Years ago now, I had wild dermestid beetles show up in the litter, mostly manure, of my coturnix quail colonies. They do a fantastic job keeping the dry manure and feathers from building up. I used to have to clean the pens out several times a year. Now only once about every two years. The numbers viewable under the feed bowls, in cooler weather, are vast. They dig down and hide amazingly quick, when exposed. The birds congregate in the bowls and the beetles stay under then for the heat produced by the birds.

I took some to a friend of mine, who's a biologist at Wilmington College. She had previously bought beetles for the college. She could identify them as dermestid beetles, but could not tell me which of the around 1800 species of dermestids they were.

I like them because they save us a lot of work shoveling manure.

Keith