Blue death feigning beetle possibly laying eggs?

Here I am with yet another question- yes, I am a beginner. Just bought 3 blue death feigning beetles, and one has been walking around with a brown thing sticking out of its rear- when I look closer, I see a clear, almost gel-like looking drop sticking out, and the beetle keeps pushing it back in, then out. Right now, only the brown part shows, but every few minutes, the clear thing pushes out, then back in. I am experimenting with different substrate, and right now they are in play sand with a small amount of coconut fiber. It was pretty moist, but has dried out some, so I'm hoping it's not too moist and this could be something related to that. They are all pretty black right now, which I'm sure is the moisture from the substrate. Suggestions? Anyone know if this could be egg-laying? I also have them in a one gallon for now, wondering if I should upgrade. Thanks!

Egg Laying and Something Else Too

I have seen something similar to what you describe:

I am pretty sure it is not an egg, but not sure what it is. Is this like what you saw?

Here is what egg laying looks like from one angle:


Hope this helps.

The second picture looks similar, the first one is a little different. What I saw was more of a clear fluid, and not so round in shape. I have no idea, but I haven't seen it again.

Clear Fluid from Female Blue Death Feigning Beetle

I captured this screen shot from a video I took of a female depositing a clear fluid like you described.

After she finished, she tried to eat it, but I removed to see what it was. It was fairly rigid and gel-like with a sticky surface. I returned it to the cage, but no beetles seemed interested in it. It collected sand and dried out like school glue.

I've seen that before. Could it be some sort of frass?

I really do not know what it is. I have only seen it happen once with a female, but I have seen the dried version a couple of other times. It could be the remains of a spermatophore.

Here is a vaguely similar squiggly spermatophore from fireflies:
http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2011/03/4894df4e35d79527fece781372c1a7b7-334x300.jpg

and one from a beetle I am not familiar with:
http://www.pensoft.net/J_FILES/1/articles/5492/export.php_files/ZooKeys-322-001-g004.jpg

Dean Rider said:

I really do not know what it is. I have only seen it happen once with a female, but I have seen the dried version a couple of other times. It could be the remains of a spermatophore.

Here is a vaguely similar squiggly spermatophore from fireflies:
http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2011/03/4894df4e35d79527fece781372c1a7b7-334x300.jpg

and one from a beetle I am not familiar with:
http://www.pensoft.net/J_FILES/1/articles/5492/export.php_files/ZooKeys-322-001-g004.jpg

Click to expand...

Thanks! That makes sense. I wonder if they eat them because they seem to mysteriously vanish after a while.