Dermestaria

The biggest commercial dermestid beetle breeder of the European Union!

A hobby that kept on growing, together with the number of beetles.

What are dermestid beetles?

Dermestid beetles are the variety of beetle species within the genus Dermestes. They are quite small, the adults generally not bigger that 10 mm. These beetles are nature's cleaning crew by eating carcasses and that is their main trait that characterizes them. The larvae as well as the adults feed on animal products such as meat, but they absolutely won't bite you in your living fingers while handling them. They are a relatively easy species to keep, even when you are new to beetle breeding.

These beetles can be part of the cleaner crew in bioactive reptile terraria and insect enclosures. They will feed on dead insects and sheds. Some species can also feed on plant materials including grains. Those species are more able to survive on a diet of kibble when carrion is scarce. All species are different in their qualities.

Due to their special diet, dermestid beetles can help you create museum-quality animal skeletons. The beetles work delicate enough leave bone undamaged and even cartilage often stays intact. Pet owners that would like a pet memorial in the shape of a skull or bones, may find the thought reassuring that their deceased pet is fuzed into a new life cycle during the cleaning proces and cleaned in a natural manner.

My dermestid beetles

My name is Sarah Mahie and I am an ecologist by profession. I gained my first colony of dermestid beetles, the species D. frischii, during my Bachelor study in Applied Biology. It's that exact colony that is still thriving in my care, since 2017, to this day! My interest in these beetle species grew quick and two years later, in 2019, I gained a colony of D. lardarius followed by D. maculatus. And it didn't stop there. In 2020 I established a colony of D. undulatus and in 2021 a colony of D. haemorrhoidalis. The newest addistions are from 2024, them being D. murinus and D. ater. I'm sure those won't be the last.

All dermestid beetles are kept in homogeneous colonies of a singular species and they can be carefully shipped throughout the European Union. You can buy different species of dermestid beetles in the shop.

Vendor at De Duystere Markt, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2025.

Mentions in media

My contribution to science:

  • Volunteered for the Skeleton Library, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australia, 2018 and 2019.
  • My beetles were used to conduct the following scientific research: Schoelitsz, B., et al. (2019). Ongewenste beestjes in de meelwormenkweek. Dierplagen 4: 4-8.
    Read the article online (Dutch)
  • The first to record Dermestes frischii and Dermestes maculatus in the Western Sahara, Morocco. January 2025. Confirmed by Andreas Herrmann.


Watch me on YouTube:

Cleaning bones of the living

6 May 2025 14:42

One of the most memorable pet commissions I got, was to clean the bones of a pet dog... that was still alive! The tail of the dog got stuck between a door and didn’t heal properly afterwards, resulting in the last part of the tail having to get amputated. The owners didn’t want to throw away a piece of their dog, so they asked me to preserve it. I cleaned the tail bones, four caudal vertebrae, with the help of my beetles and articulated the result. It was an absolutely unique experience. This story isn’t stand-alone when it comes to cleaning the bones of amputated limbs – the following story is about a human.

Read more »

An extra bone?

1 Mar 2025 01:12

This time I encountered one of my skeletons on the world wide web as a banner of America's Earliest Museums  (figure 1). It is the black rat (Rattus rattus) skeleton I have build. The black rat is a bit smaller than a brown rat, with a more slender skull and a longer tail. The tail is up to 130% of its body size!

Read more »

Another fishy story

7 Jan 2023 16:33

During the commission of Sushi, the pet fish that got an X-ray, I received a second commission for a fish skeleton - and this one also has an extraordinary story. Meet Pablo, named after Pablo Escobar.

Read more »

A little flight through Evolution

28 Aug 2021 11:18

I accidentally stumbled upon the website www.reptileevolution.com since they used the woolly derby's oppossum skeleton I build to highlight the traits of the genus Caluromys. And what an interesting website it is!

Read more »