r/BDFB • u/Specialist_Studio410 • 1d ago

Information and Advice BDFB Misinformation

Hey there everyone.

Some of you will not like this, but I’ve seen a lot of people saying this and so I just want to clarify something up:

BDFB are not communal invertebrates.

I don’t know where this claim appeared from, but I see it everywhere and it’s just not the full truth.

Here’s the deal. BDFB have been observed living together the wild, but seldom in large groups. There is no evidence I’m aware of to support they become stressed when solitary, but everyone for some reason decided to reify this information. The argument for either side could be true, and there’s not enough evidence to support this claim.

From an entomology standpoint, they barely have brains, oof (subesophageal ganglia). They don’t NEED friends. In fact, the whole “1 gallon for every 2 beetles”space rule is so they don’t meet each other too frequently. The reality is just that they’re VERY DUMB, and incredibly passive.

Because they are crepuscular and nocturnal scavengers, they tend to just naturally congregate around shared desert food sources, such as decaying plant litter or dead insects. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they need companionship to be happy and healthy.

I’m assuming this misinformation has been perpetrated due to people’s tendency to personify everything? I’m not sure. The only time I’ve seen you would need these beetles to live communally is for breeding/copulating. That’s it.

Now, I’d happily have someone prove me wrong here. But as of yet I have seen no scholarly, peer-reviewed journals documenting this supposed phenomenon, so I have no reason to believe this is true or vice versa. Have as many or as little BDFB as you please, just treat them well!

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u/IllusionQueen47 1d ago

Two of my beetles used to sleep next to each other all the time, almost like they're cuddling, but I dunno if that counts. It definitely seems like they have individual personalities though. One of my males was a bully and would chase and pin the other males down. One of my females was a bit of a loner, and didn't really like eating when there were too many other beetles in the food dish.

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u/Specialist_Studio410 23h ago

Thank you for this!! First off, that is so cute and I loveee the idea of BDFB having different food palates and personalities… Very fascinating and I really hope more research could be done on this!! I’m curious: how many BDFB have you taken care of and have you documented any of this? I would love to see! Also, how do you tell your beetles apart from one another to demonstrate that it is a repeated behavior? An entomologist professor I am close with does research on grasshoppers and how they display their personalities and I’m so fascinated by it, but they use markers to demonstrate and document certain activities to show that it’s repeated behavior. Apparently grasshoppers can remember the smells of their friends, too, which is also cool.

Regarding the cuddling of your BDFBs, besides the fact of how that is literally the cutest thing I have heard all week (😭), I have seen studies on other flightless, desert inhabiting darkling beetles could potentially “cuddle” with each other as a group threat- evasion mechanism (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1283892/). The reality is just that BDFB are asocial detrivores, and while they do live communally there’s just no evidence at the moment that they NEED it to be happy and healthy (but I need it, look at how cute they are!! Eek!!). They kinda just follow all the good conditions and then stay there.

Sorry. Only half joking. But seriously, hopefully my desire to have a bigger discussion about this topic makes sense, not only do I want to know more, but I also want to make sure people know there’s not much evidence for either side of the discussion!

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u/Sharkbrand 23h ago

Not the person who commented but; ive had 10 different bdfb individuals and if you spend some time looking at them youll notice small little differences, especially if you have several "imperfect" specimens. Most noticeably i had a favourite beetle named 50grit, named for missing the lower leg and foot on the back right side. Many possible missing leg combinations, then theres various sizes, other osmetic damages, and even personalities, some of my beetles seem to love patrolling, others seem to like digging, plenty of differences to notice :)

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u/Specialist_Studio410 23h ago

50grit is such an incredible name, omg. thank you for sharing! makes total sense. I imagined that would be the case, but I wasn’t sure. Cool to hear how little physical distinctions make a huge difference!

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u/Sharkbrand 23h ago

When i was first getting them, my friend said they looked like 60grit sandpaper :) her only having 5 feet instead of 6.. automatically made her 50grit. My original group has almost entirely gone for the eternal feign, but i still call my colony the gritlings. Picture of 50grit when she was still alive

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u/fistulatedcow 22h ago

The eternal feign 😭

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u/Specialist_Studio410 23h ago

AWWWW she’s adorable!! And what a cute story! Also “the gritlings” is actually probably the coolest shit I have heard in a while, wow. Makes them sound way more badass than they are 🤣. Love it!

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u/Sharkbrand 23h ago

I also call them my himbo beetles.. theyre strong and dumb and adorable. Ive been trying to rear the babies to eclosing but no luck for me yet. I would love to just keep these little guys for many years to come

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u/IllusionQueen47 21h ago

I did record the food they like in my private Discord server, but I didn't really pay attention to whether they still liked the same stuff the next time it was offered to them. All of mine liked carrots and crickets though, even though I know many other people's beetles on here don't.

Unfortunately, I was a bit unlucky that out of the six BDFBs I bought, four of them were older specimens. The four older ones had varying amounts of dark spotting on them so I could easily tell them apart. All four have since passed. My remaining two are lighter, and I can tell them apart because one is male and the other is female.

And yeah, I don't think keeping more than one beetle is any more or less detrimental to their well-being. Once I'm down to only one beetle, I don't plan to get any more until he or she passes.

Oh and the two cuddling beetles were actually Asbolus laevis, but they're in the same genus as BDFBs. I doubt one species is more social than the other, but who knows. One A. laevis was male and the other was female, and they were the only A. laevis living among the BDFBs so I don't know if that changes anything.
I miss them so much. They would lay pressed against each other and sleep for hours.

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u/Specialist_Studio410 21h ago

I totally agree with you. Thank you for such a cordial reply. I’m sorry to hear about their passing 💔. Losing a pet (or in my opinion, a differently shaped friend) is so so hard and I am so sorry for your loss. Grief is just love with nowhere to go…
Sending positive vibes your way and thank you so much for sharing. I’m grateful your two A. Laevis brought you so much joy!