Bugs, bugs, and more bugs

Two weeks ago was the awesome bug fair at the Natural History Museum of LA, which is always a great event to attend. I was looking forward to it this year because we were planning on getting some companions for our gray death-feigning beetle, Stumpy. In preparation for this, we upgraded her tank to a 10 gallon terrarium and got her fresh plants.


She started laying eggs in the new enclosure, which I took as a sign of approval. However, I have suspected that the eggs that she has been laying may not be fertile, so we were really hoping to get a male for her. When Bug Fair rolled around we picked up 3 more beetles. We think we did get a male, as the smallest beetle likes to clamp on top of the identified females (ran up to stumpy first thing) and they always try run away.

One of the other beetles is most likely another female, as she exhibited egg-laying behaviour fairly soon after being placed in the tank. Hopefully, we'll have little ones in a few months, although I am worried about getting this larger tank up to the temperature that I suspect may be necessary for larval development (over 100 degrees F).

Here you see the ovipositor...

and lay those eggs, lady!

Photohunter: Lazy

This photohunter I thought I'd honor my cat, Rob Anybody McFeegle, or Robbie for short. He's not any lazier than any other cat in general, but when he sleeps he is just too funny.

Like most cats, he spends a good amount of time sleeping on things that I need... like my hand while I am typing, or the keyboard, or various papers I am referencing.


Unlike my other cats, he does not spend a lot of time curled up in a corner. He likes to sleep sprawled out in the middle of the floor. His favorite position is on his back with his paws spread out.

Of course it's a good day when he can combine sprawling on the floor and laying on stuff I am working on.

Return of Stumpy

Stumpy has returned from her journey to the local museum. The bug expert did get to see her egg laying behaviour, and still is baffled as to why she is doing it. He thinks it may be the plants. He also thinks that the mealworms won't survive to pupate, and indeed when I got her back there were no mealworms left in her tank (see here for pictures).

She is still laying eggs however, so I remain somewhat hopeful. I've got a second small tank set up with a 1: 3 mixture of oats and sand and am transferring half of her eggs into that tank. Other mealworms (often used for feeding) are raised on oats, so I am hoping that a high concentration of possible food will help the process.

Iron clad Egg

I am also keeping a journal, recording the day and place of any new eggs I discover, when I feed her and what, when I place her in the sun, and the temperature of the tank. I'll also be recording when I spot the 1st mealworms, so I can see how long it takes for the eggs to hatch.

I still believe that temperature has something to do with it. Today I put her tank in the sun, and the thermometer read 125 degrees F! I am not sure how accurate this is, as I used my oven thermometer, and the metal may have heated more than the air temperature actually was, but I plan on getting a real thermometer tomorrow, so we'll see. I would not be surprised if it does get over 100 degrees F.

The Saga of Stumpy continues...

Stumpy has been confiscated by the authorities!!

Sort of.

When casually inquiring about how to rear Stumpy's brood, the bug expert at our local museum flipped out. He said that they have generally been considered unrearable, and no one has ever gotten them to lay eggs. After seeing the photo of one of Stumpy's larvae, and confirming for himself that they were actually iron clad larvae, he asked me to bring her in for observation.

The set-up is nothing out of the ordinary (although I like it a lot because I made it), with everything they normally put in there...

The food is similar too, although I use a lot of carrots, because she seems to eat them more than the other foods I've tried (mainly apples and cucumbers). Because it's so similar, there is no obvious reason why she should have felt comfortable enough to lay eggs... My hypothesis is that I put the enclosure in the sun for a couple of hours every other day, to give the plants sunlight. It makes the sand get pretty hot, but since she is a desert beetle I figured she could take it. Maybe the heat helped convince her to lay eggs, or at least helped the eggs hatch into larvae.

So, she will be in the bug guy's care for a week, and he is hoping to see the egg laying behaviour we observed, as well as find out if and what the larvae are feeding on... Of course now I am super nervous about getting the larvae to pupate!

Lifephoto Meme: Hooray for stumpy!

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Tenebrionidae

I've already posted a picture of Stumpy, my death-feigning beetle, But I had to post another one to celebrate the cool thing I discovered yesterday. The death-feigning beetle (Cryptoglossa verrucosa) is also called the iron clad beetle for its armor-like appearance. They are found in the deserts of the south west (California, Arizona, and the like), and are able to get all of their water from their food.

I obtained Stumpy and a friend from a bug fair last may, and named her Stumpy because she is missing the tarsus (or tip) of her right front leg. Her companion died about a week and a half after bringing them home. Since then, I've been half-hoping that some of the interesting behaviors that I witnessed when the companion was around were mating behaviors, but did not expect too much since months had passed.

Low and behold, when I checked her tank the other day I found this....

A cute little beetle larva! She had been burying her abdomen in the sand a few weeks earlier (which prompted me to start calling her a girl), and now I have confirmation of several of my hypothesis. She is a girl, the burying the abdomen in the sand was probably 'ovipositing' behaviour and she had stored sperm either from her companion or from when I got her! Cool! It's a bit nerve-wracking since the people I know who care for these guys have never had young before, so I hope some of them survive!