I've realized that the dust from my vertebrate captives' droppings is contaminating nearby objects, so I plopped the half-dead animal onto a watermelon lump in the front yard and avoided touching it as much as possible.
The next day, the green fruit scarab was still there. Evidently, it had tried to take shelter in a nearby tangle of roots and ended up covered with spiderwebs/ants instead. It was also even weaker than before (couldn't walk), but it still eagerly lapped up a yellow kiwi slice. I used the opportunity to attempt Domino Project footage capture:
They weren't professional-looking enough to make the cut, but I came pretty close.
Of course, I have obligations, and I left the animal with its fruit until afternoon.
I failed to consider that it would be too weak to move very far despite having been in the infamous Cotinis food coma for several hours.
That afternoon, the sun had shifted position; the scarab's shady brick was now in full sun and the animal had apparently been baked to death. At least I gave it a few days' worth of happiness, if insects are indeed conscious (this is a subject of apparent controversy).
It's been moved to shade, but since it was so overheated its mouthparts went limp I doubt it will ever wake up again
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