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Bioactive vivariums take your pet’s habitat from a glass aquarium with some plastic plants to a full-blown ecosystem. Bioactive terrariums are more complex to set up, but once you lay the groundwork, they take care of a lot of your cleaning and maintenance for you. Along with plants, the key ingredient in a bioactive setup is decomposers.
In this article, we’ll talk about one of the key decomposing insects that you should be using: the dermestid beetle. This is everything you need to know about dermestids.
What Are Dermestid Beetles?
Dermestid beetles (family Dermestidae) are a group of over 1,800 species of beetles. There are tons of these things out there! They have a lot of jobs in nature, but primarily act as decomposers, breaking down dead stuff.
They eat a wide variety of things, but mostly specialize on dry food like shed skin, natural fibers, and even hair. They are often used in taxidermy to clean off animal bone in the most delicate and efficient way possible.
Pesky Pests or Nature’s Janitors?
Dermestid beetles have another name: carpet beetles. Just by the way that sounds, you can probably guess that you probably wouldn’t want them in your house. Dermestids can become pests if you’re not careful with them, and are very efficient at eating natural fibers in your drapes, linens, rugs, and furniture.
But in an enclosed vivarium, they work wonders. They do a great job of cleaning up dry waste like shed skin, uneaten dead insects, and other waste. Their specialty is dry, tough waste that other insects can’t handle.
Dermestids in Your Cleanup Crew (CUC)
It’s important to note that dermestid beetles don’t do every job by themselves, though. Dermestids are just one member of a cleanup crew (often abbreviated to CUC). You need other insects to take care of the things they don’t clean, especially your pet’s poop.
Dermestids pair very well with springtails (class Collembola) and isopods, which are more suited to dealing with wet waste. As a team, these three kinds of insects can take care of almost all the cleaning you need to do for your pet.
Where They Hang Out
Dermestids are natural burrowers, and will spend most of their time in the substrate or hanging out under furniture in your pet’s enclosure. They like it dark and are drawn to loose substrate.
Are Dermestids Right for My Pet?
This is where bioactive setups get complicated. It’s not quite as simple as “dump all these things into an enclosure and they’ll make an ecosystem”. You have to carefully pick each of the organisms you choose as neighbors.
Reptiles That Work Well With Dermestids
One key detail about dermestids is that they thrive in warm, dry conditions. So they do best in the company of reptiles from desert environments. Leopard geckos, bearded dragons, and other dry-loving lizards are perfect for bioactive enclosures with dermestid beetles.
Frogs, chameleons, and other pets that need higher humidity most likely won’t work with dermestids.
What if I Can’t Use Dermestid Beetles?
If you’re trying to set up a bioactive vivarium for a humid-loving tropical pet, you probably won’t be able to use dermestid beetles. But the good news is that isopods and springtails on their own work really well in these situations.
What if My Pet Eats Some of My Dermestid Beetles?
Even if you didn’t intend on a bioactive vivarium, it’s pretty common to find dermestid beetles in store-bought substrate. People commonly find dermestids popping up in their habitats out of nowhere and worry about their pets eating them.
The good news is that while dermestids aren’t a high-quality food source, they shouldn’t hurt your pet if it accidentally eats a few. That said, don’t think of dermestids as a food source. Their populations should regulate themselves based on the amount of food available, and you shouldn’t rely on your pet to keep their numbers in check.
Setting Up a Dermestid-Friendly Habitat
Plan for Your Reptile First
The key with any bioactive setup is to think about what your reptile pet needs first. So if you have a leopard gecko, you’ll want a mix of substrates that suits their needs. A lot of leo owners use 40-60% organic soil, 30-40% sand, and 10-20% excavator clay to build a good substrate.
Get your reptile pet situated before you introduce your CUC. Some pet owners will even create a separate “dermestidarium” to get their dermestids going before they introduce them. The dermestidarium should have a light woody substrate like aspen shavings and some protein (bone/meat) food for them to eat.
Introducing Your Cleanup Crew
When your reptile is ready, you can introduce your dermestids and let them get situated. Be prepared for your dermestids to reproduce quickly as they eat. It’s common to notice a “boom and bust” as the beetles do their thing, reproduce, and then start to die off as they consume the waste in the enclosure.
Eventually, the dermestids will regulate their own population. Enough will survive to take care of your pet’s waste as it creates it. As time goes on, you might need to introduce a few more dermestids into the enclosure, just to keep their genetic diversity up.
Maintaining a Healthy Balance
Once your dermestids, springtails, and isopods are happily filling the role of decomposers, your bioactive ecosystem will really get going. If you choose to use live plants, the decomposers will provide fertilizer to keep them healthy.
At this point, your job is just to maintain a happy, healthy environment. You will probably have to spot clean and replace patches of substrate from time to time. You will also need to keep an eye on the temperature and humidity in the enclosure. Remember to keep things mostly dry, as too much humidity can kill off your dermestids, introduce mold, and hurt your pet.
Beyond that, you’re on easy street! Kick your feet up and watch as your insect cleanup crew does the dirty work for you.