What's the tastiest Jellies for Beetles?

[Bugoodle]

Is there a specific beetle jelly out there that has a good reputation especially how much beetles love it? I want to put my beetles back on jellies, cause raw fruit has been causing a serious problem right now and I want to keep their cages clean, but they are picky and don't like the jellies I  bought from bugs in cyber space, or zoomed's "creature jelly." I own a flower harlequin beetle, a rice beetle(scarab), a green june bug, and a mimmicking beetle roach. They all LOVE banana the most of anything, so something banana flavored/made with real bananas would be preferred.

Thank you!

[GelGelada]

I am not sure if you are having issues with gnats or just the fruit spoiling/having fruit on hand...?

I always just use mashed (ripe) banana mixed with a few drops of honey in a dish or water bottle caps set into a jelly holder, but also it's not hard to make your own homemade beetle jelly! There's various recipes online with agar-agar powder (do not use beef gelatin!). You could mix in blended banana and dark brown sugar to make it attractive to beetles as jelly. Then you can keep that in the fridge and use it as needed for a few weeks in a covered container. Another alternative is keeping a bottle of real maple syrup and feeding with a sponge on a dish. However, make sure you change out the sponge frequently so bacteria doesn't make them sick. Most insects are attracted to maple syrup quite well, but it's supposedly not as nutritious because it's pure sugar.

That said, it's hard to keep beetles "clean". Beetles will always get substrate into their food. if that's what you mean. This is inevitable. Unless you keep them in something which doesn't have particles/wood bits, but then you risk them drying out or being unhealthy.

Depending on when your beetles emerged, they also just might not be hungry! Unless they took food recently, it's possible they are just not ready to eat if they recently emerged as adults, but I wouldn't know the details on that.

[Bugoodle]

Thank you! The problem I'm having is grain mites. They got on my beetles and formed a nasty crust on them. I would find the mites on the banana but not on the jelly. Jelly doesn't attract fruit flies either. Banana rots real quick, including in the fridge. The honey and banana recipe I bet they would love! Too bad the mites would like it too. I'll try the jelly recipe though.

[Ratmosphere]

Mine love the Banana ones. What jellies did Peter give you? 

[GelGelada]

I wouldn't think rotting was the issue. I used browned bananas that were not suitable for anything but banana bread, ahaha- and the beetles ate that just as fine as fresh.

As for mites, might wanna just put all your insects in separate containers with no substrate and try and suffocate the mites with dryness. Then treat all your substrate in the oven. A crust on a beetle sounds really bad... someone else may have some other help but that's usually what I do if I have a mite explosion.

[Bugoodle]

 

3 hours ago, Ratmosphere said:

Mine love the Banana ones. What jellies did Peter give you? 

Looking at the pictures, they seem to be a mix of tropical fruit, they come in assorted colors. I tasted one myself, it taste like fruity jello, what scarab wouldn't love that? I guess I have picky spoiled beetles who I've been giving raw foods for maybe too long. June bugs will eat them, but my Harlequin flower beetle(may lick the juice off a fresh one) and rice beetle(rice beetles are naturally a little picky) don't like them. 

Creature jelly had banana ones, I've never givin those to my bugs today, but our other insects from last year wouldn't touch them. They aren't very fragrant either.

[Bugoodle]

1 hour ago, GelGelada said:

I wouldn't think rotting was the issue. I used browned bananas that were not suitable for anything but banana bread, ahaha- and the beetles ate that just as fine as fresh.

As for mites, might wanna just put all your insects in separate containers with no substrate and try and suffocate the mites with dryness. Then treat all your substrate in the oven. A crust on a beetle sounds really bad... someone else may have some other help but that's usually what I do if I have a mite explosion.

I

I only had enough suitable enclosures and their simply too small. While my june bug doesn't have any, he is quarantined.  I've been keeping my enclosure dry and clean with little substrate. And the tank will be cleaned every week with fresh substrate. I've noticed a small decrease though and my beetles are looking a lot better. The mite crust seems to be taking place on their bellies only now.

[GelGelada]

Beetles can do fine in just simple plastic tubs from a local grocer or store with holes drilled in the tops. Don't need anything fancy or expensive like tanks. Tanks are also harder to keep clean in my experience but I understand that plastic tubs are ugly. Generally it doesn't matter for a single bug to be kept in something smaller so long as it's secure and they can't push off the lid (in the case of strong rhino beetle). Just make sure to always put something such as a small stick in any container that the insect can latch onto in case they flip themselves over, as they can struggle and die on their back.

Do you have any photos of this "mite crust" so we can see? From what I know, mites just reproduce rapidly and that pink layer is the mites crowding together, which can suffocate the insect's spiracles (how they breathe) if they get too numerous. A soft paint brush can usually dislodge stray ones and help keep numbers down with frequent substrate treatments.

[Ratmosphere]

Those might be the more common jellies found at Asian markets. I use those all of the time with no issues, not sure why the beetles are not liking them.