Loops Asbolus verrucosus – Desert Ironclad Beetle

Hello! Bought a couple of these guys at a trade expo the other day. Thinking about selling them on my site, but not sure. These guys are great, and in a little fish tank setup. Was able to repurpose everything besides the gravel and decided to use white masonry sand instead, which i might add looks great IMO.

Asbolus verrucosus also known as the Desert Ironclad Beetle or Blue Death Feigning Beetle. These guys are capable of living up to 17 years in captivity. So far they’ve been fed daily, scraps of various different organic vegetables.

Excellent!! We have 4 of these. They are super fun, active, and entertaining. Slim to none chance that you will get them to breed, the conditions are pretty incredible. Check out the Blue Genome Project, he has information on breeding.

Also, if you are interested, the females have plain antennae while the males have "feathered" antennae. Small hairs on the underside of the males antennae that make them appear feathered, small and hard to see!

Good luck, great specimens. By the way, the more they are handled the less they will feign and the blacker they will become. The blue is something that develops in try conditions.

The guy i got them from breeds them, and he sells them for a great price. Also, idk what the feigning specifically looks like, but mine dont play dead at all. I'm not sure if his are used to constant vibration, light changes, and what not. I have a couple local breeders of spiders, inverts, and insects that arn't online. I may try to incorporate them into my website some how. I know my mantis breeder could prolly use some extra sales.

Rather nice and unusual looking, 17 years is a long time. Any other species make it to 20 plus?
insect rod,, oh my last two cats made it to 17 and 18 years old. I`m out of the vertebrate business.

Insect Rod wrote:Rather nice and unusual looking, 17 years is a long time. Any other species make it to 20 plus?
insect rod,, oh my last two cats made it to 17 and 18 years old. I`m out of the vertebrate business.

Some species of Ant queens live 20+ years. Giving birth to mass amounts of workers.

Nice, I love Tenebrionids! BTW, these guys probably won't survive long on a diet of strictly fruits and veggies, they need protein, preferably in the form of dog food or something similar.

Hisserdude wrote:Nice, I love Tenebrionids! BTW, these guys probably won't survive long on a diet of strictly fruits and veggies, they need protein, preferably in the form of dog food or something similar.

I bought some bug chow from my local insect breeder. He said it's what he feeds most of his bugs, and he supplies hydration via the veggies and fruits. I have been giving them that as well. In the process of making a dish for them. Something that'll hold the chow and the scraps separate and out of the sand.

Loops117 wrote:

Insect Rod wrote:Rather nice and unusual looking, 17 years is a long time. Any other species make it to 20 plus?
insect rod,, oh my last two cats made it to 17 and 18 years old. I`m out of the vertebrate business.

Some species of Ant queens live 20+ years. Giving birth to mass amounts of workers.

Termite queens live up to 35. Personally i'm not a fan of Coleoptera

Loops117 wrote:

Hisserdude wrote:Nice, I love Tenebrionids! BTW, these guys probably won't survive long on a diet of strictly fruits and veggies, they need protein, preferably in the form of dog food or something similar.

I bought some bug chow from my local insect breeder. He said it's what he feeds most of his bugs, and he supplies hydration via the veggies and fruits. I have been giving them that as well. In the process of making a dish for them. Something that'll hold the chow and the scraps separate and out of the sand.

OK then, they should be good. I use milk caps as food bowls, they work pretty good. Doesn't really matter much with darklings though, since they tend to take the food out and carry it somewhere else to eat privately.

Oh that's pretty cool. I havent given mine any chunks of food, just mainly large pieces that they eat from. I'm gonna have to mince up their next batch of carrot. These guys have already proven to be pretty interesting with their behavior.

Examples of A. verrucosus feigning behavior:





We had a food dish, not worth the trouble. These guys carry their food off and fight over any piece of food. "If you have it then it must be THE best piece." We feed a variety of foods: carrot, fish flakes, grapes, apples, oranges....another kind of beetle died within the enclosure and the A. verrucosus ate it. My understanding is they will not kill anything, but they will scavenge on the dead.

LOL, mine have never done that! That's so crazy, and i have yet to see them carry any food around.

When you pick them up, try turning them over in your hand and gently touching their legs. They will play dead for several minutes. Sometimes I worry that we actually killed one, but then it always revives and walks around as though nothing happened.

Do you keep them warm? They seem to be more active around sunup and sundown. We use a clip on shop light with a "modern" halogen bulb in for light and warmth. Turn it on when we get up and off around 5pm. Might stimulate yours some. Is that called "diurnal"?

Mine are really active, but i can't get them to play dead. As for location, they're with the rest of my bugs sitting between 70-75 degrees constantly. I'll have to try turning them over and see if i can get them to play dead. I originally bought them for my son so he could play with them. I told him how they play dead and he got a huge kick out of it, so i think i'll try.
Thank you.

And yes, "diurnal" is correct.

if you pick them up alot, they won't play dead because they don't see you as a threat anymore.