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Betta132

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About Betta132

  • Birthday 08/14/1998

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    Female
  • Location
    Central Texas
  • Interests
    Pretty much anything that moves under its own power. Marine biologist in training.

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  1. Do you have a non-jelly substance of a similar texture, maybe water crystals? I wonder if distracting her with something else would work.
  2. Pitfall traps should work. Get a container with smooth sides, dig a hole the size of that container in a likely spot, and pack soil gently around the edges so that the beetles can easily go inside. Prop something like a stone or slab of wood over the top, propped up about an inch, to keep water and larger pests out, then bait appropriately. Works on everything that crawls on the ground and can't climb your chosen container, depending on what you put in for bait. Clearly, dung will work for dung beetles, preferably dung from herbivores. A pasture would be an ideal place to look for dung beetles- see if you can meet someone who keeps horses or cattle. Don't put the trap where something might step in it, but that should work. Also, if you can find a pasture, take a shovel and flip dung until you find beetles.
  3. Carnivorous animals don't do well on herbivorous diets. I'd suggest buying mealworms or something similar and culturing your own insects to feed to the beetle.
  4. I'd suggest breaking the stump open into just a few pieces, leaving it all in one place so any remaining bugs can still burrow into and feed off the large chunks. But yeah, that's how you catch them- just split the stump into a few pieces and look inside.
  5. That would be helpful, wouldn't it? Central Texas, surrounded by scraggly bushes. I'm not sure what they were eating, if anything, there didn't seem to be any other insects nearby. I did some Googling, and it looks like they might be red milkweed assassin bugs, Zelus longipes. I've seen the adults before, usually in that one area- I'm guessing there are a lot of insects in the bushes for them to eat.
  6. Found these guys lurking in a pile of dead twigs. They all started dropping to the ground to hide when they saw me and got into the leaf litter, so this is the only decent photo I could get. Any clue what they are? I didn't bring any back because I was expecting them to probably bite me if I tried to pick them up, but if it's legal and anybody wants some, I could probably catch a few and ship them. I think I know what the adults look like, and if I'm right, they're pretty.
  7. I'll keep an eye out for those beetles, just in case. I've found what I think are a couple of those, but always dead. My haircutters' building sprays a lot of pesticides around and I have something like 15 different kinds of beetles that I've found dead in that area, plus a huge dobsonfly male. If I get anything of that sort alive, I'll put 'em in a temporary tank so I can send you a pic and see if it's something I should hang onto. I don't think I've seen any of the really neat striped ones, but I'm pretty sure I recognize a couple of the black ones. Any idea what the best way to find the sand roaches would be? I find them very rarely under fallen logs, but only if they're logs that haven't been moved in something like a month, and I've moved all the logs nearby. Do they come out more at night, or are they constantly underground?
  8. OK, cool. Thanks! How exactly does one tell if roaches are overcrowded? Just look in the tank and see if they're bumping into each other a lot? Look for nibbled appendages? Or is it one of those things where it's hard to explain but you learn to recognize it?
  9. I'd like to have a small colony of domino roaches that has some hope of breeding. I don't need them to really multiply, but I'd like them to have enough space that they don't chew on each other. Since they're so pretty, I'd like to have them in more of a decorative tank than the usual utilitarian tubs, maybe something like http://www.ebay.com/itm/152259278388?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=451452781053&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT or http://shop.bugsincyberspace.com/Pet-Cockroach-Deco-Cube-Habitat-bic183.htm . Would either of those work for something like half a dozen roaches? I'd put plenty of climbing sticks in, I'm just not sure how active these guys are.
  10. @Hisserdude, if you can send example photos, I can keep an eye out for the beetles you want. We don't have too many of the ground-running beetles in our yard, but I've seen a bunch of different fast-moving, rounded black beetles out in more rural areas. There are some fairly small, cute burrowing roaches living around here. Not certain what kind they are, as I haven't been able to catch any recently. Either I can't find them or they escape into the ground when I do. Might try pitfall traps so I can catch a few for an ID. Any suggestions on bait? We also have some Calosoma, caterpillar hunters, but I imagine they'd be pretty tricky to keep alive. Shame, they're gorgeous.
  11. No interesting beetles on the baits. Lots of roaches and crickets, but nothing else. I think I might have had the wrong ratio of banana to beer? Might try this again in Spring. Is there any way to get grubs out of standing dead trees? I can find big tunnels easily enough, and I assume at least some of them are occupied, but I can't seem to find any methods of extracting the grubs that aren't meant to kill them. Usually the only people trying to get beetle grubs out of trees are angry gardeners. I'm working on a UV light trap right now, the box/funnel design with the light hung above it. Hoping to catch something neat. Are UV lights the best choice for beetles? Would prefer large species, but anything remotely interesting would be nice. Will definitely check out gas station lights, we keep driving by one with some fairly large insects visible flying around the light. I can bring my net. On that subject, what's the best way to transport beetles home? Single cups with a bit of wet paper towel? I want them for pets initially and then specimens after they die of old age, so I'd prefer they stay as undamaged as possible, which I assume means never putting males together. It's still 80 degrees for the next few weeks, probably into at least mid-October, so we do have a little while left before it starts getting anywhere near cold. Crickets are doing their "swarm everywhere and chirp up a storm and then lay a gajillion eggs" thing.
  12. Hi all! Mostly on here for advice about keeping a couple of native species, specifically Eastern and/or Western hercules beetles. Also, advice on how to catch as many cool bugs as possible. And possibly a small collection of roaches, now that I've fully comprehended how many lovely species exist. I already have several fish tanks, though I'm working on thinning them down so I have everything gone before college next year. I've also kept dart frogs and Madagascar hissing roaches in the past, clearly not in the same tank, and I managed to raise a fairly nice batch of the roaches when my pair bred unexpectedly. I also have a fairly large collection of dead things and parts of things, mostly skeletons, mounted insects, and jarred found-dead fish specimens. My room looks a bit like a small natural science museum after a miniature tornado. Full disclosure, anything that dies of old age under my care will end up mounted and either in my collection or being traded for something else for my collection. I'm not gonna kill anything under my care just to mount it, but if it dies with all its appendages intact, it's going to end up on a pin.
  13. I'd like to capture myself some interesting beetles to hopefully keep as pets. I'm in Central Texas. I've found parts of dead ox beetles across the street, and a fairly nice pair of dead Eastern hercules beetles about five miles away at a place that sprays pesticides on everything, so I know those are local. I think we're also within the range of Western hercules beetles. There's also a semi-dying pecan tree in our yard with thumb-sized holes in the trunk, and some of the holes are fresh, so something is in there.\ I'm currently trying a bait that I read about on a specimen collection forum. One mushed banana and some cheap beer in a Ziploc bag, mushed together, and hung on a tree with holes poked in the bag so the mix can drip out. The idea is, the beetles smell the mix and come to eat, and hopefully get tipsy enough that they don't want to move very far. I'm going to go back after dark and check on things. I've also read that various mixtures of sugar, molasses, cheap wine, and similar substances can be smeared on available surfaces to lure beetles in. I imagine there's gonna be a lot of wasps, but hopefully not as many after dark. Has anyone tried anything of the sort? I've also tried a pitfall trap baited with a dead bird, in hopes of getting carrion eaters, just to see what we have in the area. All I got were ants. Plus, I have a light trap in the works, using a blacklight for power. It's mostly gonna be for moths, but I might get some stuff to that. I'm gonna make a preemptive bait check at dusk, in a couple of hours, and then a final gather-the-baits check after it's been dark for awhile. Will update with what I find. Hoping for big major beetles.
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