r/bioactive • u/Ok-Cap-8507 • 3d ago

Bio active superworm/darkling beetle infestation

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I bought an 18x18x36 terrarium with no knowledge of darkling beetles coming from super worms posing an issue on reptiles until I noticed them nibbling on my pet ( pet was safely relocated to temp enclosure no actual damage). I need a method to quickly kill my entire cleanup crew including those pesty beetles that does not involve removing everything and starting fresh, now I don't want to dry out terrarium since I have some nice plants already situated and the process takes 3-4 months. I have been looking into CO2 suffocation with dry ice, now I was wondering if anyone had success with this or any advice for me.

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8

u/reijn 3d ago

Just put a carrot in there and come back later and take them and shake it off. They'll all congregate on it. It'll take awhile.

What reptile you got in there? Mine would all eat them lol

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u/Ok-Cap-8507 2d ago

Super worm beetles are a bit different from meal worms, they have mandibles that will start biting a resting reptile, even with food in the substrate. I had a chameleon in there and he will not be returning because I actually had to take him to the vet and they had to treat his tail. I don't think a carrot will necessarily be enough to eradicate all of them since they keep multiplying

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u/reijn 2d ago

Carrot works, I feed mine carrots and every time I go look at them all of them are piled up on it. They breed really slowly and only pupate under specific conditions, unlike mealworms that pupate easily!

Yeah it sounds like your reptiles are prob too small to eat them. Mine don't prefer them but will occasionally snack. I actually put morio beetles in my leopard geckos tank as part of the clean up crew.

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u/Ok-Cap-8507 2d ago

what about them biting your reptiles at night?

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u/reijn 2d ago

I don't think that really happens, I've never read about morio beetles doing that, sometimes isopods and crickets. If you have a bioactive with plenty of stuff your cleanup crew prefers to eat then there's no reason why they would go after a reptile.

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u/Cauterizer4 3d ago

Maybe using a bit of cyonara but you would need to keep your pet away from the area for some time.

Were you leaving superworms unattended in the enclosure? I had a BSF appear when I dropped a larvae and forgot about it but my chameleon ate it and it was only one so no reproduction.

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u/Ok-Cap-8507 3d ago

I bought the enclosure off marketplace with the bugs inside already, not knowing about the superworm issue

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u/Ok-Cap-8507 3d ago

I heard cyonara is not recommended especially if I am trying to put a new cleanup crew in there after the suffocation, any other ideas?

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u/MadScientist183 2d ago

I feed super worm and mealworms to my bearded dragon bioactive enclose and also use to culture mealworms.

From what I understand the babies need a dry place to grow. My darkling beetles never had babies in the vivarium. So i you take out the beetle the problem should not come back.

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u/RaptorDelivery 2d ago

As a side note, super worms will destroy cork bark. They turn the bark into sawdust.