# Assassin Bugs!!!!



## Brian S (Apr 14, 2006)

Just recieved these

Here is one feeding on a cricket






This one is molting


----------



## stonemantis (Apr 14, 2006)

Absolutely breathtaking.:worship:


----------



## moricollins (Apr 14, 2006)

Brian, you are NOT fair at all, I am :drool: ing a LOT here :wall:

Nice specimens


----------



## Brian S (Apr 14, 2006)

Thanks 

Here are some shots of the adults


----------



## Curry (Apr 14, 2006)

Beautiful pictures and beautiful insects Brian.


----------



## stonemantis (Apr 14, 2006)

Very nice bugs Brian. Now I want some.


----------



## Techuser (Apr 15, 2006)

No problem keeping more than one in a terrarium?

They seens to rule like mantids, next time i find one i ll capture it >:B


----------



## Scolopendra55 (Apr 16, 2006)

Where did you get them from? They look amazing!!


----------



## NrthCstInverts (Apr 16, 2006)

Mombos Brian?

 They look really good! Congrats!


----------



## Gigas (Apr 16, 2006)

Techuser said:
			
		

> No problem keeping more than one in a terrarium?


As long as theres *LOTS* o food i hear theyre fine, that one moulting is scary


----------



## Brian S (Apr 17, 2006)

wildnmildpets said:
			
		

> Mombos Brian?
> 
> They look really good! Congrats!


Yes they are Mombos


----------



## intrepidus6 (Apr 19, 2006)

Did you find them or buy them?


----------



## arachnocat (Apr 19, 2006)

I noticed two of my mombos have little mini wings like in your pic. Does that mean they are almost adults? They're only about 1.5". Not sure if their next moult will be their final one or not, I know they will probably get much bigger.


----------



## Brian S (Apr 20, 2006)

intrepidus6 said:
			
		

> Did you find them or buy them?


I traded some Damon diadema young for them


----------



## Brian S (Apr 20, 2006)

xenobug said:
			
		

> I noticed two of my mombos have little mini wings like in your pic. Does that mean they are almost adults? They're only about 1.5". Not sure if their next moult will be their final one or not, I know they will probably get much bigger.


Yes, they will be adult after a molt or 2


----------



## RVS (Apr 20, 2006)

Congrats.
My Mombo colony just started laying eggs so hopefully I have babies on the way!


----------



## Brian S (Apr 20, 2006)

How is your enclosure set up? Are they laying the eggs in some moist peat? I know alot of questions but I dont know what to expect (yet)


----------



## RVS (Apr 20, 2006)

Well, right now I'm using a mix of 2 parts peat, one part top soil, and one part sand. I'm adding a shallow dish full of moist peat for egg depositing.
I just transferred my colony to an Exo Terra glass enclosure today.


----------



## Brian S (Apr 21, 2006)

Do they always lay the eggs in the moist peat or do you sometimes find them scattered throughout the enclosure?


----------



## RVS (Apr 21, 2006)

Brian S said:
			
		

> Do they always lay the eggs in the moist peat or do you sometimes find them scattered throughout the enclosure?


I don't think there's any guarantee they will always lay in the peat, but I believe the eggs are somewhat hardy. 
To be honest, I'm not too worried about it since my colony of 7 laid 50 eggs in the past two weeks alone. They are VERY prolific. It's very possible that you already have eggs.


----------



## Brian S (Apr 21, 2006)

Cool!! Thanks for the info


----------



## BakuBak (Apr 23, 2006)

RVS and how do You feed  small ones when they are keept with big ones ?


----------



## RVS (Apr 23, 2006)

BakuBak said:
			
		

> RVS and how do You feed  small ones when they are keept with big ones ?


Well, there are two routes you can go, and many people have been successful with both.
Either you can seperate the small ones and feed them smaller prey, or you can allow the small ones to feed on the prey killed by their larger siblings.
I have no plans on removing the nymphs, but I'll add more vairety to the size of prey items offered.


----------



## Platymeris (Apr 27, 2006)

Hi

I have over 30 adults in a big aqua... 80cmx40cmx40cm with a lot of hiding places.

I overflow always the water dish so that maybe 20cm ground around the dish are wet... and 80% of all eggs r then there. 

I dont seperate the nymphs, i feed smaller prey/roaches.


edit:
maybe someone has Mombos in Europe, i would be happy about a message 
because i cant find Mombos here...  i had someone in Poland but he writes not back anymore


----------



## Natco (May 9, 2006)

*Cannibalism.*

Are Assassin Bugs cannibalistic?


----------



## fangsalot (May 9, 2006)

i have one too.how long do they live?


----------



## Brian S (May 10, 2006)

I have no idea how long they live. Prolly not much over a year if I was guessing


----------



## fangsalot (May 10, 2006)

Brian S said:
			
		

> I have no idea how long they live. Prolly not much over a year if I was guessing


a year thats it??well looks like ima have to get more and let the breeding begin!


----------



## Peter_Parker (May 11, 2006)

I thought they lived a little longer than a year, at least 2?  Are you talking just the mombos or the 3 platymeris spp.  altogether?


----------



## Tleilaxu (May 11, 2006)

How long do they live, and serious noob question: Can any type of assassin bugs kill you?


----------



## joshtopp (May 12, 2006)

I've heard of assassins living almost 3 years, but 1.5-2 is probably a better average.  And No they cant kill you, But if you are bit, it will be very very painfull, I might be wrong but I think Orin has been bitten by them, ask him about it.


----------



## Brian S (Jun 8, 2006)

Communal dining lol






They are also starting to produce now. The eggs look like tiny acorns lol


----------



## Farom (Jun 8, 2006)

Nice bugs!  I raise P. biguttata(the white-spots), and during the hottest months was collecting up to 10 eggs per day from a single female.  They are VERY prolific, and very fun to raise.  Its fun to watch 4 or 5 hatchlings working together to take down one big cricket. 

  Thanks,
Andrew


----------



## Brian S (Jun 9, 2006)

Thats interesting Andrew. I'm looking forward to trying that


----------



## Gigas (Jun 9, 2006)

Wow they're really comming along Brian, have you got any photos of old exuviums other than that half way moulting pic? are they able to use their wings at all?


----------



## Brian S (Jun 9, 2006)

Yeah they can use their wings. I figure they are good flyers if given the opportunity


----------



## RVS (Jun 12, 2006)

Every time I look in my assassins' enclosure I see one or two more nymphs. I have the feeling I going to end up with more than I can handle very soon.


----------



## Brian S (Jun 12, 2006)

I hope my eggs hatch out soon. This will be very interesting indeed


----------



## psionix (Jun 12, 2006)

*shouldn't be too long*



			
				Brian S said:
			
		

> I hope my eggs hatch out soon. This will be very interesting indeed


They're only supposed to take ~3 weeks to start hatching.


----------



## Brian S (Jun 12, 2006)

Excellent!!! I cant wait


----------



## Brian S (Jun 30, 2006)

Check this out!!! Some of the eggs are starting to hatch


----------



## psionix (Jul 1, 2006)

what did i tell you!?  what was it, 3 weeks + 1 day?   congrats man!  

i want some!


----------



## Brian S (Jul 1, 2006)

hehe it didnt take very long for sure. When I get enough of a population going I'll send you some


----------



## The Snark (Jul 2, 2006)

This is sad for me. I was recently up in what I refer to as poisonville. A hill area in northern Thailand. Thousands of tons of pesticide laden cabbages are grown every year by poorly educated people doing what the chemical company representatives told them to do. At one place I saw a farmer leave the edge of his field and cross the road to spray a fallen tree and the surrounding vegetation. When he left I went over to see what he had determined to be a deadly threat to his precious cabbages. Dozens of dying assassin bugs. 
Sometimes my mind boggles at how ignorant people can be. But worse, these people were Hmong. Forest dwellers who know how to live in a jungle and if they stopped and thought, and were given just a little proper information instead of <trade name deleted as they love litigation> propaganda... sigh.


----------



## CopperInMyVeins (Jul 12, 2006)

Here are a couple of not so great pictures of my big female, I've wanted to keep these since I was around 11 or so, and first saw P. biguttata in a zoo here.  Hopefully I'll be getting eggs soon, I saw courtship/mating going on sunday night.  By the way, Brian, how often and how much do you feed your adults?


----------



## Brian S (Jul 12, 2006)

CopperInMyVeins said:
			
		

> By the way, Brian, how often and how much do you feed your adults?


I feed them alot!!! LOL
I have several in a tank and I throw in a handful of crickets about twice a week and they are all gone within 2 days.
What I have learned, you want to give them a bowl of moist peat in the cage for a place to lay eggs. Leave the rest dry. The reason for this is so you can gather the eggs and put in a moist deli cup dor hatching. If you dont do this, the crickets you throw in there will eat the eggs.
After you get some nymphs, put them in yet a different deli cup and provide a climb. They molt upside down so the climb is neccessary.
Also, you can feed the nymphs a large pre killed cricket. I have seen up to 6 nymphs feeding on 1 dead cricket.


----------



## Kevin_Davies (Jul 12, 2006)

I'll be receiving some orange spot Assassin Bug's soon, at the moment I only keep white spotted ones (Platymeris biguttata) 
Are orange spotted a lot larger than them? all i know is that they are a large species.


----------



## ThatGuy (Jul 12, 2006)

wow awsome thread, i have some assassin bugs around my house but they dont have that kinda coloration on them, there pretty much black but none the less cool. and also cool pix by the way.


----------



## CopperInMyVeins (Jul 12, 2006)

Thanks for the info, I only have three right now, I fed them a cricket each on sunday when I got them, and I just threw in three more,  I'll see if they're all gone pretty fast or not.

Edit: Just checked my tank, I actually have one egg already, but it's been laid in a hard to reach crevice on their verticle piece of cork bark, so it would be hard to remove intact, I'll keep an eye on it though, I also just gave the female an adult B. dubia, which she grabbed instantly.  Most of the crickets I have right now are on the small side, and she was having trouble catching one, it seems like big prey is more their style.


----------



## CopperInMyVeins (Jul 17, 2006)

*Look Ma, no hands!*

And some other pics too, first one is through the tank, she decided to hold the cricket more securly once I took the bark out.


----------



## Kevin_Davies (Jul 17, 2006)

Nice pictures, what size are the adults?


----------



## CopperInMyVeins (Jul 17, 2006)

Their bodies are about an inch and a half long, definitely big enough to be impressive.  They can easily handle prey larger than themselves as well.


----------



## Brian S (Jul 17, 2006)

The nymphs will gang up on a large cricket. Its pretty good entertainment to watch this


----------



## sick4x4 (Jul 17, 2006)

*i like*

very nic pics...now everyone wants one@!!!!!like me


----------



## Pogi5 (Jul 17, 2006)

Brian S said:
			
		

> The nymphs will gang up on a large cricket. Its pretty good entertainment to watch this


Got a vid?
That would indeed be quite entertaining.


----------



## Brian S (Jul 18, 2006)

No I dont have a video but next time it happens I'll get some pics posted


----------



## Brian S (Jul 20, 2006)

Here is what happens when you put a single cricket in with a bunch of hungry nymphs


----------



## Pogi5 (Jul 21, 2006)

cool!
neat pic!
how fast are the little dudes? i'm guessing they'd have to be quite quick or be really good at ambushing to take down a cricket of that size.
regardless though, thanks for posting that up!


----------



## Arietans (Jul 21, 2006)

Assassins are very quick. Almost like Tiger beetles.


----------



## Brian S (Jul 21, 2006)

These are reallly quick!!! They are much quicker than the ones found around here


----------



## cacoseraph (Aug 2, 2006)

chrome those are some nice looking bugs

i think i'm going to have to get a colong of one variety or another going now


----------

