we're really making progress!  My beetle drawer is looking pretty active, too.

More cute beetles

This morning I had about six more beetles (along with 4 new pupae). Three of the beetles were really pale-looking, so they must have just morphed.  I've got a picture of them here.  Aren't they cute?  I guess they will be brown in a little while and then turn black.

I've noticed that when I move the newspaper that's covering the worms, they don't dig in as fast now.  I think a bunch of them are starting to slow down, and I may have a lot of pupae soon!  They're also pretty big and are fatter.

Jackpot!

I felt like I hit the jackpot this morning!  I found 13 pupae and 4 light brown beetles!  Now, we're getting somewhere!

I was helping clean the wildlife clinic yesterday, and found a nice black beetle, which I promptly put in a cup and brought home with me.  Now, when I open the beetle drawer, I can see some activity.

I've been giving every drawer a fresh apple slice every few days.

Stray beetle

We had an unexpected addition a couple of days ago.   My husband said he found one of my beetles in the laundry room.  He handed it to me, and it was a tiny bit larger than the ones in my drawer, but I looked closely and it sure looks like the same type of beetle.  I'm no beetle expert, but I decided to put him in the drawer with the other beetles anyway.  The only thing I can think is that he started as a mealworm in the laundry I do for the wildlife clinic, and fell out and did his molting in my laundry room.  I guess the conditions for beetle-growing don't have to be very precise!

I've also had one more pupa morph into a beetle.  They sure are taking a long time!  I get four or five more pupae each day.  Maybe it's like a watched pot, since I look several times a day.