Has anyone kept Giant water bugs?

[dtknow]

Any updates?

 

[Mr. Mordax]

The ones that the grad student has are Abedus herberti, "ferocious water bugs," and he has a bunch leftover that he really doesn't want to just douse in alcohol. From the thesis he presented, their developmental threshold is 10 degrees Celsius, so they have to be warmer than that to grow properly. Nymphs should be separated but adults can be housed together. They need to have something to perch on where they can stick their rear ends out of the water (for the nymphs, inverted hex bolts in deli cups work perfectly).

He's leaving town on the 10th so I'll be getting in touch with him ASAP.

 

[dtknow]

I hope you are successful with this...they seem like great waterbugs to keep, and I am truly interested in obtaining some.

 

[funnylori]

I was there, he said you (IHeartMantids) could have a few as a christmas present. The rest wont be 'delt' with untill after/during spring break. So there is going to be a few months of waiting for the rest of us if Arlo does decide to distribute them. And his thesis had a great appendix for care of the things. In the end, Arlo will decide what happens to the things.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

found this site selling waterscorpions, same thing as GWBs right? http://bugsincyberspace.com/detail.htm?ProductID=lbws1

They are similar but waterscorpions are in the family Nepidae while giant water bugs are in the family Belostomatidae. The biggest differences are that waterscorpions have really long breathing tubes and their eggs have breathing tubes as well.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

I'm getting mine on Friday (tomorrow) . . . we'll see how many, and if I successfully breed them, maybe I can distribute.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

I got five females and five males today, and some may already be gravid. Arlo seemed kind of hesitant about me selling them and suggested I wait until after winter (which is good -- I wasn't planning on selling anything until after they've bred).

He also gave me a baby vinegaroon! Hee!

One more note on waterbug care: since they breathe by sticking a butt-snorkel out of the water, they don't need the water aerated. They just need something that sticks out of the water they can perch on. And if they're sloshed around too long without being able to rest on a perch, they can drown.

I'll post pics when I get around to it, as well as genital closeups (gasp!) so everyone knows how to sex them.

 

[dtknow]

Awesome! I'd love some if you breed them or are willing to part with any of the current ones. According to a site online java moss is really good for them. Works out well for me.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

I googled it -- that stuff's pretty cool.

Anywho, I've observed at least one pair mating today, and one male has gone from zero to three to five eggs on his back. YAY!!! If I sell any, it won't be until I've got babies. And then I'll have to figure out how to safely ship them.

 

[Annie]

This is kinda off topic but, I had one of these, it was about 1 1/2 inches long, that I found in the car. Another person and I were going somewhere (in a city with no ponds nearby)and I felt something moving on my pants leg, I reached down, thinking it was a grasshopper or something, and when I looked in my hand I had no idea what it was. I put it in some container and figured out what it was when I got home. It ended up living happily in a kritter keep for quite awhile.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Cool! Anywho, quick update, I now have two males with eggs on their backs, and one has at least 12. Still no pictures, yet. And the sexing differences are really subtle, so it may be difficult for me to get good pictures.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

SEXING PICTURES:

These were a PAIN to take. But I got 'em!! And you can see what I meant about the differences being subtle.

Male:

Female:

PS, I hope nobody thinks I'm trying to hijack this thread :8o

 

[dtknow]

How large are they? Any photos of the egg laden males? It is kinda odd they are carrying so few eggs but they could be just practicing. Have you isolated these males?

 

[Mr. Mordax]

No one is isoloated -- the adult are gregarious. I'll have to separate the nymphs as soon as they hatch, though. The reason the pictured male only has three eggs is because I needed one with eggs to be sure it was a male in the first place, and I wanted the risk of lost eggs to be as few as possible.

They're pretty small, maybe an inch and a half or so. I'll try getting some pictures of the lot of them as well as one of my champion breeder male.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Ok, I haven't taken any new pictures, but here's some I took of the same species a couple years ago. It gives a good size comparison as well as what the eggs look like on the males.

 

[Wade]

If you plan on shipping people nymphs, I'd wait until they get a few molts on them. IME the nymphs are very delicate for the first couple instars. After that, they get a lot tougher. Adults are very hardy. I collected a group of these in AZ this summer, and they began breeding right away. The first batches of nymphs are now mature, although the original aldults are still producing.

I rear nymphs individually in 32 oz deli cups with a piece of plastic craft canvas for them to cling to. I include a pinch of java moss for additional perching areas and to help with water quality between weekly water changes. I feed them small crickets and dermestid larvae.

Adults are kept comunally in aquariums (I'm keeping the original adults separate from the next generation) with emergent rocks and plants with a submersable filter. They are often found in streams, so they don't mind the flow. Areation may not be important for breathing, but it does help keep the water a little healthier.

Someone asked which was better, waterscorpions or water bugs. Water bugs are more active predators, while waterscorpions are cryptic ambush predators. Anyone trying to keep the native waterscorpion Ranatra (as seen in my avatar) is wasing their time offering fish. They prefer smaller prey, they will take small crickets from forcepts if you don't spook them, but mosquito larvae and daphnia are more readily accepted. The larger African nepids may take fish, but in my experience, they don't seem all that keen on it. I usually offer crickets which are fed on with enthusiasm. While water bugs are more active, the waterscorpions are interesting in the same way highly cameoflaged mantids like P. paradoxa are. They sit motionless among submerged leaf litter and you'd never know it was there until it snatches prey. Very cool.

Wade

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Thanks Wade!

 

[dtknow]

Awesome photos! And Excellent info Wade.

Iheartmantids: Mind putting one up against a mm ruler? I'm guessing around 35-40mm from the photo.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Now I wish I'd payed better attention during the thesis . . . I'll measure next chance I get, but you're pretty close.

 

[dtknow]

LOL yeah now that you are keeping them information on em really matters.

Wade: How do you suggest shipping these guys? One person somewhere else told me he has sent adults simply padded up in moist paper towels or java moss. Nymphs might be a bit different? It seems if you packed them in shallow water with moss it might be better due to size but they would likely get tumbled around a lot during the trip.