Native (US) Assassin Bugs

[Arachno Veteran]

I'm curious - Does anyone keep Native Assassin Bugs in captivity?
I would think they would be a lot safer than those crazy African species?
Venom less potent, etc. And I'd love to see some pics, if you have 'em.

 

[cacoseraph]

i have tried a toad bug, bee assassin, and what was probably a Zelus or Sinea sp.

all failed... wouldn't take the roaches i offered. i want to try again with tiny pinhead crickets and fruit flies




toad bug (REALLY hard to get good pics of)

zoom http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/cacoseraph/insect/bug/toad/003b.jpg
if toad bugs were bigger (well under a cm for that one) i think they would be awesome pets! they look like little tiny toads when they hop around


bee assassin (Apiomerus sp.)

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/cacoseraph/hunt/insect/assassin/wl_20070512_assassin03b.jpg

i actually grabbed the apiomerus out of the air









and i know ppl who try to keep and breed / captive hatch the large native predatory water bugs. Arthrohabdus or whatever

 

[Matt K]

From what I can gather, almost all US Native assasin bugs are extremely hard to keep in captivity. Many of them have specialized diets, etc. The African ones will eat just about any bug and are less demanding on temps, etc.
There are a couple of neat-o books out there on the subject....

 

[cacoseraph]

the native assassins aren't that hard to keep... you just have to have the right setup. obviously i didn't =P

scientists keep them all the time in labs, breeding and everything

i have read a number of papers that detailed to greater or lesser extent keeping Phymata, Zelus, Sinea... i think some of the thread legs... and i think maybe one or two other species. virtually all of their setups would get them yelled at here, too. just petri dishes and paper towels a lot of the time

 

[Arachno Veteran]

i have tried a toad bug, bee assassin, and what was probably a Zelus or Sinea sp.

all failed... wouldn't take the roaches i offered. i want to try again with tiny pinhead crickets and fruit flies




toad bug (REALLY hard to get good pics of)

zoom http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/cacoseraph/insect/bug/toad/003b.jpg
if toad bugs were bigger (well under a cm for that one) i think they would be awesome pets! they look like little tiny toads when they hop around


bee assassin (Apiomerus sp.)

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/cacoseraph/hunt/insect/assassin/wl_20070512_assassin03b.jpg

i actually grabbed the apiomerus out of the air









and i know ppl who try to keep and breed / captive hatch the large native predatory water bugs. Arthrohabdus or whatever

That Toad Bug is really cool! Even though he's tiny. Hey, at least he wouldn't need much tank space!

 

[cacoseraph]

That Toad Bug is really cool! Even though he's tiny. Hey, at least he wouldn't need much tank space!

in fact, i kept "losing" it in the setup i was trying it in... then it croaked (hehe, i'm punny)


and i proudly admit i giggle-shrieked when i found it. i didn't even know such a bug existed before i found it


if you could get a colony of little hoppy, googly-eyed bugs going it would be AWESOME! especially if you had a water feature involved and made it look nice i don't know if they are conspecifically tolerant or not, though.

 

[What]

I was keeping Apiomerus flaviventris for awhile, they took very quickly to roaches, but I could not get them to reproduce...

The enclosure was simply a communal delicup with paper toweling as the substrate and structure.

 

[cacoseraph]

those are the screaming yellow and red ones?

ah, yes it is

http://images.google.com/images?q=A...ent=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

 

[Matt K]

Toad bugs are totally cool. :clap: I have not had those though....

 

[Arachno Veteran]

Native Assassins

I was keeping Apiomerus flaviventris for awhile, they took very quickly to roaches, but I could not get them to reproduce...

The enclosure was simply a communal delicup with paper toweling as the substrate and structure.

Communal delicup - that's good! lol a 32oz. size I presume?
Looks like those Bee Assassins aren't that big
Are you keeping any native Assassins now?

 

[Craig]

Last year I had an apartment that was pretty high off the ground (5th floor).

I had a really large tree next to my bathroom window. I also did not have a working screen on my bathroom window. Numerous assassin bugs (not cone noses) came in my bathroom via the tree. They actually did quite well there. I let them live there the whole time I was at this address. I am not sure what they ate but they thrived there. I am wondering if it was roach nymphs.

Interesting eh?

 

[Arachno Veteran]

Wow, Craig - that is cool. The only time I ever came across one, was after hours of leaf flipping in the woods.

 

[What]

Communal delicup - that's good! lol a 32oz. size I presume?
Looks like those Bee Assassins aren't that big
Are you keeping any native Assassins now?

The ones I had were all between 3/4" and 1", with 5 of them in a 16 oz delicup(I dont recommend it, was a bit of an experiment). I was feeding them 3x a week, and never had any cannibalism.

I was thinking about keeping one or two of the local Apiomerus sp(looks to be the same as Caco's above), but I did not have any collecting gear with me and had to settle for a photo:

 

[Arachno Veteran]

The ones I had were all between 3/4" and 1", with 5 of them in a 16 oz delicup(I dont recommend it, was a bit of an experiment). I was feeding them 3x a week, and never had any cannibalism.

I was thinking about keeping one or two of the local Apiomerus sp(looks to be the same as Caco's above), but I did not have any collecting gear with me and had to settle for a photo:

Oh, man - He's a beauty! How much? I'll pay cash :drool: ...I know, you didn't have a jar with you. Ah well, maybe next time?

 

[Craig]

Wow, Craig - that is cool. The only time I ever came across one, was after hours of leaf flipping in the woods.

For what ever reason I have noticed more further north in Illinois as opposed to where I grew up (approx. 2 hours) from Chicago. They seem to be difficult to find further south here. I live in the city of Chicago now, and I have never even seen 1 out here. Actually I really do not see too many insects (except for flies etc.) at all. I'll have to post some pictures of the assassins that lived in my bathroom. I did notice when I tried to handle them they were pretty skittish.

 

[Acro]

Ive kept all 3 species of african assassin bugs and the native Wheel Bug. Wheel bugs are one of the larger native US assassin species and I was able to raise a large group form nymphs to adults. They were able to breed and produce eggs that did hatch. Unfortunately I did not have fruit flies or pin head crickets available to keep the nymphs alive. I have known other people who have been able to breed wheel bugs too. So if you want to give native assassin bugs a try, I would strongly suggest Arilus cristata.

 

[pandinus]

i'm just suprised it took the wheel bug till page 2 to get mentioned. they are the biggest assasins ive ever seen even if their color is not all that impressive

 

[cacoseraph]

i really want to keep wheel bugs! i just might be in their range when i move to IL. if i can't find some myself i still want to trade for or buy some


i honestly don't understand why they aren't more popular. they might not be as colorful as the african Plat's but they are SO crazy looking!

 

[Arachno Veteran]

What about Zelus, etc.?

I've been thinking more along the lines of Zelus Sp. - Zelus luridus, etc.
And Apiomerus Sp. -Apiomerus flaviventris, Apiomerus spissipes, Apiomerus crassipes crassipes, and many others... it's been hard finding someone who has any to sell...

 

[cacoseraph]

zelus are kinda little and scrawny. i like their legs, though! i think they are going to require having drosophila and true pinhead crix to feed them. we need to see if they will feed of prekilled

have you seen the thread leggeds? er... Emesinae
http://bugguide.net/node/view/213/bgpage
one of those genera has a species that can get to >=2" BL iirc