Insect appreciation thread - You WILL love the bugs

[RollingRock2]

Damselfly

Spoiler

Just kidding I'm from the Frog thread get FROGGED bitches

 

[Scolopendra Dramatica]

I'd be interested in this thread, they come across as the easiest type of pet to keep. Once you get across the squick

Depends on the species, but most are incredibly easy to keep once you get their environment right and all are fascinating to watch/study!

You ever wanted a glass shoe box that you can look into and watch tiny alien looking monsters taking down other tiny alien looking monsters, well this is the hobby for you!

I've kept a little bit of everything over the past ten years and in return my minibeasts have kept a bit of childhood magic alive for me. My current favourite is Herby House, a big, beautifully preened enclosure in my living room, like a fishtank with dirt, that houses a bunch of big ol African milipeeds, sun beetles and more isopods (woodlice/pill bugs) than you can hope to count and there's always something to look at. It's a self cleaning setup so care is mostly scraping in leftover fruit and veg with a few supplements and keeping the moisture levels right with a spray bottle every now and then.

Tarantulas are another good, easy one to keep if you go for a nice commonly sold/solid species, there's nothing like watching them take down their prey and doing the spins afterwards.

I would note to avoid keeping centipedes if you're not an experienced critter keeper though, I've got a photograph of one I've kept attempting to pull the putty out that holds the glass of her enclosure together, they are beyond capable in terms of escape artistry and I cannot describe the raw panic of one of those big fuckers beneath your pillow at bedtime like you've been visited by a nightmare tooth fairy.

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

I would note to avoid keeping centipedes

yeah fuck that for a game of soldiers, those things give me the fear. Just evil looking lol. It's wierd they're in the same group as millipedes which seem to be the coolest most chill non-threatening things ever.

 

[Scolopendra Dramatica]

yeah fuck that for a game of soldiers, those things give me the fear. Just evil looking lol. It's wierd they're in the same group as millipedes which seem to be the coolest most chill non-threatening things ever.

It's amazing how wildly different they are. Millipedes are just stretch limo isopods, centipedes, on the other hand, are like boaconstrictors with an armoury of knife legs and the jaws of life up front. They don't seem to exit hunt mode as quickly as other bugs either, they're brutal little predators, but they're also half blind, you'd be surprised how often they launch an attack only to miss and smack up against something else instead.

Funny to watch, but mortifying when they've escaped.

 

[Android raptor]

It's amazing how wildly different they are. Millipedes are just stretch limo isopods, centipedes, on the other hand, are like boaconstrictors with an armoury of knife legs and the jaws of life up front. They don't seem to exit hunt mode as quickly as other bugs either, they're brutal little predators, but they're also half blind, you'd be surprised how often they launch an attack only to miss and smack up against something else instead.

Funny to watch, but mortifying when they've escaped.

Yeah centipedes are more advanced, almost like the arthropod version of venomous snakes. I've had giant Vietnamese and currently have a little common desert centipede, California Love.

I'm biased but I think roaches like hissers are excellent starter inverts. Biggest thing with them is to make sure to put Vaseline on the inside of their enclosure so they can't escape and make sure not to expose them to any pesticides.

I started with hissers when I was 17 and have never looked back.

Dubia roaches are also pretty easy, and popular as feeders for insectivore pets like lizards, frogs, predatory inverts, and hedgehogs. Starting a dubia colony is the best way to feed insect-eating pets, and you can always find other people that need doobs in your local reptile/exotic community.

 

[Judas Connor Moon]

I like moths and in particular these cutes fluffy things. uwu

 

[Digital Snow]

I like moths and in particular these cutes fluffy things. uwu

Indeed

 

[Positron]

cool centipede?

Millipede: two pairs of legs per segment.

Giant Dobsonfly!


Beautiful hemipterans

Camelia shield bug.


Stripped shield bug.


Candy-stripped leafhopper.


Spotted Lanternfly

 

[Scolopendra Dramatica]

Yeah centipedes are more advanced, almost like the arthropod version of venomous snakes. I've had giant Vietnamese and currently have a little common desert centipede, California Love.

I'm biased but I think roaches like hissers are excellent starter inverts. Biggest thing with them is to make sure to put Vaseline on the inside of their enclosure so they can't escape and make sure not to expose them to any pesticides.

I started with hissers when I was 17 and have never looked back.

Dubia roaches are also pretty easy, and popular as feeders for insectivore pets like lizards, frogs, predatory inverts, and hedgehogs. Starting a dubia colony is the best way to feed insect-eating pets, and you can always find other people that need doobs in your local reptile/exotic community.

Oh I love a good hisser, it's how people react to them that makes them a bit special, no one can quite get over how big they are and a lot of my friends with a fear of bugs have gotten past the worst of it by meeting and handling them. Once you've held a roach that big and found them amusing it becomes significantly harder to take yourself seriously when a moth starts to freak you out! :p

Dead easy to keep too, very difficult to kill the little buggers.

I've never thought to breed Dubia's though, I've always bred crickets instead, much bouncier, rather annoying, I quite wish I'd gone the roach route.

What else do you keep Raptor? And what's been your favourites to keep over the years?

 

[Android raptor]

Oh I love a good hisser, it's how people react to them that makes them a bit special, no one can quite get over how big they are and a lot of my friends with a fear of bugs have gotten past the worst of it by meeting and handling them. Once you've held a roach that big and found them amusing it becomes significantly harder to take yourself seriously when a moth starts to freak you out! :p

Dead easy to keep too, very difficult to kill the little buggers.

I've never thought to breed Dubia's though, I've always bred crickets instead, much bouncier, rather annoying, I quite wish I'd gone the roach route.

What else do you keep Raptor? And what's been your favourites to keep over the years?

Hissers are also great for fears because they're also so chill/calm. People will ask me when I'm doing outreach why they just chill on my hand and don't run away, that's just how they are.

Crickets are nasty and I hear don't have as much meat on them as dubia. I just need to get more breeding and small nymphs going on in my colony.

I keep a bunch of shit but favs are hard to pick. Definitely have a soft spot for giant cave roaches/Blaberus giganteus though, and rhino roaches. Centipedes really won me over as well. I'll also probably never be completely over the loss of my rosehair tarantula, who passed unexpectedly early this year due to injury/illness.

 

[teriyakiburns]

My old place had mason bees living in the brickwork. They were cute little things, digging away at the cement and buzzing around. I miss those chill little bees.

There's bumble bees all over the place here, thanks to the woods behind my place. I feel like I'm under the flight path of a small airport.

 

[Crex Crex]

Since we're talking about roaches, I have been trying to kickstart a termite colony for years without success. They are very delicate and cryptic and there isn't as much information on their care as there is for ants. Around 6 years ago I was able to start a small colony of drywood termites from alates, but they gradually died for reasons that elude me. In another instance, I started a colony of subterranean termites from a group of workers and some actually moulted into reproductives that laid eggs.
Last year, there was a massive swarm of termite alates from a pine stump in my garden, so I caught some of them and they actually laid eggs. However, they died too (In hindsight am fairly sure I know why though: the cotton in their test tube was too pressed and too soggy). They should swarm again this year, so fingers crossed. Feel optimistic though, my results massively improved throughout the years.

This was last year's swarm.

 

[Android raptor]

I know in some tropical areas winged termites are even eaten by humans, which makes sense especially since tropical species are larger and they're plentiful.

Termites are extremely important as decomposers and food for so many other animals (including humans).

 

[Scolopendra Dramatica]

Hissers are also great for fears because they're also so chill/calm. People will ask me when I'm doing outreach why they just chill on my hand and don't run away, that's just how they are.

Crickets are nasty and I hear don't have as much meat on them as dubia. I just need to get more breeding and small nymphs going on in my colony.

I keep a bunch of shit but favs are hard to pick. Definitely have a soft spot for giant cave roaches/Blaberus giganteus though, and rhino roaches. Centipedes really won me over as well. I'll also probably never be completely over the loss of my rosehair tarantula, who passed unexpectedly early this year due to injury/illness.

Aww I'm dead sorry. My first tarantula was a rosehair, they sit out a lot and are exceedingly chill, everything you could want in an 8 legged box friend. Must have been a horrible shock

 

[Android raptor]

Aww I'm dead sorry. My first tarantula was a rosehair, they sit out a lot and are exceedingly chill, everything you could want in an 8 legged box friend. Must have been a horrible shock

Yes, she was my first as well. Definitely got the year off to a horrible start.

 

[Chub Rub]

I had a rosehair make it 20+ years old, and she was the most chill little buddy. I was upset when she passed, I had gotten surprisingly attached to her.

 

[Kurt Eichenwald]

Don't try to find out what lives in the holes in the driveway, you'll regret it.

 

[Crocodylus Acutus]

The cicadas are out in full force in my area. I know plenty of people aren't happy, but it makes me glad. They're chill little buddies.

I'll try to get a picture of some later.

 

[Crocodylus Acutus]

Seekayduhs

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

Seekayduhs
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I love cicadas and the constant hum of the warm months:

Also mantids: