Beetles and Lights

[Matt_S]

I know the beetles prefer no lights.  But don't they get used to having the lights on.  I keep mine in total darkness unless I am looking in on them.  Sometimes I like to watch them work but its hard when they are used to the dark and all of the sudden I turn the lights on or shine a bright flashlight in there.  Them little suckers are fast when you surprise them with a bright light.  They don't stick around long. 

Are your bugs mostly in the dark or open to light.  I am thinking of leaving the light on so I can actually go in a watch them.  I was even thinking of setting up a live feed web cam in the box.

[Gameovertaxidermy]

I don't actually own a colony, but from what I know about them and what I have seen from my friend's colonies(he does wholesale and retail work) they are pretty much a carpet beetle. In the wild they crawl under skin of animals that have been dead and picked apart for a few days feed and colonize. I have heard of them getting into houses and usually they colonize under materials like carpet with the right temperature, moisture, and darkness. So even though I think a few may feed with a light on typically you are aiming for not just feeding some beetles, your creating a thriving colony which feeds and breeds best in the dark or with something to mimic skin/carpet placed over them such as an upside down box especially if expected to reproduce ext... But like I said even though I have done a pretty fair amount of time doing research on this and spent time in a successful and well set up skull business, I still wholesale my skulls out to the guy who I was speaking about, so I'm not an expert on this.

[BONE COLLECTOR]

Matt, my two main colonies are in chest freezers with plexiglass windows cut in the top so I can view them and they don't seem to mind the light coming in .  Takes them about 2 days to clean a whitetail.

[mlo3135127]

I used to heat with heat lamps (for six years) so my lights were on all the time. They do fine with lights on as long as you leave them on. In fact, when my lights were on all the time, there was no disruption in their feeding when I went into the bug room. Now that I have in floor heating, everytime I turn the lights on, they scatter and hide. It takes time for them to get back to feeding. I have done it both ways, lights on and off, I have clean skulls both ways in the same amount of time. Lights on no problem.

[Matt_S]

I have a window on my freezer lid as well but keep it covered while in the shop.  I may just uncover it and leave the light on.  The main reason I have beetles is that I love watching them work.  Hard to do that when they run and hide from me all the time.

[Sea Wolf]

The house I bought came with an older chest freezer in the cellar. Going to be a bug home eventually. For those that use lights as the heat source, what about the dark blue, moonlight sort of lights that they have for nighttime reptiles. Has anyone tried to use those?

[Matt_S]

Just found out I have a lot more beetles than I thought.  I uncovered the window and left the light on for a while.  They all took off for cover when I turned on the lights.  After they were on for a while, they all came back out and went back to doin their thing. 

[Matt_S]

I had to try it.  My beetles are now live on camera

http://ustre.am/HuDK

[Clay.]

That is cool Matt.   Thanks for sharing.

[urcysk]

Im same as Matt I have a live camera feed, can watch them any time to see if the skulls are done see if they need water, see if I have intruders etc. get a camera its awesome

[trbruning]

seawolf  my bugs are also in achest freezer and all i use to heat them is a regular old 60 watt bulb nothing fancy, they work just as well in light as in the dark you just cant switch back and forth they need consistancy

[skullfreak]

you all have to much time on your hands....haha.once you have them for awhile you just go in and out changing the skulls and thats it.i leave a heat lamp bulb on 24/7 and it doesn't effect how the eat

[BillinSouthernPA]

Sea wolf.   I have a few retiles as,pets the blue bulbs watt for watt dont putout nearly as much heat as the red ones.

[RBlack]

Hey Matt, thats pretty cool, I thought about doing the same thing. Can you explain your set up for us less savy techies?

[Matt_S]

Hey Matt, thats pretty cool, I thought about doing the same thing. Can you explain your set up for us less savy techies?

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I have an old computer in my shop that can pretty much only get on the web.  Its just an old webcam and a free account with UStream.  Just have the camera taped inside the box.