{"id":3810,"date":"2021-03-19T15:56:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T15:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/?p=3810"},"modified":"2021-08-03T20:44:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T20:44:36","slug":"homemade-beetle-jelly-an-easy-how-to-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/homemade-beetle-jelly-an-easy-how-to-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Homemade Beetle Jelly: An Easy How-To Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Beetle Jelly is the ultimate treat for many fruit eating bug pets or feeding insects. Although it is developed primarily for beetles, it is a treat for many others. Nowadays there is a large variety of different tastes and colours. It is almost sold the same way as dog treats. And it is not cheap too. But, do our crawlers actually need this jelly? And maybe more important: Can you make beetle jelly yourself? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can easily make your own beetle jelly by adding fruits or vegetables to a mixture of water, sugar, honey and agar-agar powder. Although bug pets do not strictly need beetle jelly, this food source has many advantages. The biggest advantage is that it is easy food to provide when you are away for a couple of days. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You wouldn’t read this article if you were not wondering if beetle jelly works and why you feed it in the first place. Well, you probably know already that beetles and many other bug pets love it. So let’s dive more into why beetle jelly works and how you can make nutritious beetle jelly yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why feed beetle jelly in the first place?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s get right to it: Do our crawling pets actually need beetle jelly? This question can be answered very briefly with a clear NO. But you would not read this article if you know that there is more to come, don’t you? And yes, there is more to it. Although it is not strictly necessary to feed and your pets can survive just fine without it, there are some major advantages to beetle jelly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 advantages of using beetle jelly<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Beetle jelly has many perks compared to other food sources. What is the advantage of using beetle jelly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • It is easy to store (also in larger quantities) and doesn’t go to waste in a short time. <\/li>
  • It is easy to feed and easy to refresh the food. You only have to remove the cup without searching for any leftovers in the enclosure. If you clean the cup, you can reuse it for the next portion. <\/li>
  • It can be kept in terrariums for several days without fermenting. That way, it won’t cause a bad smell and will not attract fruit flies that quickly compared to feeding conventional fruit. <\/li>
  • It is an easy food source for many bug species when you are away for a few days. Your bugs still have access to a nutritious food source. <\/li>
  • If someone is ‘bug’ sitting when you are away, it is very easy for them to feed your bug species without much knowledge and room for error. You can make some beetle jelly in advance, and they only have to feed a cup every couple of days. <\/li>
  • In contrast, as the name suggests, beetle jelly can be fed to more bugs than beetles alone: Millipedes, snails, fruit-eating ants, and many different feeder insects. It makes it easy for you and for someone that takes care of all your animals when you are away. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The downside of beetle jelly<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    That sounds probably very appealing to use only beetle jelly from now on. But there are some downsides to mention. First, you need to provide some variation in beetle jelly flavours; otherwise, there is a probability that your pets will get nutritional deficiencies. It is the same with only feeding them bananas. After a while, they require other food items as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Also, when you feed beetle jelly, they can become fixated on this food source. Sometimes they like beetle jelly so much that they only want that and may refuse other food items. Be careful not to overfeed them with only beetle jelly and keep them fed with different other food items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Commercially available beetle jelly is rather expensive and on the package is not much information on what truly is in that mixture. But when you can store it for three years, it may give you some question marks if the content is really that healthy for your animals. But that’s why we wrote this article. When you make your own beetle jelly, you know exactly what is in it, and you still can store it for at least 2 months in the fridge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n