what are some good "pet" insects?

[halfwaynowhere]

I have a pair of (possibly gravid) female hissers that I keep as pets right now, and am looking into getting some stick insects soon. I'm basically looking for some non-bitey bugs that can be handled. I'm signing on as a boy scout merit badge counselor for insects, and would like to give presentations with insects that the boys can carefully handle. I'm also looking for something that breeds fairly easily, as one of the requirements is to raise an insect from pupae to adult, so I'd like to be able to provide the boys with their eggs/pupae. Roaches are pretty much out of the question. even though I have two hissers, they make my mom really uncomfortable, and bringing more roaches into the house is not allowed. Any other ideas? native to southern california would be nice, but something that I could fairly easily purchase online from out of state would be great, too, for diversity.

 

[cacoseraph]

do you mean literally insects, as in class Insecta?

or bugs?

it kind of sounds like Insecta, from the terminology you used

 

[Eclipse]

If you like something carnivorous then mantids would be excellent. The chinese mantis is the easiest to get, care for, breed, are pratically harmless and don't mind being handled. They are very interesting to watch and are very hyperactive. These critters also post alot of personallity, much like a cat.

They are legal throughout the United States as they are introduced as a biological pest control. It's easy to find them online too. I suggest looking for them on mantidforum.com

 

[thedude]

assassin bugs are cool to but there a lil unpredictable when it comes to biting and there's also a number of cool roaches, or if you can find them bess bugs (patent leather beetles) are really cool and you can just go out and catch them if your on the east coast, just find a rotten log and dig around it and there usually there.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

do you mean literally insects, as in class Insecta?

or bugs?

it kind of sounds like Insecta, from the terminology you used

Insecta.

The merit badge is strictly about insects, although I wish it involved other inverts. I personally wouldn't mind having other bugs, but I'm mainly focused on insects for this particular project.

 

[cacoseraph]

i would have to agree with praying mantids. sight predatorial insects... how cool is that!?

they hunted unlike any of my other pets... once a PM jumped across about a foot of cage to pounce on a cricket... it was so awesome!


i would suggest not using chins though. i just can't get over purposefully adding more to the millions already infecting the country. stupid things are probably displacing native predators. try to find a native species. of course, there *are* gazillions of chins out there and more released every day... so it wouldn't really be that big of a deal, you know?

 

[JohnxII]

Difinitely hissing roaches, they're relatively cheap and easy to maintain. Live long too.

 

[Galapoheros]

Giant Silkworm Moths (Saturnids) can be interesting no matter how old you are. The caterpillars are huge but you have to feed them often and you need to make sure you have host plants available. Here's where you can buy eggs and cocoons http://www3.islandtelecom.com/~oehlkew/. Also the really large beetles can be cool. Elytra and Antenna sometimes sells stuff like that on this site in the "for sale/trade" section. Can't lose with mantids like already mentioned.

 

[cacoseraph]

from pupae to adult... so no eggs?


wax worms. hehehe. like 4 of my neighbor kids have "pet" waxworms that they keep at my house. we are waiting to see which turn into moths.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

i forgot to mention- absolutely no lepidopteras.

our house is recovering from a waxmoth infestation. never again.

Besides, i'm lepidopteraphobic.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

oh, and eggs would be okay. the merit badge requirements say pupae, but eggs would be fine, too, assuming they were individual eggs so we could divide them up easier. herbivore would probably be better, because i'm not sure how commited these kids will be, and if they'd be willing to feed live insects to their bugs.

 

[cacoseraph]

mealwormss

 

[Choobaine]

I breed tenibrio molitor (mealworms) and zoophobas morio (supers). Take your pick

They are active all the time, breed CONSTANTLY (and their tactic is quite fun, the male chases anything that looks sort of like another beetle until it gives up and stops running then he just grabs it, doesn't care what way and gets to it) and are easy to feed and house. Allthough they aren't overly interesting they are probably fit your needs best.

I'd advise tenibrio, much easier, more active. Morio is bigger but harder than tenibrio.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

okay, so mealworms would be a good project for the kids to raise on their own. can anyone point me towards a simple caresheet or something for them?

I'm looking into mantids, I think they would be fun to keep on my own. And there's someone fairly locally who has stick insects available. He says they are vietnamese stick insects, I'm going to do a bit of research first (I've read that some species, the females can reproduce without males, they just make more females, which i think is cool) to make sure they are ones that I want.

 

[Choobaine]

Well mealies are so simple to keep I'll tell you now, if someone else wants to find a caresheet they can but I've kept 'em a while.

I keep my tenibrio in a big tub, mine's open but many put a well ventilated lid on. They don't climb well, or at all for that matter. I keep mine in a mixture of bran and crushed wheatabix for substrate. I give them chunks of vegetables or fruits (usually apple) every one or two days to provide the moisture they need as well as food. Then leave them to it. That's all there is! As long as there's food these things will breed. They burrow well so don't worry if you tip the tank or something. I tend to occasionally tip up the tank and look at the plastic on the bottom, I find a pattern of little blobs of substrate - those are eggs

Enjoy!

 

[arachnocat]

Tailless whipscorpions (damon sp.) are great. They look really creepy but they're harmless and fun to hold. If you keep the temp up in their tank they will stay active.
Vinegaroons are cool too.

 

[cacoseraph]

the problem with those arachs is they take a long time to grow

and she can only do six leggers


related side note: i REALLY want to get a colony of the Phrynus sp. from FL!