I've had a click beetle for 2 weeks and 3 days. So take my advice with a grain of salt if you wish. However I do feel this has some credible information. Besides not too many people follow caresheets exactly. So without further a due, here it is.
What is a click beetle?
Click beetles are beetles in the Elateridae family. They have a rather interesting defense mechanism. When a predator gets to close or grabs them they make a clicking noise. This click is made from the spine fitting into a groove on their third thoracic segmit. They can also use this mechinism to pop them selves on their feet should they ever fall on their backs.
Food
They eat oats, fruit, flowers, and leaves. Although, I believe I read they eat certain kinds of flowers and leaves. I'm not sure what kinds these are. I recommend oat meal and bananas. Cat food is a good option provided you have moistened the otherwise dry cat food.
Housing
I recomened as much room as possible. The minimum amount of space is not known. Cause not a lot of people keep click beetles as pets. Honestly if anyone reads this at all I'd be surprised.
I'd imagine 2 to 5 gallons per beetle would be an OK rule, but really the more space the better. Mine is in a 10 gallon. He's a pretty happy fellow!
They also like climbing, hiding and walking around. So include things it can his under, preferably wood/bark. I have really thin wood in the back corners that he likes to get under. I also put a black backdrop made out of an old T-shirt so the corners will be hidden. But that's my idea of a hiding spot. Use your own ideas. Unless you like my idea.
For climbing I used large sticks that I put in the dirt and leaned against the sides of the tank. One pieced is wedged between the back corner and front of the glass with two other sticks leaning on it. But again these are my ideas. Its not mandatory. Just give it stuff to climb on. The substrate I use is dirt. I found my beetle in my yard, so I assumed it would be alright to use stuff I found in the yard. If you do this understand you may pick up other bugs. Commercial substrates and things to climb on/hide under are the best option for a higher chance of safety.
That's about as much information that I could find on them. Hopfuly this is more organized than my thoughts are. And the typos are at a minimum. (Typos are kinda my trademark on forums) There aren't any caresheets out there that I could find. Probably cause no one (including me) recommends catching pets in your yard. And I don't know anyone that's selling click beetles. However, some people are going to do it anyway so I think contributing a little knowledge on the subject is my way of protecting the little guys from careless owners that wouldn't even even try to research. If you are researching this congratulations. You're one of the few. If you're not then I can make fun of you cause you're not reading this.
Any pet you want to keep, please do you research BEFORE you get it. Not after.
- Jamey
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Click Beetle Care sheet
