Edit- sorry, I think this should have been put in the health section. If admin wishes to move it, please do.
We have three BDFB. They've been doing great. They've all been extremely active and seem to be having a nice life in their habitat.
However. Our smallest beetle went to sleep in their faux croc skull many days ago, and that little dude has not been seen active since. I'd been watching when on day two, I'd noticed he hadn't been out and about or moved from that spot in over 24 hours, thinking he might have died. I took a pic on the 4th day. I just checked my photo data, and that was one week ago. So he's been out cold for 11 days. Not moving at all. However- there are none of the usual signs of death. He looks asleep. Same color, no color loss or change at all. No legs in the air, just a cozy looking bug. Because I didn't see any obvious signs of death, I left him where he is. I did check to see if he'd move upon being picked up or moved, but there was no change. So I put him right back where he was, and have been watching. The other beetles sometimes sleep next to him, and have nudged him a bit, but they otherwise leave him alone and go about their business between their skull naps.
My first thought was that perhaps it's torpor because it's autumn? We are in the PNW, and though we keep their habitat very desert-like, with day and night heat lamps and a steady 90 degrees, I wonder if some instinct is telling the little one to rest. No idea, really. So we leave him be, and hope he makes his way back to the living... so to speak. I check him a few times a day, watching for signs of color change, but so far, nothing has shifted at all. I'll attach two pics. The first pic is from that fourth day, and the second pic is from today. In today's, you can see he's facing the side now, I think his tankmates moved him when they cozied up to sleep. The beetle in the background is asleep in the nose of the croc. Both pics were taken through the hole in the back of the skull, so it's not as clear as I'd like, the phone keeps trying to focus on the skull. I check on this guy so often, my teenager is getting very annoyed, neither I or my kid has seen them move from this spot in 11 days. The other two have had zero changes, they're still active, eating, sleeping, and then active again.
Just wondering if he's in torpor. If he's dead, it doesn't look like any dead beetle I've ever read about. If he does die, will the other beetles eat him? Just curious.
We have three BDFB. They've been doing great. They've all been extremely active and seem to be having a nice life in their habitat.
However. Our smallest beetle went to sleep in their faux croc skull many days ago, and that little dude has not been seen active since. I'd been watching when on day two, I'd noticed he hadn't been out and about or moved from that spot in over 24 hours, thinking he might have died. I took a pic on the 4th day. I just checked my photo data, and that was one week ago. So he's been out cold for 11 days. Not moving at all. However- there are none of the usual signs of death. He looks asleep. Same color, no color loss or change at all. No legs in the air, just a cozy looking bug. Because I didn't see any obvious signs of death, I left him where he is. I did check to see if he'd move upon being picked up or moved, but there was no change. So I put him right back where he was, and have been watching. The other beetles sometimes sleep next to him, and have nudged him a bit, but they otherwise leave him alone and go about their business between their skull naps.
My first thought was that perhaps it's torpor because it's autumn? We are in the PNW, and though we keep their habitat very desert-like, with day and night heat lamps and a steady 90 degrees, I wonder if some instinct is telling the little one to rest. No idea, really. So we leave him be, and hope he makes his way back to the living... so to speak. I check him a few times a day, watching for signs of color change, but so far, nothing has shifted at all. I'll attach two pics. The first pic is from that fourth day, and the second pic is from today. In today's, you can see he's facing the side now, I think his tankmates moved him when they cozied up to sleep. The beetle in the background is asleep in the nose of the croc. Both pics were taken through the hole in the back of the skull, so it's not as clear as I'd like, the phone keeps trying to focus on the skull. I check on this guy so often, my teenager is getting very annoyed, neither I or my kid has seen them move from this spot in 11 days. The other two have had zero changes, they're still active, eating, sleeping, and then active again.
Just wondering if he's in torpor. If he's dead, it doesn't look like any dead beetle I've ever read about. If he does die, will the other beetles eat him? Just curious.
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