Hello, congregated masses! I'm Xilaa. I mostly lurk here, and this is my first topic in Congregation. If I posted this in the wrong place, feel free to move it to its appropriate position...except for Trou, I'd like to avoid that place :P
Anyway, through a series of circumstances, I've become the caretaker of the live insect collection at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California. I never thought my job at college would be nurturing bugs! These little critters have really grown on me, though, and I thought you, patrons of Smogon, might be interested in what I do and who I take care of.
Without further ado, these are my charges! Excuse the poor quality of the pictures, I used the camera on my iPhone.
These little fellows are Blaberus giganteus, or wood roaches. They're not the most exciting of bugs, and I was a little wary of them when they first arrived in the lab, but they've grown on me. This picture was taken before they were moved into their new tank, so it's a little sparse. I fed them some leftover half-rotten salad one day and watching them all wake up and merrily feast on stinky squishy lettuce made them win my heart.
Did you know roachs are related to mantids? It's hard to tell by looking at them, but if you look at their heads and compare them to, say, the heads of praying mantises, they're very similar.
We have two other species in the lab: Blaberus craniifer, the death's head cockroach, and some Madagascar hissing cockroachs. I didn't take pictures of them, but I might in the future.
This is Extatosoma tiaratum, the Australian walking stick, also known as Macleay's spectre. This picture is actually upside down. The blue thing is the top of the tank this little girl and her buddies arrived in. I kept it like this so the stick bug is right side up.
Although these are called walking sticks, they look more like dead leaves than sticks. They rock back and forth when they move, trying to mimic being blown in the wind. Other than that, they hardly move. They've got sort of bugged-out white eyes, like they've all been scared out of their collective wits. They don't mind being handled, although they will take a hold of your skin and not let go. They got a good grip on them! You almost have to fling them off...gently, of course. Speaking of flinging, when these girls are giving birth, they flick their tails and fling their eggs all over the place. We have to be careful when moving them, or else they'll shoot eggs everywhere and we'd never find them.
As I mentioned before, the bug in the picture is a female. You can tell because she's holding her tail over her head. Females are bigger than males and also darker in color.
This is a male of the same species. As you can tell, he's lighter in color and also more slender.
Both genders have wings, but only the males can fly because they're smaller. This little fellow passed away recently :(
This is the Chiltagong walking stick. Native to Bangladesh, these are the most stick-like of the walking sticks. Other than that, there's not much to them. They're all females, but they lay eggs anyway without the assistance of males. The babies are identical to their mother. This process is known as parthenogenesis. The Aussie sticks can do it too, but the eggs hatch quicker if they breed. What Chiltagongs do is cement their eggs to the undersides of leaves, the sides of the tank, even to themselves (or each other). Because of this, I have to freeze any eaten branches to prevent glued eggs to hatch outside of the tank.
This little girl is drinking water off the side of the tank. I spray the leaves and the tank with a squirtbottle, and they'll drink off it readily.
This is a vinegarroon. It's one of our most recent additions to the insect zoo. I don't know too much about it yet, but I do know it's commonly called a whip scorpion because of its whip-like tail (which is in the picture, although somewhat hard to see). Despite their fearsome appearence and resemblence to scorpions, they're pretty much harmless to humans. In this picture, it's nabbed itself a nice cricket for lunch. Om nom nom.
Finally, this is Eurycantha calcarata, the New Guinea giant walking stick. And I mean giant. This insect is bigger than my hand. I was very surprised to see these critters for the first time. If anything, it's more of a walking branch!
This is a female. The thing at the end of her abdomen that looks like a stinger is actually called an ovipositor. That's where her eggs come from. I saw her poke that under the soil in the tank once, so I'm hoping to see itty bitty babies in a month or so. The male sticks are slightly smaller than the girls, are darker in color, lack ovipositors, and also have two sharp spurs under their legs. If you look underneath and behind the bug in the foreground, there's a male bug in the back, lying down. They use those spikes as defense against predators, jabbing them into the attacker. I have to wear gloves when handling these guys, because they can get aggressive.
A friend of mine wanted me to name a bug after her, so the insect pictured is now known as "Sablestick".
That's about it. If you have any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my ability. I'm a novice when it comes to insect care, I'm learning as I go.
Expect more pictures in the future!
~Xilaa
Anyway, through a series of circumstances, I've become the caretaker of the live insect collection at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California. I never thought my job at college would be nurturing bugs! These little critters have really grown on me, though, and I thought you, patrons of Smogon, might be interested in what I do and who I take care of.
Without further ado, these are my charges! Excuse the poor quality of the pictures, I used the camera on my iPhone.
These little fellows are Blaberus giganteus, or wood roaches. They're not the most exciting of bugs, and I was a little wary of them when they first arrived in the lab, but they've grown on me. This picture was taken before they were moved into their new tank, so it's a little sparse. I fed them some leftover half-rotten salad one day and watching them all wake up and merrily feast on stinky squishy lettuce made them win my heart.
Did you know roachs are related to mantids? It's hard to tell by looking at them, but if you look at their heads and compare them to, say, the heads of praying mantises, they're very similar.
We have two other species in the lab: Blaberus craniifer, the death's head cockroach, and some Madagascar hissing cockroachs. I didn't take pictures of them, but I might in the future.
This is Extatosoma tiaratum, the Australian walking stick, also known as Macleay's spectre. This picture is actually upside down. The blue thing is the top of the tank this little girl and her buddies arrived in. I kept it like this so the stick bug is right side up.
Although these are called walking sticks, they look more like dead leaves than sticks. They rock back and forth when they move, trying to mimic being blown in the wind. Other than that, they hardly move. They've got sort of bugged-out white eyes, like they've all been scared out of their collective wits. They don't mind being handled, although they will take a hold of your skin and not let go. They got a good grip on them! You almost have to fling them off...gently, of course. Speaking of flinging, when these girls are giving birth, they flick their tails and fling their eggs all over the place. We have to be careful when moving them, or else they'll shoot eggs everywhere and we'd never find them.
As I mentioned before, the bug in the picture is a female. You can tell because she's holding her tail over her head. Females are bigger than males and also darker in color.
This is a male of the same species. As you can tell, he's lighter in color and also more slender.
Both genders have wings, but only the males can fly because they're smaller. This little fellow passed away recently :(
This is the Chiltagong walking stick. Native to Bangladesh, these are the most stick-like of the walking sticks. Other than that, there's not much to them. They're all females, but they lay eggs anyway without the assistance of males. The babies are identical to their mother. This process is known as parthenogenesis. The Aussie sticks can do it too, but the eggs hatch quicker if they breed. What Chiltagongs do is cement their eggs to the undersides of leaves, the sides of the tank, even to themselves (or each other). Because of this, I have to freeze any eaten branches to prevent glued eggs to hatch outside of the tank.
This little girl is drinking water off the side of the tank. I spray the leaves and the tank with a squirtbottle, and they'll drink off it readily.
This is a vinegarroon. It's one of our most recent additions to the insect zoo. I don't know too much about it yet, but I do know it's commonly called a whip scorpion because of its whip-like tail (which is in the picture, although somewhat hard to see). Despite their fearsome appearence and resemblence to scorpions, they're pretty much harmless to humans. In this picture, it's nabbed itself a nice cricket for lunch. Om nom nom.
Finally, this is Eurycantha calcarata, the New Guinea giant walking stick. And I mean giant. This insect is bigger than my hand. I was very surprised to see these critters for the first time. If anything, it's more of a walking branch!
This is a female. The thing at the end of her abdomen that looks like a stinger is actually called an ovipositor. That's where her eggs come from. I saw her poke that under the soil in the tank once, so I'm hoping to see itty bitty babies in a month or so. The male sticks are slightly smaller than the girls, are darker in color, lack ovipositors, and also have two sharp spurs under their legs. If you look underneath and behind the bug in the foreground, there's a male bug in the back, lying down. They use those spikes as defense against predators, jabbing them into the attacker. I have to wear gloves when handling these guys, because they can get aggressive.
A friend of mine wanted me to name a bug after her, so the insect pictured is now known as "Sablestick".
That's about it. If you have any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my ability. I'm a novice when it comes to insect care, I'm learning as I go.
Expect more pictures in the future!
~Xilaa