American Burying Bettle Exhibit - 2009

It\'s a shame the zoo doesn\'t do a better job exhibiting an animal they have done tons of conservation work with. Admittedly they would be extremely difficult to see and manage in any other set-up.

Sometimes with rare invertebrates the keeping guidelines are very tight - if there's a system that works they tend to stick with it.

One example would be Partula snails - all the tanks these are kept in are set up exactly the same way - you can see the tanks here: http://www.zoochat.com/55/partula-snail-breeding-room-bristol-19-a-121602/

EDIT: I have to say that I would love to see burrowing beetles. This is the kind of exhibit species I really like - conservationally-sensitive, weird (and indeed, somewhat grisly!), and with a story to tell. Superb.

I was really excited they had an exhibit for them but I couldn't see much. I had to write a husbandry protocol for American Burying Beetles for a class I took in college so I referenced a lot of the stuff Roger Williams Park Zoo has done.

And something like the Partula snail exhibit you said would work much better, even something like the Kihansi Spray Toads at the Toledo Zoo: http://www.zoochat.com/618/amazing-amphibians-kihansi-spray-toad-breeding-161664/
I think it makes people spend more time (even if only a few seconds more) at the exhibit because it makes them think "hey what's this?" and they might even think it's "cool" because they get to see "behind-the-scenes," as opposed to people seeing two fogged-up boxes and moving right along.

@ThylacineAlive Have there ever been American burying beetles on exhibit when you have visited this zoo? When I was contemplating visiting in 2016 they said that they no longer exhibited them, and I read out of time to visit this zoo.

@DavidBrown They have never been on-exhibit when I have visited this zoo, much to my disappointment. They weren't even on-display when I went in 2012. Unfortunately I have never seen this species, as Cincinnati keeps theirs off-show as well.. The zoo also keeps their New England Cottontails off-show (as does Queens, which is the only other zoo that keeps them afaik), though they can be seen on zoo grounds if you're lucky.

In response to @Maguari's comments, while I completely agree with you, the zoo used to display partula snails in a normal terrarium display for many years, including when this photograph was taken. Additionally, Bronx exhibits their Kihansi Spray Toads just as they would display any other frog species.

~Thylo