I would love that! Also that's super understandable wanting to wait until later! I'm putting off the second post until tomorrow because I'm pretty sleepy myself.

thanks for making this thread btw. I'm hype to talk w u soon!!

Wassup y'all!!! I too are interested in insects, such as beetles, mantids, giant malaysian leaf insect, ect. But I'm mostly interested in camouflaged insects. I don't know when I got so interested in insects.

Just some months ago I encountered a wild mantis around the side walk. I kept it as a pet and I believed that it was on their 3-4 instar. I was interested the way how they caught its prey with their sharp front legs, eating it while the prey struggles slowly dies out. I learned so much about my pet insect and slowly became having the thirst of more insects to learn from.(lol) I didn't collect much information on beetles and other camouflaged insects, but I'm still looking forward to learn more about them. (I laughed at the way how these leaf bugs and stick bugs walk. Them DONCING lol)

This is a mantis eating a moth unfortunately I don't know the species of this kind


It looked blood thirsty, will be remembered lol

I have some very concerning news for insect lovers. Xerces, a very trusted insect conservation non-profit, has shared news of a study that it's staff took part in. The study "found harmful levels of pesticides in milkweed plants purchased from retail nurseries across the United States. Pesticides were found in all plants tested, raising alarms for monarch conservation efforts that rely on planting milkweed sourced from commercial nurseries." I would think this likely goes beyond milkweed and monarchs. If milkweed which is generally purchased to feed insects isn't safe, then what does that mean for other plant species being sold? I would be wary of buying plants from nurseries unless you know the plants have been grown in a way that's safe for insects. Probably native nurseries would be the best bet.

I link here Xerces' news on it and there's a link to the actual study from there.

https://xerces.org/press/harmful-pesticides-found-in-milkweeds-from-retail-nurseries?fbclid=IwAR24W6tU67FBM1W6zwhAATrEU_pTOT_oC30k1mQVdbzOy539aZrJWRzgwdc

Yes please! I'd love to join this group :D

I've been super busy lately between stuff going on away from the game and leaderboards swallowing up the rest of the time. Here's a cute air potato vine beetle though. These guys are used as biological control to combat air potato vines in places they've become invasive. The beetle only eats that one plant. For some reason this one was hanging out on a different species. My guess is they're dispersing from somewhere nearby that has air potato vines in search of more vines to eat.

Hey! I just wanted to say I love the idea of your thread here. I have a thriving culture of various isopod species at home which I use in my bioactive M. chahoua enclosure. They are wonderful :)

That's great! What species are you raising?

Oo, I would love to be involved in this thread and discussion!

I have always loved all types of animals and wildlife, but I love collecting bugs (and I've also began collecting some taxidermy items. I started a couple months ago but a lot of times I find butterflies and moths (sadly) in the front grills of big trucks, so I've started just asking people if I can grab the from their vehicles. My most recent find is a black tipped yellow sulphur butterfly which I added to a closed terrarium arrangement I have. My two best finds lately though have been a swallowtail and a monarch, both fully intact luckily as well. I'm hoping to create a big board of the bugs I find soon, but it has started to get cold where I'm at so collection season is almost over sadly lol. Over the winter though I'm hoping to find an eighty-eight butterfly somewhere online for sale to add to my collection as well.

This past week I also befriended a preying mantis at work so they didn't get squished by a box and kept him on my shoulder the rest of the afternoon even lol. I've also been obsessed with preying mantis' since I was young, which the video game Hollow Knight only encouraged lol.

Overall, I just love most things that are bug related. I love collecting, finding, and researching them. I even have a few bugs tattooed on me with the plan to add a few more over time. Bugs are just pretty freaking neat.

@Carrotbae That's a great idea about using already deceased insects for your collection. Also, very awesome with the mantis! That's amazing it sat on your shoulder for so long. I have a couple native species that seem to be doing well around here.



I've been meaning to post a few pictures from the last couple days.


I think this is probably Halictus poeyi, one of the ground nesting sweat bees.



Not sure what species of dragonfly this might be.



Maybe a fiery skipper?



Fairly sure this is an Io moth caterpillar.