Nepa cinerea, water scorpions

[Deroplatys]

Went for a walk up the local reservoir earlier today and i found a colony of water scorpions in a ditch
The ditch was formed by those June floods way back, and since then the ditch has flooded and created a small pond with all sorts of wildlife ive hardly been able to see before.
I can only ever remember finding one water scorpion before and that was way back when i was a tiddler and kept it in a pop bottle...in the sun
So i got a bit over excited i think and grabbed a whole bunch
Im hoping to watch their life cycle, i got bunch of various nymphs and 2 adults, i was hoping to witness a full generation and a bit, then release them back.
At the moment their in a small tub with about an inch of water, but this is just what i put them in until i get something sorted, their feeding on mosquito larvae and a water spider, and they fed on them in the first five minutes ive brought them home
Its going to take a little while longer than i thought to get their set up done so i decided i might aswell take a couple of pics.

Not the best of pics though, i`ll get some better ones when i have to chance.

 

[Warren Bautista]

That's pretty cool.

 

[blazetown]

I wonder if your picking up a generation spawned in the floods. That would account for the amount of them at least.

 

[What]

Please, dont release anything kept in captivity. The possibility of releasing something infected with a pathogen/parasite in captivity is far too great to risk.

 

[texasroach]

Please, dont release anything kept in captivity. The possibility of releasing something infected with a pathogen/parasite in captivity is far too great to risk.

What! how is a captive spices likly to get a pathogen it wouldnt already get in the wild.

 

[Scythemantis]

Please, dont release anything kept in captivity. The possibility of releasing something infected with a pathogen/parasite in captivity is far too great to risk.

No idea what you're talking about. First thing stated is that they were collected local, what would the risk be to put them back?

 

[What]

What! how is a captive spices likly to get a pathogen it wouldnt already get in the wild.

No idea what you're talking about. First thing stated is that they were collected local, what would the risk be to put them back?

He will be feeding them in captivity, will he not? Captive feeders are likely to have bacteria and such not found in the wild.

Is it not also likely that they will be kept near other captive inverts from all over the globe? WC(or even captive bred) inverts might be carrying any number of diseases unique to them that might have drastic effects on native inverts.

 

[Deroplatys]

I was going to feed them wild caught aquatic insects from either the same ditch or my pond.
I dont have any other aquatic insects and theres no way for any of my other invertebrates to come into contact with them.
I`d be more worried about the water scorpions infecting my bugs, the ditch they came from was disgusting

 

[What]

You are going to go collect inverts to feed them every time you feed them? Wow...

 

[Deroplatys]

Yeah, not that hard, grab a cup full and dump it in there, simple <_<

 

[OxDionysus]

I have never seen anthing like these before...how big are they? do they have stingers? Only 4 legs?

 

[Deroplatys]

Adults of these species are around 3cm i think, havent measured them yet.
They have 6 legs but the front limbs are raptorial like a mantis

 

[Deroplatys]

Took some much nicer pics earlier on aswell as a couple of video`s
Oh and ive just learnt they can squirt at you

Small nymphs, maybe pre sub adult swimming

[YOUTUBE]wCQGRJd_ILU[/YOUTUBE]

Sub adult nymph and a couple of nymphs attacking

[YOUTUBE]KgiQ2UqS2yA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Sukai94]

Those things are neat!

 

[Vidaro]

never seen these creatures before...but i must say they look really awesome!

 

[AzJohn]

Please do not release them into the wild. The danger of infection is real. There are documented cases of animals taking diseases from captivity to the wild. The desert tortises being a very well known case. It has been debated so many times on AB I'm not going to go into it all over again. Just do some research first.


John

 

[Deroplatys]

But i really cant see a problem if ive used everything from the exact same ditch i found them. Their enclosure is just a spare one that was kept outside for months and more, plus i washed in good then swilled it with pond water.
For substrate i used mud from the same ditch, the water is from the same ditch, the livefood is from the same ditch, the leaf litter and twigs are from the same ditch. There is nothing thats had anything captive of mine touch it, its just a slice of the ditch in an isolated part of the room away from everything else, i dont have anything that could get into their tank :?

 

[MaartenSFS]

Awesome attack footage. They are feisty. Now let's see them feeding.

Are you sure these are "water scorpions" and not another species (possibly giant water bug or something)? I remember water scorpions having a longer "tail".

 

[Deroplatys]

Nope these are water scorpions
They get thier long filiments once they reach adult

 

[Moltar]

Wow. That is so cool. So these guys are insects, right? Not related to scorpions any more than grasshoppers or mantids are? And they're breathing through that tube sticking out the end of their abdomen?

Nature is a wonderful thing.