Bean weevils

[brandongalea]

Does anyone has some nutritional information about bean weevils, right now I'm using them to feed my young Trachycephalus resinifictrix, since at the moment I don't find pinhead crickets very often, and fruit flies are out of the questions over here.

[ViperJr]

I feed (and breed) these to our mourning geckos. I do not have statistics of their nutrition value, but from what I've read, they're good. The problem (as with all beetles) is their hard exo-skelleton. I've never feed these to frogs, but people tend to agree on that using them as a staple diet can be hazardous for small frogs (or at least dart frogs, since that's what people mainly seem to use them with), since they are having a hard time to digest all the chitin (which can cause impaction). As an additional feeder to the diet, they're great though!

[ViperJr]

Found some reading for you, and it overall looks like I was right:

http://www.frogforum.net/general-dis...n-weevils.html
http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...an-weevil.html
http://www.frogforum.net/general-dis...n-weevils.html
http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...ood-frogs.html

[Niels D]

I've been told that they contain more fat than most beatles normally do, but I've never checked this info. I've got way too much beatles at this moment, but there's nobody in my neighbourhood that wants them. If they're hatched I offer them some sugary honey on a piece of towel paper. This way they can survive for more than 6 months.

[KingCam]

Where does one acquire bean weevils? I'd like to start a culture.

[JeffreH]

I just wanted a couple of things since your post seems to show concern for finding an alternative small prey item. In addition, there are small species of cockroach that produce very small offspring which may be an option - though it require a little extra effort on your part to obtain them due to your location. I know of some enthusiasts in Europe though none in Malta...

Another option may the Bombyx mori Silkworm species; they are cultured around the world for thier silk production though only feed on mulberry or special diets made with mulberry additive. They aren't overly difficult to breed but require a lot of time to tend to on top of their specific feeding needs: the 1st instar larval are incredibly small and very soft bodied. This would be something available anywhere in the world or eggs to be importted from distributors in China and the US.

[wesleybrouwer]

They can easily cause prolapse when feed to much, at least to smaller frogs.
I'm not sure how big the resinifictrix are at the moment, but when you're talking about pinhead crickets, i guess not older then around 3 months?
You might give the beanweevils to provide some variaty, but as a staple i would stick to fruitflies and pea aphids that you need to dust with some vitamine substance since they are rapid growers.


The crickets for you're resinifictrix can be easily bred by yourself.
Just get yourself some adult specimens, pick the females out, wich you easily recognize because of the appendage they use to put their eggs in the soil.
You may put them in some perforated plasic trays with some moist soil, like eco earth.
Leaf them in there for around 2-3 days.
You will see that the female laid here eggs in the soil, the eggs look like small rice grains.
Keep the soil a little moist and keep it somewhere warm.
When the eggs will hatch, you will have loads of pinheads from just one box of adult crickets.
It will take you a week or 2-3 before the crickets will hatch, depending on species and temperature, but you will have more then enough for a couple of young frogs

[JeffreH]

I wonder how large the larvae are - if culturing it may be a more reasonable alternative to the adult beetle... Though I can only imagine it being a pain in the rear to actually harvest them lol.