# Mealworm beetles deadly to spiders?



## Sublios_Pixelus (Dec 13, 2008)

Got a curious problem here basically 3 or so weeks back i decided to start breeding the mealworms I have and this involves keeping the beetles in their own tub and anyone else who breeds mealworms may have noticed that the beetles tend to have a very chemical like smell

The problem here is that i keep my beetles in a small tub with lid which has side ventilation in a small open cabinet with a top and bottom section along with what was 3 tegenaria spiders, now over the last 2 weeks 2 of these tegs have died 1 a decent sized one and one a spiderling and the 3rd a mature female is not doing so well I do have another teg but i keep that with my tarantulas and that one is doing fine as are the T's but they are in a different cabinet

So is the chemical crap that the beetles produce harmful to spiders over time with a continuous exposure??


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

This is only from personal experience, but because none of my T's liked mealworms, I let them breed  in order to feed the baby mealies to the birds in my garden. I have never noticed any chemical or other smell from the beetles as long as they get enough ventilation. The mealie box just smells kind of yeasty. I kept the lid off their tub and replaced it with a piece of nylon mesh. I didn't separate beetles from mealies either, they are all together in a large plastic tub.

In fact one of my T's will eat the occasional darkling beetle, I don't give them to her often but she has shown no ill effects from eating them.

HTH


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

As stated above, darklings are non-lethal to Tarantulas, but to a Tegeneria spider they might well be. Remember that most beetles (including darklings) use chemical defenses to ward off predators. If that's particularly strong and the tegs are particularly small it may be an issue.

However, before you take this as saying "Yes they have died because of the beetles", proximity wouldn't kill them, so I'd reckon either the two tegs died of natural causes or you perhaps have some other type of chemical build up nearby.

Darklings and mealworms do indeed have a yeasty smell, if it's not similar to yeast that yer sniffin', you have other problems.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Unless you have conditions where the spider has no choice but to attack the potentially toxic animal, I would suggest it is unlikely. 

I've never heard anything about their toxicity banded about, and tbh most defensive secretions are nasty, but usually not lethal. For example, vinegaroons produce acetic acid and other volatilesl but it would only be lethal under enclosed conditions (which would also gas the vinegaroon, as happens in some instances!). 

Leg shedding could be any number of stress reasons. Are they too hot? Tegenaria don't need warm conditions - I see plenty activer now in Fife and the temperature is still sitting below 20C most days. Temperature stress could cause them to shed legs and appear rather worse for wear before death. Another possibility is that the prey is simply too large and they were injured whilst fighting with them - seperately from the noixious secretions.


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