Bess Beetle - Roach Crossing

Odontotaenius disjunctus

Adults: $10/each

Detailed Species Stats -Click-

Adult Size: 42 mm.
Care Level: Easy.
Temperature Requirements: 60-85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Air Humidity: Not picky.
Substrate Humidity: Not picky.
Favorite Foods: Rotting wood.
Locality: Briceville, Tennessee, United States.

Bess beetles are excellent pet insects for the casual invertebrate keeper. They’re long lived, insanely easy to care for, easy to handle, and fascinating to watch when accommodated. Unlike other wood-eating beetles, they will eat wood that has just barely begun to rot, meaning easily purchased wood pellets and shavings can be added to the enclosure and will quickly become palatable. These are intriguing beetles with complex, well-studied social “vocalizations” and interactions. Adults and larvae are communal and communicate via various stridulations, and some of these are very audible to the human ear. Breeding is not easily accomplished in captivity due to the quantity of wood and space required, but has been done. Roach Crossing is working on captive propagation of this and other Odontoaenius species, but at present the stock offered is wild-collected from what could be described as a small-scale bess beetle farm.