Found a juvie Arilus cristata (wheel bug)!

[lunashimmer]

Today while checking on our pond, my husband called me outside to point out a weird bug. I captured him in a KK and brought him inside to ID. Turns out he's a juvenile Arilus cristata, a wheel bug, a type of assassin bug!

I live in North Florida in the panhandle and apparently these things are native to here. I've never seen one before but my husband says he's seen both ther juvies and the adults.

So for now I've got him in the smallest KK, with dry coco coir and fake ivy. I placed a soda bottle lid in the center of the enclosure with 2 mealworms in it...so far he hasn't come down off the top of the KK to investigate. Should I take the mealworms out or leave 'em in there for him?

Anyone kept this particular type of assassin bug for a while? I'm not interested in breeding; this is more for pleasure and fascination.

Any tips on care would be great! Thanks!

 

[beetleman]

i'm in south fla. we have them down here aswell,you have it setup perfect(i have 1 aswell ) try crickets they like bugs that move,they pounce right on them,mine loves the crickets.enjoy yours!

 

[lunashimmer]

Ok, will do! Thanks! I had left the 2 mealworms in there with him overnight and there's only 1 in there now, so I suppose he did eat one. But I don't see the skin of the mealworm, and my understanding was that it would be left. Did he eat that too? :barf: Gross!!! Heehee!

 

[Acro]

Yes, wheelbugs are native here (I live in north FL too). I used to keep these and had them breed. They never seemed to eat mealworms much, but they love caterpillars and flying insects. Try feeding wax worms and wax worm moths. Besides that, your set up sounds fine. They like to drink water when you mist them, Ive never seen them go to a water dish. About the mealworm that dissapeared, my guess is that it found a way to crawl out and is now living in the coco fiber! Assassins of any sort, will not eat the skin. However, they suck out all the juices, so if the wheel bug did eat the meal worm, it would look like a brown shriveled ball. You can also tell if they fed because they grow fat like a tick!