Does missing tarsi affect beetles?

What species of beetle are you referring to?

I've kept beetles and other insects that have had missing tarsi. It doesn't really affect them too badly, but climbing may become more difficult. And in the case of a male, it may be more difficult to hold onto a female. But either way, they can still live a long time.

 
My male superworm has been biting off my females legs as well. One of mine has only her middle legs unharmed, and her front and back legs are stumps. Why do they do this? I have been feeding them regularly. And no, as long as the beetle is able to move around to eat and drink it should be ok.

 
Asbolus laevis. I separated them, and I have a couple of other wild-caught beetles that are missing tarsi so I guess it's fine.

I've seen stag beetles at the museum do it also. The male stag there bit all the female's legs off and she died!

 
For me, every time a superworm beetle gets any type of open wound it gradually weakens and dies within one week. For some reason, the larvae seem to survive wounds and often have scabs on them.

Once I even had a deformed superworm beetle which had one of its antennae hollow and filled with fluid and eventually another one ate the deformed antenna, probably because the deformed beetle couldn't feel anything with that antenna. Even in that case it still died....

 
I have a superworm that the left front leg has been eaten/torn off and it has been doing good for over a week. What conditions are you keeping yours in? They might be getting infected whenever they get cut. Darkling beetles are normally pretty hardy, even if they are missing limbs.

 
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I keep my beetles in oats, without any misting, so I never have mite or mold problems and infections seem unlikely. Larvae are kept in the same conditions but are separated from adults because I learned the hard way that adult beetles die from wounds, though I have seen plenty of larvae with injuries and missing legs survive and do fine.

 
Now that I remember, I collected a woolly darkling with a missing foreleg, and a diabolical with one whole leg missing, and they seem fine.

 
My superworm beetle that has the front left leg torn off is dying! I guess they do die after getting cut. I wonder why? they are kept pretty dry, so I do not think mine got infected.

 
Hisserdude said:
My superworm beetle that has the front left leg torn off is dying! I guess they do die after getting cut. I wonder why? they are kept pretty dry, so I do not think mine got infected.
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Really? I have three beetles missing a foreleg, 2 missing both front tarsis, and one missing an entire leg. They all seem fine. The more recent ones I originally posted about were what concerned me because I'm sure the male tore them off, and I'm not sure what happened with the other beetles. But I guess it just depends either way.

 
Hmmph, my female beetle just got its middle right tarsus chewed off.

Recently the male's love life hasn't been going too well now that the female has apparently permanently run out of eggs... What coincidence! Just in time.

 
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