Dung Beetles

[Beetle-Experience]

Ratmosphere, Phanaeus would not be what you should be looking for if it's rabbit pellets you need removed.

The imported, African dung beetle: Digitonthophagus gazella (one of the species that Shade of Eclipse mentioned) would be much cheaper and are less picky with regards to dung types that they will eat.

Yes, they are small, brown and boring...

 

[Ratmosphere]

Man, that's a dissapointment. I kind of figured after seeing the dung pictured in that link. Looks like big, rankin and stankin patty; quite different than the rabbit poo. I'm not sure I can deal with such fecal matter.

 

[Max]

Thanks a lot for the link, Ratmosphere.

Pretty awesome, apart that from what kind of poo they need))

Still potentially very interesting, now I need to explore where to find some dung in London.

There are stables in nearby parks, would the beetles use horse dung instead?

 

[Beetle-Experience]

Max, They don't really need dog - I have found them on horse, cow and pig and used cow for my breeding project.

 

[Max]

Thanks, so I understand the faeces needs to be fresh?

 

[Beetle-Experience]

Fresh is better, and necessary for egg production. Adults will bury and/or eat tons of stuff, even dog food or beetle jelly, but will only spend the time to create brood balls when adequate poop is available. A lot of people will freeze the dung first, to kill anything already in it before giving it to Phanaeus, but you would likely need a separate freezer - I didn't freeze any when I was working with them.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Dang! I was going to share a scenario but since they need freshly made excrements, my argument may seem impossible. Say that you obtain a terrarium, enough to fill the mixture of substrate and dung. Since rabbit pellets are rather small, what about making them bigger? What if one were to construct numerous make shift brood ball by compressing it in the manner that a snowball is created? I feel like they would need to craft this ball on their own but hey, it's a thought.