Pixxie
Arachnosquire
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Found under a rock next to Winooski River in Vermont. It's about 2.5" long. Can anyone tell me what this is? How to care for it?
What is this bug??
- Thread starter Pixxie
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Looks like a hellgrammite. A larval stage of a dobsonfly. Firstly, you need to have it in nothing but water. Its completely aquatic at this stage. Look up dobsonfly. The adults of this species only live for 7 days. Best to just put it back.
If you found it out of water, then it is a hellgrammite (probably form an eastern dobsonfly) looking to pupate, which it will do out of water. Keep it in a humid container (big enough for it to crawl up onto something and shed its pupal skin when it's ready to become an adult) and it should pupate, then eclose as an adult sometime after. 
Pixxie
Arachnosquire
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Aw man. I was hoping it would stay this way and live for another year or two at least. Thanks for the information guys, I'm going to keep it for now, and then return it to where it was found once it reaches its final stage of life. If nothing else at least I'll gain some knowledege about this specie.
Thanks again for the info.
---------- Post added 05-26-2012 at 12:41 AM ----------
Oh, and do these guys readily bite? My husband said it gave him a little pinch and it didn't really hurt, but I figured that if it really was trying to bite him, it would have drawn a little blood looking at the size of its mandibles and it definitely would have hurt. I also just saw a bunch of pictures on google of people holding dobsonflies.
Thanks again for the info.
---------- Post added 05-26-2012 at 12:41 AM ----------
Oh, and do these guys readily bite? My husband said it gave him a little pinch and it didn't really hurt, but I figured that if it really was trying to bite him, it would have drawn a little blood looking at the size of its mandibles and it definitely would have hurt. I also just saw a bunch of pictures on google of people holding dobsonflies.
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Tenodera
Arachnobaron
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Nearly every place I see hellgrammites mentioned, something is said about how hard they can bite! XD
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smallmouth bass love them
Pixxie
Arachnosquire
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We also caught a couple of those while we were there. ^.^
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EbonyKatana1664
Arachnosquire
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From what ive gathered they make good bait.
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When I was a kid my neighbor would buy those from me at a dime each. I was a rich little 5 yr old! They make great bait, haha. And yes, they bite!
hydrophyte
Arachnoknight
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It would be interesting to just hang onto it and see if it will pupate for you. Like ZephAmp said just keep it in dark and with some moist substrate maybe including some leaves and bark chunks.