Do they multiply during the year? How many are necessary to do a single European deer mount? What and how often do you feed them when no skull is in their tank?

I have many tens of thousands of dermestid beetles living in my quail colonies. They stay remarkably active even in freezing cold weather, below the feed bowls, where the quail congregate and produce heat. I had the beetles looked at by a biologist. She could not tell which of the myriad of dermestid species they are. I don't know if they are one of the better skeleton cleaning species. I should try them. I like them because they greatly reduce the amount of quail waste. They showed up on their own, 2 years ago.

Keith

Keeping a colony going is more involved than can be explained in one thread. There’s a lot of info out on the web.

I started beetling after wanting my skulls cleaned. I have 2 colonies in medium chest freezers. They are work like chickens...require food and heat and most of all, protection from invasive bugs. It's been about 8 yrs now, I cleaned 1000s of skulls. They reproduce and have a 4 to5 month lifespan., egg to adult. You need a good 1k to 2k to start a colony although some have started colonies from just a handful. If you're thinking of getting into it there's a good group on Facebook called dermestid Beetle work. I'd be sure whoever you buy your starter colony from to make sure they are invasive free and guarantee your satisfaction. There are lots of people out there selling them for super cheap but just like anything you don't always get what you pay for. I sold some to people on the east coast and as far away as Florida. One of my colonies has a little ham Beetle invasive colony in it. I bought my original colony from Ken at Kodiak pugs and phones when he was in Kodiak. He has since moved to Washington and still sells them he has a really good website with lots of information on it he even tells two people in Canada and Europe for starter colonies because he has the proper licensing for that export of them. I got into it and it's become more than a hobby it's like work now. They are a lot of work. But they do the best job and are very good workers. As they say Teamwork Makes the Dream Work.

Very Cool...but I don't want the work of them.