Yesterday, I went upstairs to find these crawling around on my carpet.
Tenebrio molitor - The mealworm beetle
After a bit of investigation, I have come to the conclusion that they are mature mealworms. Since mealworms are quite expensive I have decided that I will hang on to them and see if they produce any offspring.
When I first spotted them I only saw two of them, and I hate killing insects so I grabbed a pint glass and trapped them inside. Pretty much straight away the two beetles that I caught started mating so there is a good chance that the female will lay some eggs. Then when I went upstairs again to clean my teeth I saw another one on the skirting board in the bathroom so that one ended up in my collection too. I have put them in an ice cream tub with some wood shavings, porridge oats and a piece of soggy tissue paper. Now I just have to wait and see if they will survive…
Lovely! Now you have some new pets.