Found overwintering under bark, wood chunks, grass clippings or leaf pile between Christmas Day and Dec. 30, I forget where now or exactly when.
This is one of several brownish similar-looking species that I have kept in a container loaded with rolled oats plus some puppy chow, dried shrimp fishfood, pieces of vegetable and fungus, some paper towel scaps to climb on and under, and a plastic waterbottle cap in which I keep a wad of tissue soaking in water. (The beetles use this watering station.)
I shot a bunch of these beetles earlier but between dorsal and ventral views I was unable to tell where one beetle's pix ended and the next began. I fixed this by shooting a small "New Specimen" sign between beetles.
This individual is moderately hirsute, and I think that may be an important factor in determining its species, at least judging by similar-looking Blaptinus images on
this site.
btw, this image is actually pieces of four photos manually lassoed, moved and flattened onto each other to get better focus on various parts of the beetle.