PLEASE HELP ME ID THIS "STINK BUG"

Wildlife98

Arachnopeon
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Jun 24, 2016
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31
Thanks! That's totally what it is, looks exactly alike and it says florida which is where I am.
 

Wildlife98

Arachnopeon
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Jun 24, 2016
Messages
31
That looks like it may be an immature Black Stink Bug, Proxys punctulatus. It will grow up to look something like this: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1246865

Comparison pictures: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1204423 and http://bugguide.net/node/view/584562/bgimage
I'd really like to keep it. I know a lot of people on here give people shit for wild caught pets but I don't see a problem if I'm willing to do whatever is required and release it if I can't do so. Would you or anybody else seeing this be able to tell me how?
 

Wildlife98

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Jun 24, 2016
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I have tons of eco earth if that's a suitable substrate. What would I feed it? Leaves from outside? Fresh greens? Fruits and veggies? I'm guessing it could use some sort of hide, as pretty much everything does. Bottle cap water dish? Any help would be awesome
 

chanda

Arachnoking
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Jun 27, 2010
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I have tons of eco earth if that's a suitable substrate. What would I feed it? Leaves from outside? Fresh greens? Fruits and veggies? I'm guessing it could use some sort of hide, as pretty much everything does. Bottle cap water dish? Any help would be awesome
Stink bugs can be tricky to keep alive in captivity because the majority of them are sap-suckers. If you want to give it a try, your best bet is a potted plant that it can feed on. Cut plants do fine as a food source for leaf eaters, but the sap does not flow properly once the stem is cut, particularly as the plant starts wilting/drying out. The bugs can feed on them a little - but will eventually starve because they just don't get adequate nutrition. Fortunately, the potted plant will also serve as a hide and climbing area for the bug and comes with its own substrate, so all you need to do is pop it into one of those mesh butterfly pop-up enclosures (or another enclosure of your choice) and you've got the perfect environment. Black stink bugs are polyphagous so you can try offering a variety of different plants - starting with the plant you found it on, if you found it on a plant. Bugguide suggests cotton, soybean, or citrus as readily acceptable food plants - but they are not the only foods it will eat. It also mentions that they may sometimes be predatory, so if other bugs end up in the enclosure, they may be eaten.
 

chanda

Arachnoking
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Jun 27, 2010
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2,229
I'd really like to keep it. I know a lot of people on here give people shit for wild caught pets but I don't see a problem if I'm willing to do whatever is required and release it if I can't do so. Would you or anybody else seeing this be able to tell me how?
I could be mistaken, but I believe the major objection here to "wild caught" pets is not picking up some bug you found outside and popping it into a cage - which I do all the time, as do many other people here. It's more of an objection to wild-caught exotic pets (like tarantulas) that are taken out of their native environment and imported. In addition to potentially damaging the native population by over-collecting, there is also the risk with wild-caught pets (or wild-caught feeders) that they might come with an assortment of equally wild-caught parasites or diseases or might have been exposed to pesticides, or that an invasive species might be imported and then get loose and establish itself, becoming an agricultural pest or killing/out-competing the native species.
 

Wildlife98

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
31
Thanks for all the info. I think I'm gonna let this little guy go cause from the sound of it he'd be far better off outside.
Is there anything (inscect) in Florida that comes to mind that eats greens/fruits/veggies that I could keep? Something that wouldn't require live plants and can live in a container like this
 
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Wildlife98

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
31
Thanks for all the info. I think I'm gonna let this little guy go cause from the sound of it he'd be far better off outside.
Is there anything (inscect) in Florida that comes to mind that eats greens/fruits/veggies that I could keep? Something that wouldn't require live plants and can live in a container like this
 

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