Is there anything fun native to Southern Ontario

[HammerHeadWormz]

I am very interested in predatory flatworms/planaria, velvet worms, nemertea, pseudoscorpions, and more.

Mainly looking for info on native options however limited, or similar species adapted to the area perhaps?

Also to clarify, I am mostly interested in finding things locally. I do like the idea of going out and finding cool little critters to keep.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

[Bob Lee]

Canada barely have anything other than ants and a couple tiny beetles and pill bugs... We have black widows along the west-south border and some small assassin bugs. And that's about it for all I know, it's too cold for a lot of bugs to live in Canada. You might have some lucky with ant queens during the spring and summer, that's when they do their mating flight.

 

[HammerHeadWormz]

Canada barely have anything other than ants and a couple tiny beetles and pill bugs... We have black widows along the west-south border and some small assassin bugs. And that's about it for all I know, it's too cold for a lot of bugs to live in Canada. You might have some lucky with ant queens during the spring and summer, that's when they do their mating flight.

I completely agree but whatever there is I'll run with it lol. Kinda tough considering import and export hassle and cost.

I know Pseudoscorpions are found in Ontario but thats my limit of knowledge on that.

Toe biters, water bugs, are also in Ontario

Besides that I am lost and even then... How to find those, their care requirements etc, I have a lot to learn lol.

What I do know though is that not long ago I did see a grasshopper / cricket that didn't appear to be categorized / recognized as native to Ontario. In fact I couldn't find it mentioned in any toxonomic databases, at least at the time. So who knows maybe just rooting around outside long enough like I use to might prove fruitful

 

[StampFan]

I am very interested in predatory flatworms/planaria, velvet worms, nemertea, pseudoscorpions, and more.

Mainly looking for info on native options however limited, or similar species adapted to the area perhaps?

Also to clarify, I am mostly interested in finding things locally. I do like the idea of going out and finding cool little critters to keep.

Thanks,
-Mike

http://toronto-wildlife.com/index.html

Here's a good start. Some cool millipedes and spiders.

 

[HammerHeadWormz]

http://toronto-wildlife.com/index.html

Here's a good start. Some cool millipedes and spiders.

Theres one milipede on there that I'd love to find, lol

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Some cool moths too.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6883&taxon_id=47918

Locations for the giant millipedes:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6883&taxon_id=56604

Big spiders:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6883&taxon_id=82117

Terrestrial flatworms: Not a lot, but they're there.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6883&taxon_id=64224

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

I found a big trapdoor spider about 10 years ago. It was around 1 1/2”
Haven’t looked for one much since, and I know it was a trapdoor

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

I found a big trapdoor spider about 10 years ago. It was around 1 1/2”
Haven’t looked for one much since, and I know it was a trapdoor

Probably a purseweb spider.

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

Possible. Do they behave the same??

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

Alright I did some searching and came up with the purseweb spider only being about the size of a penny. The one I found was well over that.
Also I read that they make a tube of silk that typically is attached to the side of a tree bc they have it coming off of the ground quite far.
The one I found was simply in a hole just like a trapdoor.

I’m not convinced.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Alright I did some searching and came up with the purseweb spider only being about the size of a penny. The one I found was well over that.
Also I read that they make a tube of silk that typically is attached to the side of a tree bc they have it coming off of the ground quite far.
The one I found was simply in a hole just like a trapdoor.

I’m not convinced.

A carolina wolf spider perhaps?

Large, found in southern Ontario, lives in a burrow.

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

That’s definitely closer although I feel like the legs were quite a bit thicker but that’s a good possibility.
No pattern on the spider right??

 

[HammerHeadWormz]

So, with all the great resources and suggestions, I have quite the work cut out for me come spring / summer! For now though, I did a thing... There might be an invoice for x1 red sea Leiurus quinquastriatus & x1 Androctonus liouvillei.

I saw one of thos for sale in a local pet store down the street basically and wanted to buy but ended up not working out sadly.

and before anybody lambasts me lol, I know what I am getting myself into and dealing with. I use to have a massive tarantula collection and bred emperor scorpions for fun when I was a teenager, started working in reptile zoos and respestable reptile sanctuaries, built up my reptile collection, and now here I am haha, taking the dive back in with 2 of my dream scorps!

I have 2 very nice setups already but I plan to make an adult enclosure for them that is replicating a certain ancient structure that will split the 1 giant enclosure, into 2. It's hard to describe and it's early morning but, I am working on all that.

Anyways, that spider that burrows... I think I have seen those burrows on nature walks always wondered what they were! I was thinking... man, that's way too small for anything but a bug. Turns out, maybe I was right in a sense lol.

I cannot find the grasshopper I refered to earlier in the amazing resources here EXCEPT one that is similar I saw the other night via google search. Maybe a colour/pattern variant I saw? Any one know what that may have been? was about an inch long, vivid black and yellow striping, seen deep in Rogers Resevouir Conservation Area north of Bradford/Newmarket

Probably poisonous due to the colouration, but if bred as pets for myself.... imagine an enclosure of vivid black and yellow grasshoppers in a naturalistic setup and add other local bugs that could cohab. Would be interesting to see if it becomes self sustaining in a sense, with them breeding and keeping the whole thing going. Local isopods, etc. Hmmm... might have to give that a shot too.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

That’s definitely closer although I feel like the legs were quite a bit thicker but that’s a good possibility.
No pattern on the spider right??

They're variable, they can be light or dark and have varying degrees of patterning.

 

[dord]

Possible. Do they behave the same??

Nope, pursewebs make web tubes that often look like trees or tree roots, when prey steps on the tube they catch them through the silk and pull them in. I plan on searching for Sphodros niger in spring & summer.
Reports of Sphodros on BugGuide
On iNaturalist

 

[Ajohnson5263]

I'm a bit late to the thread, however when i was child i vacationed in southern Ontario near a lake and caught a MASSIVE Leech, at least 6 inches. They would feed on worms and dead fish. seems like something that you might be interested in . i believe they were called horse leeches, but dont quote me on it.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

I'm a bit late to the thread, however when i was child i vacationed in southern Ontario near a lake and caught a MASSIVE Leech, at least 6 inches. They would feed on worms and dead fish. seems like something that you might be interested in . i believe they were called horse leeches, but dont quote me on it.

Did they swallow their prey whole?
If so then they are indeed horse leeches, Haemopis sp.

 

[Ajohnson5263]

Did they swallow their prey whole?
If so then they are indeed horse leeches, Haemopis sp.

no, i remember feeding it an earthworm and it definitely sucked it instead of swallowing it. ive been trying to look it up but i can't find much on them. i would see them crawling around in shallow water.

 

[HammerHeadWormz]

no, i remember feeding it an earthworm and it definitely sucked it instead of swallowing it. ive been trying to look it up but i can't find much on them. i would see them crawling around in shallow water.

Honestly it sounds like a predatory flatworm or more likely predatory aquatic earthworm of some kind.

It is interesting though because that sounds exactly like the kinda thing that would be fun to keep.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Honestly it sounds like a predatory flatworm or more likely predatory aquatic earthworm of some kind.

It is interesting though because that sounds exactly like the kinda thing that would be fun to keep.

Nah, there’s plenty of leeches that feed that way, but I can’t think of a specific one that would feed on earthworms.

Macrobdella are large leeches found in the region but as far as I know they prefer vertebrae prey like frogs and fish to earthworms.


There are also other carnivorous genera like Erpobdella, and some Placobdellas feed on invertebrates but I dunno if any of them reach six inches.