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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / March 2004Beautiful Bugs
The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. Beauty is strictly in the eye of the beholder and not everyones' cup of tea but if you are a bug person like me, enjoy :) http://www.beautifulbugs.com/ Bev -- I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic. >The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I >found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Bev *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them right themselves when they're on their backs). When I was a kid I used to love to watch those bugs in the cow lot that rolled cow dung into a perfect little ball then rolled it away. I have no idea what they are. We called them "doo doo rollers." LOL Sherry > >The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I > >found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Sherry You may be talking about dung beetles. Really, that is the name -- you could probably find information if you entered that name in google. MaryL >> The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. >> I found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them right > themselves when they're on their backs). I found a Junebug in my bed once... the pinchers gave me a *nasty* pinch on my thigh. Yikes! No more do I treat them gold bugs as 'friends' :) > Sherry >When I was a kid I used to love to watch those bugs in the cow lot that >rolled >cow dung into a perfect little ball then rolled it away. Dung beetles. The Egyptian one is the scarb, used as the symbol of the sun rolling across the sky. Khepri was the scarab-headed god. Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ > *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them right > themselves when they're on their backs). I like dragonflies, butterflies (OK, who doesn't?), caterpillars, crickets, and snails (are they bugs?). I even think bumblebees are cool, but don't like to let them get too close. Joyce > I like dragonflies, butterflies (OK, who doesn't?), caterpillars, crickets, > and snails (are they bugs?). I even think bumblebees are cool, but don't > like to let them get too close. > > Joyce Ummm....me! Just say no to butterflies. They are just as evil as moths, just prettier. -- Britta Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album >> I like dragonflies, butterflies (OK, who doesn't?), caterpillars, >crickets, >> and snails (are they bugs?). I even think bumblebees are cool, but don't >> like to let them get too close. >> >> Joyce Honeybees are cool, too.Such an amazing and sophisticated community they have. The drones, the workers, the queen. DH messes with them all the time. I don't get close either. Sherry sriddles@aol.comkitty (Sherry ) had some very interesting things to say about Re: Beautiful Bugs: >Honeybees are cool, too.Such an amazing and sophisticated community they have. >The drones, the workers, the queen. DH messes with them all the time. I don't >get close either. I stay away from bees [mild sting allergy]. I just wish I could get those [bleep] ants under control! [And of course I have a totally non-carnivorous bird]  Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL >> I like dragonflies, butterflies (OK, who doesn't?), caterpillars, >> crickets, and snails (are they bugs?). I even think bumblebees are [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Ummm....me! Just say no to butterflies. They are just as evil as > moths, just prettier. What's wrong butterflies? They are absolutely beautiful (IMO). When I was about 7 years old I found a Victoria butterfly (looks like a Monarch) with a torn wing. I got my mom to give me a cake pan and I put the butterfly in it by the front door. Along with some twigs, grass and flowers like buttercups and violets. Mom and I mixed up some sugar in water and I put some in the pan for the butterfly to 'drink'. It would sit on my hand and flex its wings. One day I came home from school and it was gone. Mom told me it had flown away. I think the butterfly died but she didn't know how to tell me. Jill > <jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt@sonic.net> wrote in message >> butterflies (OK, who doesn't?) > > Ummm....me! Just say no to butterflies. They are just as evil as moths, > just prettier. Oops, of course - I forgot about the moth phobic among us. I don't think of butterflies and moths as being the same, although of course they're not really that different. Joyce > > *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them right > > themselves when they're on their backs). [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Joyce I don't think bumblebees even have stingers, do they? Just did a search; apparently only the workers and Queens do and I take it the Queens rarely leave the house. Bumblebees are funny... they really do appear to be bumbling fuzzy little critters. Jill >> > *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them right >> > themselves when they're on their backs). [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >Jill Bumblebees _do_ have stingers. Take it from one who got stung by one and never forgot it. BTW Bumblebees are not aerodynamically supposed to be able to fly. The Flying Boxcar plane of WWII era was patterned after the bumblebee. (Just thought I'd throw that in.) Nan >>> > *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them >>> right [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >supposed to be able to fly. The Flying Boxcar plane of WWII era was >patterned after the bumblebee. (Just thought I'd throw that in.) Also, the workers make up almost all of the population of a hive. I don't know whether or not the drones (male bees) have stingers, but they make up only a small percentage of the population. Bumblebees (at least the American version) nest underground. When my sister was about six or seven, she was sitting cross-legged in our backyard when a bumblebee tried to leave its nest and found her ankle in its way. It stung her, and her ankle swelled up larger than her thigh. My parents had to take her to the emergency room to get a shot to limit the severity of the reaction. Fortunately, she hasn't shown any special sensitivity to insect stings since then. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >I don't think bumblebees even have stingers, do they? Just did a search; >apparently only the workers and Queens do and I take it the Queens rarely >leave the house. Bumblebees are funny... they really do appear to be >bumbling fuzzy little critters. > >Jill Yep, they do have stingers, but, are usully pretty easy going and it takes more to get them riled. I used to mow open fields with a farm tractor, and have run over a couple nests (they nest in dry grass and/or underground). Understandably, that upset them, but they never chased after me, and I wouldn't even know about it until I came around on my next round and see them flying around. I could mow right by the cloud of bees hovering over their nest, about five feet away from the tractor, and not get stung. In fact, I only remember being stung once by a bumblebee, and that was when I stopped mowing for a break and it turned out I stopped next to a nest. SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html Hi Joyce, [putting on professional hat] Bumblebees have stings. Almost all the bumblebees you will see are workers and they definitely have stings, but are reluctant to use them. The only bees that can't sting (apart from the boys) are stingless bees - Meliponine bees. [taking off professional hat and returning you to your regular feline viewing] Cheers, Tish > Bumblebees have stings. Almost all the bumblebees you will see are > workers and they definitely have stings, but are reluctant to use > them. The only bees that can't sting (apart from the boys) are > stingless bees - Meliponine bees. Thanks! So I guess in a way, both are true. They do have the ability to sting, but they don't do it that often. I've never been stung by one, and I've been stung many times by other bees and wasps. Joyce > [putting on professional hat] Do any of you bug people know what I'm talking about - there's some rule I vaguely remember learning about in elementary school that is supposed to limit the size of insects? Square cube law, maybe? If so, I'd like a copy, as I'd like to show it to a spider in my laundry room who has obviously never heard of it. :-P ------ Krista Who's tired and silly > Do any of you bug people know what I'm talking about - there's some > rule I vaguely remember learning about in elementary school that is > supposed to limit the size of insects? Square cube law, maybe? If > so, I'd like a copy, as I'd like to show it to a spider in my laundry > room who has obviously never heard of it. :-P LOL! The spidey doesn't have to follow the rule, because spiders aren't insects. :o) -- Marina, who's phobic about spiders but not about insects Iiiickkk!!! Stacey ;) > > Do any of you bug people know what I'm talking about - there's some > > rule I vaguely remember learning about in elementary school that is [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > -- > Marina, who's phobic about spiders but not about insects > Iiiickkk!!! Stacey! Where you been? -- Marina > > Iiiickkk!!! > > Stacey! Where you been? > > -- > Marina <looking sheepish> I went and got behind again, now the NG is just too daunting for me to read! I did see pics of Roufus.. my how big he is, Victor! I'm slowly weeding through the posts, trying to catch up! Stacey ;) > Do any of you bug people know what I'm talking about - there's some > rule I vaguely remember learning about in elementary school that is > supposed to limit the size of insects? Square cube law, maybe? If > so, I'd like a copy, as I'd like to show it to a spider in my laundry > room who has obviously never heard of it. :-P Ah, a spider the size of a Buick? :) Joyce > > Do any of you bug people know what I'm talking about - there's some > > rule I vaguely remember learning about in elementary school that is [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Joyce More along the lines of a Humvee. ;-) ------ Krista Who'd swear the whole house shakes when that spider walks around >> [putting on professional hat] > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >so, I'd like a copy, as I'd like to show it to a spider in my >laundry room who has obviously never heard of it. :-P The strength of a bug's exoskeleton (the hard shell) is relative to the cross-sectional area (length * width), but the total mass is relative to the volume (length * width * depth). So, if you were to make the bug 10 times larger in each dimension, keeping the overall shape and design the same, the strength of its exoskeleton would go up 10 * 10, or 100 times, but its mass would go up 10 * 10 * 10, or 1000 times. In other words, the shell would now be 10 times weaker relative to the bug's weight than it was before. Eventually, you would reach a point where the bug would be unable to move without having its own weight break its shell (Splat!). So, you can have hand-sized spiders, like some of the tarantulas, but not Shelob-sized spiders. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > So, you can have hand-sized spiders, like some of the tarantulas, but > not Shelob-sized spiders. I never heard that one before. I had always understood it was because there was a limit to how much air a bug could breath inside an exoskeleton through holes without the aid of lungs. Thanks. >>>> [putting on professional hat] >>> [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >an >exoskeleton through holes without the aid of lungs. Thanks. Well, that is another of the limiting factors. The largest insects that I am aware of are the fossilized dragonflies that have sometimes been found in coal deposits. If I remember correctly, they had bodies about pigeon-sized, with wingspreads of about 3 feet. That is probably about as large as is possible for an insect to be. Given how fast dragonflies can dart about, they must have very powerful metabolisms; I wonder if they have an organ that acts as a lung-equivalent? SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria But if they live in the water, they can get much bigger, because weight has a much different kind of physics in water, right? So we can have lobsters and other huge "bugs" that live in the ocean, because their weight/strength ratio will be different? Joyce > The strength of a bug's exoskeleton (the hard shell) is relative to > the cross-sectional area (length * width), but the total mass is [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > would reach a point where the bug would be unable to move without > having its own weight break its shell (Splat!). > So, you can have hand-sized spiders, like some of the tarantulas, but > not Shelob-sized spiders. >But if they live in the water, they can get much bigger, because >weight has a much different kind of physics in water, right? So we [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > So, you can have hand-sized spiders, like some of the tarantulas, > > but not Shelob-sized spiders. You don't have different physics underwater, but you do have buoyancy partly compensating for lobsters' weight. A lobster's legs are pretty delicate compared to the size of its torso. I suspect that a lobster out of the water probably has to drag itself along on its belly. Some varieties of crabs survive OK on land, but these are the varieties with relatively short, sturdy legs, not your snow crab types. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria For both spiders and insects the size limit is a combination of their respiration system (both have a fairly passive respiration system, not like our lungs which actively pump air in and out) and their exoskeleton (insects and spiders both have their support structure on the outside of their bodies). The combination of a maximum weight the exoskeleton can support and the maximum size that the respiration system can cope with determine how big insects can get. There are fossils of dragon flies from dinosaur times that had a wing span over a metre long (danged big insect by anyone's standard). No-one is quite sure how they managed to survive. Remarkable fact: when insects shed their exoskeletons they also shed their respiratory system because it is nominally part of their exoskeleton. too much information? Cheers :^) Tish > > [putting on professional hat] > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Krista > Who's tired and silly > There are fossils of dragon flies from dinosaur times that had a > wing span over a metre long (danged big insect by anyone's standard). > No-one is quite sure how they managed to survive. Well, apparently they didn't, eventually! Joyce (snippety) > Remarkable fact: when insects shed their exoskeletons they also shed > their respiratory system because it is nominally part of their [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Cheers :^) > Tish Not TMI at all! Thank you. I will print this out and show it to Mr. Spidey tomorrow. I will *not* be showing him Marina's post in this thread. :-P ------ Krista Who forgot to put "OT" on her OP > I don't think bumblebees even have stingers, do they? I've heard conflicting answers to that question. For years I heard that they don't sting. Then recently I heard that they do. I'm not an entomologist (sp?) so I don't have the answer and have to depend on what others say. Are there any experts here who can settle the matter? Joyce >> I don't think bumblebees even have stingers, do they? > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Joyce Some of them do, for sure. I stepped on one barefoot and got stung once. I don't think they're aggressive though. Yellowjackets will go to a lot of trouble to chase you down to sting you. Bumblebees and honey bees aren't like that. Sherry > Yellowjackets will go to a lot of trouble to chase you down to sting > you. Bumblebees and honey bees aren't like that. Just curious, what is the difference, visually, between yellowjackets and honeybees? I've always lumped them together. Joyce > > Yellowjackets will go to a lot of trouble to chase you down to sting > > you. Bumblebees and honey bees aren't like that. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >Joyce The URL below has pictures of the various bees and wasps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_tell_bees_from_wasps The site doesn't mention, though, that yellow jackets sometimes nest in the ground. (I ran over one 2 summers ago with the lawn mower. OUCH!) Nan > The URL below has pictures of the various bees and wasps. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_tell_bees_from_wasps Thanks for this link - that was interesting! So, I guess the insects that fly around trash cans in great numbers, or go after your food if you're eating outdoors during the early fall, which I have always referred to as bees, are in fact yellowjackets? > The site doesn't mention, though, that yellow jackets sometimes nest > in the ground. (I ran over one 2 summers ago with the lawn mower. > OUCH!) Yes, I know that people can step on them and get stung. One time while hiking, I stepped on a yellowjacket nest. I had shoes on, so didn't get stung on my feet, but I did get stung. Joyce > > The URL below has pictures of the various bees and wasps. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_tell_bees_from_wasps [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >while hiking, I stepped on a yellowjacket nest. I had shoes on, so >didn't get stung on my feet, but I did get stung. I had a close call with a paper wasp nest once as a child. There was an overgrown hedge (about 10 feet tall by 10 feet deep) between our back yard and the next yard to one side, and I started trimming it with hedge trimmers. Then, I suddenly spotted a paper wasp nest in the hedge, and froze in place just before the wasps came streaming out. Several of the wasps landed on me, but none of them stung me. I suspect the fact that I had stopped moving by the time that they came out kept them from figuring out what had just shaken their nest. After a couple of minutes, they all flew away or returned to the nest, and I was able to make my escape. I told my father about the nest, and he came and drove the wasps away, using a burning rag, and then destroyed the nest (my attitude towards wasp nests has always been that wasps have a place in the ecosystem, but, due to their agressiveness when near their nest, the place for that nest isn't near me). If a solitary wasp gets into the house, on the other hand, I will usually trap it with a drinking glass and take it back outside. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria (my attitude towards wasp nests has always >been that wasps have a place in the ecosystem, but, due to their >agressiveness when near their nest, the place for that nest isn't >near me). My thoughts exactly. Wasps and yellowjackets and roaches are about the only living creatures that I can think of that I squash. Sherry > I don't think bumblebees even have stingers, do they? Just did a search; > apparently only the workers and Queens do and I take it the Queens rarely > leave the house. Bumblebees are funny... they really do appear to be > bumbling fuzzy little critters. I love sitting on the steps to our house on the island and watch the bumblebees working on the flowers my Mum has in a pot on the steps. Fortunately, the cats hardly pay any attention to them. SignatureMarina, Frank and Nikki Email marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/frankiennikki > I love sitting on the steps to our house on the island and watch the > bumblebees working on the flowers my Mum has in a pot on the steps. > Fortunately, the cats hardly pay any attention to them. Unfortunately, Otis hunts and *eats* both bees and wasps. Sometimes when he's chewing, he'll suddenly bolt off and shake his head a lot. Wonder why ... ... seriously, it worries me that he'll have a reaction some day. Susan M otis and chester >> I love sitting on the steps to our house on the island and watch the >> bumblebees working on the flowers my Mum has in a pot on the steps. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >he's chewing, he'll suddenly bolt off and shake his head a lot. Wonder why >... Little Bit is a hopeless hunter, so Sammy (her daughter) is a self-taught grasshopper hunter. Last summer she actually got to be pretty good, though never really learned what to do once she had one. Anyway, I saw her catch a bee once. She pinned it to the ground and then jumped backwards about three feet. Since then, whenever she sees a bee she quits playing in the flowerbed and lays on the sidewalk until the bee leaves. >... seriously, it worries me that he'll have a reaction some day. > >Susan M >otis and chester SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html > Unfortunately, Otis hunts and *eats* both bees and wasps. Sometimes when > he's chewing, he'll suddenly bolt off and shake his head a lot. Wonder why [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Susan M > otis and chester My parents' RB cat Patty did this. She'd come into the house with her mouth all swollen, and we'd know she'd been eating bees again. The stings never seemed to do any real damage, and she kept it up for the appx. 18 years she ruled us. ------ Krista > > I love sitting on the steps to our house on the island and watch the > > bumblebees working on the flowers my Mum has in a pot on the steps. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Mr. Pumpkin loves smelling the flowers in the Kitty Gardens that Kitty Dad builds for the cats. One day a bumblebee stung him on the bottom lip. It swelled up considerably but, thankfully, diminished in size quickly and was gone in less than a week. Does Mr. Pumpkin still smell flowers? Yes indeed. He is our love bug. Charleen >> > *some* bugs I like...ladybugs. Junebugs. (I always help them right >> > themselves when they're on their backs). [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Jill The old name for bumblebees was humble bee, because even though they can sting, they very raely do. SignatureAdrian (Owned by Snoopy, Milo & Bagheera) A house is not a home, without a cat. > The old name for bumblebees was humble bee, because even though they can > sting, they very raely do. in Swedish a bumble bee is called a "humla" :: lewe ------------------------------------------------------------- lewemi at yahoo dot se || cat pics: photos.yahoo.com/lewemi > > The old name for bumblebees was humble bee, because even though they can > > sting, they very raely do. > > in Swedish a bumble bee is called a "humla" And in German it's Hummel. -- Britta Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. > I found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Bev Memphis and surrounding areas seem to be innudated with lady bugs; I would have thought they'd have died off but they are still puttering around the office building and I find them on my indoor house plants sometimes. I think they ride in on my shoulder :) I don't mind bugs, exept for those ugly Palmetto Bugs (huge flying cockroaches). Jill > http://www.beautifulbugs.com/ Ewww.... I know I shouldn't have looked. Insects creep me out. *shudder* SignatureVictor Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com I LOVE to look at bugs...all except roaches & Palmetto bugs!!! EWWWWW!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vincent 6/27/01 Dorothy 6/4/03 " Life isn't like a box of chocolates...it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your a.s tomorrow." Thanks for the link Bev, it's a georgous site! I've sent it on to DH, who is a professional bug botherer - I reckon he'll like it too. Tish > The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I > found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Bev (snipped a bit) I've sent it on to DH, > who is a professional bug botherer > > Tish May I just say: ROFL!!! ------ Krista Who's not going to any bug site, TYVM. If I wanted to see various huge giant bugs I'd just go out to my laundry room. :-P >The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I >found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. >Beauty is strictly in the eye of the beholder and not everyones' cup of >tea but if you are a bug person like me, enjoy :) > >http://www.beautifulbugs.com/ And if you like caterpillars: http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/ I had cause to refer to this when I found Jasper playing with a privet hawk moth caterpillar - I had no idea what he'd got hold of, and was worried he might be inured, or poisoned by it. It was huge. Fortunately he was fine, and the caterpillar survived his attentions. SignatureCathi >>The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. >> I found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >Fortunately he was fine, and the caterpillar survived his >attentions. As a teenager, I once found a Cecropia caterpillar (see http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/5479/ for details). It was huge, about six inches long by an inch in diameter, bright apple green, with red and orange horns at each end. I went home, got an empty jar, brought it back, and captured the caterpillar, punching air holes in the jar top. Almost as soon as I got it home, the caterpillar started spinning a cocoon. The jar sat on our kitchen table until the next spring, when we noticed the moth starting to hatch out. I moved the jar outside and removed the lid, and the moth crawled out onto a tree branch. Within a few minutes, another moth showed up to mate with it. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria We get these huge ones on one of our plants in the back yard. They start off a bright lime green and then turn more yellowish. We are always on the lookout for them because they eat *all* the leaves off the plant. They eat so fast and are noisy, you can hear them crunching away on the leaves. They are about the size of a thumb. We gather them up and make a little pile of them in front of the wheel of the car and then run them over. Seems cruel but they totally destroy our plant! Chucking them over the fence doesn't work, they just come right back. Here's a picture: http://tinyurl.com/38hbr -- Britta Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > >The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I > >found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > -- > Cathi > We get these huge ones on one of our plants in the back yard. They > are about the size of a thumb... Here's a picture: http://tinyurl.com/38hbr Wow, the way that picture was taken, it looks at first glance like the caterpillar is bigger than the window! Attack of the giant caterpillars!! Remind me not to visit Thailand! On further examination, I can see that the caterpillar is actually hanging from a branch well off the ground, but if you look at that picture and imagine that it's lying on the ground, it looks enormous. Joyce > > We get these huge ones on one of our plants in the back yard. They > > are about the size of a thumb... Here's a picture: http://tinyurl.com/38hbr [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >from a branch well off the ground, but if you look at that picture and >imagine that it's lying on the ground, it looks enormous. It looks like something out of a Godzilla movie! Very pretty though. http://www.auctionrepair.com/pub/0122.jpg A Praying Mantis that was so accommodating for days. My cats have met nose-to-nose? This creature was interesting. > The cats are always bringing home bugs and I am fascinated by them. I > found this site and was amazed at the beauty and colours of said bugs. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > -- > I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic. I remember as a child the Monarch butterflies used to come along to feed of our milkweed (?) plants. Then we got those wonderful black, white and yellow caterpillers that pretty much stripped the plants down to the stalks. I'd say most of those caterpillers ended up starving to death :-( but the odd few made it to pupua stage, and even then theyar beautiful lime green pupuas with silvery gold (metallic) spots. I spent a whole day one lazy summer day watching a butterfly emerge from one. Its something I'll never forget. My parents no longer have milkweed plants, so I doubt that my son will ever see that wonder.... :-( Yowie Think of planting those ugly milkweeds just for the joy of seeing those butterflies again. > http://www.auctionrepair.com/pub/0122.jpg > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > -- > > I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic. >My parents no longer have milkweed plants, so I doubt that my son will ever see that wonder.... :-( >Yowie >Think of planting those ugly milkweeds just for the joy of seeing those butterflies again. We have milkweeds in the US, I woder if they're the same. Suz Macmoosette Thank Heavens There's Only One =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things. That's a *beautiful* picture. Thanks for sharing it. Tish > http://www.auctionrepair.com/pub/0122.jpg > > A Praying Mantis that was so accommodating for days. My cats have met > nose-to-nose? This creature was interesting. > That's a *beautiful* picture. Thanks for sharing it. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > A Praying Mantis that was so accommodating for days. My cats have met > > nose-to-nose? This creature was interesting. Yowie, I am a Monarch butterfly fanaatic and every summer have an ongoing rescue service going. I have several swan plants (they have the milky sap). The butterflies are very choosy and only lay eggs on my swan plants. As soon as the caterpillars are big enough I transfer them to a milky fast growing creeper I discovered some years ago. In this way I don't get the starving caterpillars (very upsetting). It also means that I get masses of butterflies for my trouble which is reward enough for me. There are people here who actually tag the butterflies to see where they go and how long they live. At the beginning of Spring you see some battered looking butterflies around that have managed to winter over somewhere and so the process begins again. Do plant some swan plants for your son. What fun you will have exploring this amazingly beautiful metamorphoses together. Bev -- I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic. >Yowie, I am a Monarch butterfly fanaatic and every summer have an >ongoing rescue service going. I have several swan plants (they have >the milky sap). The butterflies are very choosy and only lay eggs on >my swan plants. As soon as the caterpillars are big enough I transfer >them to a milky fast growing creeper I discovered some years ago. In >this way I don't get the starving caterpillars (very upsetting). You really *are* a fanatic! I think Monarch butterflies are wonderful, though probably not a lot of people go to the trouble of growing plants for them and transferring them. > http://www.auctionrepair.com/pub/0122.jpg > > A Praying Mantis that was so accommodating for days. My cats have met > nose-to-nose? This creature was interesting. We get praying mantises (manti?) here too, although Vino has never met one nose to nose because he's indoor only. I got a fairly good picture of the last one that came to the house: http://tinyurl.com/2wj3a -- Britta Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album |
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