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Beetles (not the Beatles)
Earlier I was trying to watch 'The Good Girl' with Jake Gyllenhaal in. Halfway though I went to the kitchen to get a drink and I spotted a beetle on the work surface. The little chap was a burying beetle - Nicrophorus sp.
I did my final year project at uni on burying beetles. They mate and lay eggs on small dead animals and then when the larvae hatch, both parents feed them with the dead animal (I used mice) until they're big enough to eat it themselves. Very smelly but quite cute (if you're insane and also me).
However, the beetle in my kitchen was infested with mites which were running all over it - almost exactly like in this picture here. It makes me itch thinking about it. He was washing himself all the time, so because I'm a big dork I tried washing the poor little sausage but they wouldn't come off. I gave up and put him outside. I watched the end of the film and then logged onto the PC. Minutes later I heard a loud buzzing sound - and there was the beetle crashing into the light bulb. When he settled down I put him outside again. Perhaps I should change my surname to Doolittle...
I did my final year project at uni on burying beetles. They mate and lay eggs on small dead animals and then when the larvae hatch, both parents feed them with the dead animal (I used mice) until they're big enough to eat it themselves. Very smelly but quite cute (if you're insane and also me).
However, the beetle in my kitchen was infested with mites which were running all over it - almost exactly like in this picture here. It makes me itch thinking about it. He was washing himself all the time, so because I'm a big dork I tried washing the poor little sausage but they wouldn't come off. I gave up and put him outside. I watched the end of the film and then logged onto the PC. Minutes later I heard a loud buzzing sound - and there was the beetle crashing into the light bulb. When he settled down I put him outside again. Perhaps I should change my surname to Doolittle...
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*shakes head* Remind me never to follow your insect links. :P;)
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In that film Jake was weird and psycho but still very - I want to say - prettiful. I think I'm turning into Mal...
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I had no idea that beetles got mites. That's very interesting. chalk that up to "learn something new every day" :)
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It was pretty gross though. As the Jonathan Swift poem goes:
So, naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em;
And so proceed ad infinitum.
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Also, I can't believe you tried to wash a bug. I'm very impressed. And also grossed out. I used to keep daddy longlegs as pets when I was really little, but beetles freak me. Especially ones with mites, apparently.
Wow.
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Could you try brushing them off/capturing them with a small piece of clear packaging tape? Or would it hurt the beetle?
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...
But if I'd have thought of that last night I might have tried it! As long as I didn't accidentally stick the tape to the beetle. They were all underneath its wing cases too so that might have been a little difficult.
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...but no one can say we didn't try.
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On the bright side, I did rescue a large dragon fly from the jaws of my cat yesterday and set it free.
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On the bright side, I did rescue a large dragon fly from the jaws of my cat yesterday and set it free.
See, that's impressive. Once it's inside the mouth of any of my cats, I immediately give it up for lost. This rule applies to dog food, insects, small animals, pieces of string, you name it.