This one's for you, Beetleman!

[Dave]

Biggest one we've found yet!

That's a quarter in the picture

With flash

How 'bout them apples!

 

[beetleman]

:clapoooooooooohhh!!!!! daddy,nice 1! that 1 is a honker for sure,that thing can take down a small human with no problem,now you know where to bring it when you get bored of it...........hint hint,awesome beetle!

 

[Dave]

I'll be down at Thanksgiving so I'll swing on by! I owe you any lol.

Btw, the minatrix bolted out of her cage last night at feeding time and disappeared into the endless wall of cages! lol! Fortunately I caught her quickly after rearranging the shelves. She molted recently too and looks great!

Hey, my wife found a brown cocoon on the ground that's got to be 2 or 3 inches long. It's huge! Stout too. Any idea what it is?

 

[beetleman]

whahoo! awesomeyeah that minitrix.....she's a fast little bugger,i always had to watch her when i fed too,glad she's doing great.that coccoon sounds like some sort of HUGE moth...........moths they give me the willies,don't why but they just do maybe it's all of that fluttering around then hitting me in the face ah! butterflies are cool,but moths......uh uh;P

 

[Dave]

Cool! I can't wait to see what kind of moth it turns into.

I've found some really nice praying mantises up here as well, and a spider (fishing?) with about a 5 inch leg span! It's currently hanging like a bat upside down with an eggsack. She was big enough for me to catch her between the cephalothorax and abdomen.

 

[beetleman]

ah yeah, love them fishers,and they get big i have juvies i like to see them grow,your finding alot of cool stuff up there:clap:

 

[zonbonzovi]

Wow, Dave, great find! That is one of those beastly tiger beetles, right?

 

[Dave]

Hey Pete! Found this today wrapped in a spider web. Now I just need to find a live one. When I showed the other guy working here, he said he saw 5 or 6 trying to eat something not too long ago. If he only knew I was looking for them for you!

This makes the first one I've ever seen in person. Funny how I knew exactly what it was from your description.

 

[Dave]

Hi zonbonzovi
I think that's what there called. Beetleman? Any insight on the name tiger beetle?

 

[Dave]

I just looked it up. It looks like the fiery searcher (found dead in the spider web today) is closer in shape to a tiger beetle. And they're both predatory, of course.

 

[beetleman]

oh yeah:drool:fiery searchers.........awesome find! great beetle to keep,i'd figure you would stumble on them:clap: i know they abundent up where you are proberly just alittle looking here and there(at night at some huge parking lots bright lights),down here.......nothing,well i haven't seen any,up north(new york)i would find them everywhere.the big beetle in the beginning of this post is PASIMACHUS(spelling)SP. not in the tiger beetle genus

 

[Galapoheros]

Hey, ...lol, some people are being lazy, me too but bored right now, they are ground beetles, the first is a Pasimachus, the other a Calosoma. I found a Pasimachus too a few days ago, brought it to the house. It caught a full grown field cricket with little help from me. It'd be a lot cooler if they were 5 inches long:razz:


Dahhh, you beat me to it Bman.

 

[beetleman]

5inches long...........oooooohh,i'd give up my car for 1 that size

 

[zonbonzovi]

Thanks guys! That green beast is C. scrutator, my favorite US native & a messy eater.