Weird though/idea

Bunyan van Asten

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 5, 2016
Messages
271
Hey everyone
I was just thinking, what if there was a way to make non-lethat and invert friendly "trap" so i could catch insects in the area i live (pretty much a city devoid of anything but flies :()
The main inverts i usually look for are.... actually anything at the moment seeing as ever since i moved last summer, i've become quite desperete because i can't find anything at all anymore.
So any suggestions are welcome!
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
In the city or not, I'm sure there are plenty of inverts around you - or will be, once the weather warms up, anyway.

Is there anything particular you are looking for? Things to photograph? Just feeders for your spiders? Things you can catch and keep as pets? Simple things - like planting flowers in your yard/garden/pots on your porch or balcony (depending on your living situation) can attract various butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, and beetles. A mix of day-blooming butterfly-attracting plants and a few night bloomers for the moths will bring them in. If you can leave a porch light on, that will often attract them as well. When I leave my porch light on at night, I usually find an assortment of moths, beetles, owl flies, ant lions, ichneumon wasps, and the occasional roach or mantis hanging out on the wall. They can easily be caught with the cup-and-paper method.
 

Belegnole

Tarantula Guy
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 30, 2005
Messages
171
A suggestion:

Search for information on the web relating to your area. Such as local colleges or government resources related to what flora and fauna live in your area. Based on that you could figure out the best locals, times etc to find some critters you want. Also the information would be helpful in what type of mechanism would best suit your needs in trapping.

For instance I just searched and found http://www.welokee.nl/spiders/en/welcome.php which includes a huge list of spiders.
 

Bunyan van Asten

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 5, 2016
Messages
271
A suggestion:

Search for information on the web relating to your area. Such as local colleges or government resources related to what flora and fauna live in your area. Based on that you could figure out the best locals, times etc to find some critters you want. Also the information would be helpful in what type of mechanism would best suit your needs in trapping.

For instance I just searched and found http://www.welokee.nl/spiders/en/welcome.php which includes a huge list of spiders.
I'll get to that ASAP, and thank you so much for that site! It's the first one i found that has actual info on spiders!
 

Bunyan van Asten

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 5, 2016
Messages
271
In the city or not, I'm sure there are plenty of inverts around you - or will be, once the weather warms up, anyway.

Is there anything particular you are looking for? Things to photograph? Just feeders for your spiders? Things you can catch and keep as pets? Simple things - like planting flowers in your yard/garden/pots on your porch or balcony (depending on your living situation) can attract various butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, and beetles. A mix of day-blooming butterfly-attracting plants and a few night bloomers for the moths will bring them in. If you can leave a porch light on, that will often attract them as well. When I leave my porch light on at night, I usually find an assortment of moths, beetles, owl flies, ant lions, ichneumon wasps, and the occasional roach or mantis hanging out on the wall. They can easily be caught with the cup-and-paper method.
Well, i could plant things but we have next to no space, but i'll see what i can do. I'm mainly looking for myriapoda, feeders of any and all kind and spiders of course. Usually i take them home, but when i just caucht one i usually take pictures of them, thanks for the suggestions!
 

Ghoul

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Messages
134
It might be a good idea to take a trip to the woods. Also just any area with leaves, grass, trees, or just a piece of rotting wood that's been lying in the same spot for a long time can have a lot of critters in/under it. Caves and old buildings work too if you're lucky.
Sunny days are also better since most critters are more likely to come out of their hiding spots.
Millipedes, centipedes and isopods on the other hand love to hide under objects outside, and so do some spiders.

Alternatively just be born as a bug magnet like me. Hand catching dragonflies in stores, having bugs invade your home, get spiders walking over you while you're trying to eat in a restaurant, no place is safe. I released more things outside than there is sand on the beach I s2g someone save me.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,048
There are hundreds of designs of non lethal insect traps. Many are specific to the habits or habitat of the animals being targeted.
 

schmiggle

Arachnoking
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,220
If you have any kind of dirt near you, you can use a pitfall trap, where you basically take a jar and stick it in the ground. Arthropods fall in and can't climb out. It favors ground-living animals, but you don't seem to care, so that shouldn't matter. I've only done it twice, both in a forest. One was totally unsuccessful, but the other caught something like eight carabid beetles of one species and another of another species, which isn't great but isn't bad, either.
You can also use a bait trap, arranged around the same concept. If you put a piece of rotting meat, you'll get one kind of thing, and if you put in a piece of rotting fruit, you'll get another. You can also put in peanut butter, or lots of other things. I imagine you could also set up a lightly sticky thing for this one--say a sheet with oil on it. Or maybe you could suspend the bait over a pitfall...there are many possibilities. See this page for some baits: http://mississippientomologicalmuse....preparation.methods/Baiting.htm#.WLzsTxjMzR0
You can also use a light trap that exhausts flying insects and causes them to drop into a bucket. Carnivorous plants use this method with digestive fluid for the insects to fall into.
 

Bunyan van Asten

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 5, 2016
Messages
271
If you have any kind of dirt near you, you can use a pitfall trap, where you basically take a jar and stick it in the ground. Arthropods fall in and can't climb out. It favors ground-living animals, but you don't seem to care, so that shouldn't matter. I've only done it twice, both in a forest. One was totally unsuccessful, but the other caught something like eight carabid beetles of one species and another of another species, which isn't great but isn't bad, either.
You can also use a bait trap, arranged around the same concept. If you put a piece of rotting meat, you'll get one kind of thing, and if you put in a piece of rotting fruit, you'll get another. You can also put in peanut butter, or lots of other things. I imagine you could also set up a lightly sticky thing for this one--say a sheet with oil on it. Or maybe you could suspend the bait over a pitfall...there are many possibilities. See this page for some baits: http://mississippientomologicalmuse....preparation.methods/Baiting.htm#.WLzsTxjMzR0
You can also use a light trap that exhausts flying insects and causes them to drop into a bucket. Carnivorous plants use this method with digestive fluid for the insects to fall into.
Thanks for the help! I'll put it to use later today if the weather holds up
 

SlugPod

Arachnoknight
Joined
Sep 28, 2015
Messages
193
Pitfall traps as mentioned are good for catching ground-dwelling inverts.
You can either leave them empty, put a small layer of leaves / dirt in the bottom, or bait them with something.

I did this recently in my backyard and baited it with plain oats and caught some beetles. Small beetles.
A few different species of beetles.
Ants were the most common.

If you do pitfall traps, though, you want to ideally check them at least once a day, and remove them if it is raining.
I assume you want to catch stuff alive, so you want to make sure they don't get drowned.
I want to try this in areas that aren't my yard, but haven't yet.
Might try later this week.

Pitfall traps are non-lethal, assuming you check them often!
 

dragonfire1577

Arachnodemon
Joined
Oct 7, 2015
Messages
697
If you have any kind of dirt near you, you can use a pitfall trap, where you basically take a jar and stick it in the ground. Arthropods fall in and can't climb out. It favors ground-living animals, but you don't seem to care, so that shouldn't matter. I've only done it twice, both in a forest. One was totally unsuccessful, but the other caught something like eight carabid beetles of one species and another of another species, which isn't great but isn't bad, either.
You can also use a bait trap, arranged around the same concept. If you put a piece of rotting meat, you'll get one kind of thing, and if you put in a piece of rotting fruit, you'll get another. You can also put in peanut butter, or lots of other things. I imagine you could also set up a lightly sticky thing for this one--say a sheet with oil on it. Or maybe you could suspend the bait over a pitfall...there are many possibilities. See this page for some baits: http://mississippientomologicalmuse....preparation.methods/Baiting.htm#.WLzsTxjMzR0
You can also use a light trap that exhausts flying insects and causes them to drop into a bucket. Carnivorous plants use this method with digestive fluid for the insects to fall into.
I agree pitfalls are great especially for ground beetles.
 
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