Doodle Bugs

[Tleilaxu]

First time I've ever seen these guys in person, and in action. They are so cute. It's a pity the adults are hard to take care of.




I saw one of these killing a roach that was dumb enough to fall in to the pit. The roach must have heard HisserDude does not keep any Periplaneta species. Oh well.
@Hisserdude

 

[Hisserdude]

First time I've ever seen these guys in person, and in action. They are so cute. It's a pity the adults are hard to take care of.
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I saw one of these killing a roach that was dumb enough to fall in to the pit. The roach must have heard HisserDude does not keep any Periplaneta species. Oh well.
@Hisserdude

Man, I used to catch and keep these when I lived in FL all the time, would put several in large buckets full of sand, even got to see a few of them mature! (Most of them flew away before I got to see them). Good times...

 

[RTTB]

That's a formidable looking little beast!

 

[Aquarimax]

I have successfully kept a few of these over the years, up to metamorphosis. Their ambush hunting from the pits is endlessly entertaining. The most recent one I had was active until the end of summer, and then hibernated for a number of months, despite being in a heated room. When it woke up, it began feeding again, and then went inactive...to pupate, as it happened. The adult, unfortunately, died shortly after emerging. I wonder if it needed something to climb onto, and the smooth sides of the deli cup did not provide enough purchase?

 

[schmiggle]

I must say, doodle bug always struck me as a rather incongruous name for something that's basically a sarlak. But a great find! Why are the adults so hard to care for?

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

They're just one of those bugs that lives a matter of weeks as adults and eats pollen and nectar. I think at least some species eat aphids too though. Has anyone actually tried to keep them? I'm sure they'd just fly against the walls until they die in a typical enclosure but I bet you could keep them alive in a screen cage supplied with flowers and such.

When I keep these I sometimes end up with healthy adults that I release immediately, but often the freshly emerged individuals fall into other's pits and get eaten. I also saw some wild adults sitting on a wire fence near a cluster of larval pits the other day.

(I'm more familiar with the name "antlion" for these insects btw... agree that "doodlebug" doesn't suit them very well.)

 

[Galapoheros]

Man, I used to catch and keep these when I lived in FL all the time, would put several in large buckets full of sand, even got to see a few of them mature! (Most of them flew away before I got to see them). Good times...

We have to be careful and keep the nerd factor down here, ....we don't want to attract any bullies! I used to keep them too back in the 70s when I was a kid, I remember finding a not so common species that made a smaller pit but the doodle bugs that made the smaller pits got much bigger.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Man, I used to catch and keep these when I lived in FL all the time, would put several in large buckets full of sand, even got to see a few of them mature! (Most of them flew away before I got to see them). Good times...

We always called them ant lions. Love these

 

[spotropaicsav]

I must say, doodle bug always struck me as a rather incongruous name for something that's basically a sarlak. But a great find! Why are the adults so hard to care for?

sarlak. These also make me think fondly of the old SimAnt and the "chomping" noise made when they would catch one of my ants

 

[basin79]

Selfishly I wish they stayed in their death pit form.

 

[Galapoheros]

Selfishly I wish they stayed in their death pit form.

Ha, me too and wish they were at least five inches long, much better imo.

 

[Lucanus95]

Here's a huge one I found. Vella americana

 

[Hisserdude]

We have to be careful and keep the nerd factor down here, ....we don't want to attract any bullies! I used to keep them too back in the 70s when I was a kid, I remember finding a not so common species that made a smaller pit but the doodle bugs that made the smaller pits got much bigger.

There usually aren't too many bullies here in this subforum thankfully lol!
Cool, personally I would have loved to find the giant species that don't even construct pits, sadly I never did.
Here in Idaho we also have antlions, but they seem rarer and a lot harder to find, so I haven't ever collected any.

We always called them ant lions. Love these

Yeah I never called them "doodle bugs", "Antlion" is a lot cooler sounding.

Here's a huge one I found. Vella americana

Yeah, that's one of the species I always wanted to find in FL, so cool!

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Here's a very impressive African species.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Here's a very impressive African species.

Wow I'm impressed by the coloring

 

[schmiggle]

Here's a very impressive African species.

where do I get me one of those?

 

[Galapoheros]

I finally found that pic on the internet. I read the biggest ones are in Africa, Palpares.

 

[TylerFishman5675]

Ant lions are the easiest invert to keep just give em' a bug you find in your house once every few days, (though I tend to fees everyday because they are so entertaining.)