Share a bale of hay?

[Runestonez]

MBB- I think you jumped the gun a bit there! In Ontario the Southern parts have Black Widow Spiders. We also have the Massasauga Rattle Snake!! A friend of ours almost stepped on one outside her cottage a few years ago. They are considered endangered now though.

I think in total Canada has 3 poisonous snakes! In Alberta you guys have the Black Widow, Prairie Rattlers and a variety of small Scorpion all found in the south! I bet you didn't need to know that did you? lol

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Let me correct that, I love that we have LESS poisonous things and in my area, we have none of them. We don't have the Prairie Rattlers, we don't have Black Widows, and we don't have scorpians. Those are more around the Calgary area than here.

Although we do have Black Bears, the rare Grizzly Bears, Cougars, and even the occasional captive bred Lynx that gets loose... LOL.

 

[Runestonez]

Hmmmonder:...I dunno...I think I like the scorpions better! I am confident in my ability to outrun a scorpion!My 2 uncles lived out in Calgary for a while! To hear them you'd think they'd been personally targeted! LOL

 

[Bassetluv]

I like Canada -- no dangerous spiders, snakes, and no huge bugs!

While these two bugs aren't harmful to humans, they can get big (at leat to me!):

The first pic is of cicadas, and the second is (UGH) a June bug...my biggest fear.

Cicadas can get quite large, but generally we don't see them much around here, unless they are dead...then you might see one lying on the ground somewhere. They actually look like gigantic mutated flies. But I love listening to them as they make that weird sound in the trees on a sweltering day...a true sound of summer to me.

June bugs, on the other hand...ew ew ew!!! I have always been terrified of them. Here in Ottawa they are actually quite a bit smaller than the ones I was accustomed to seeing during my childhood in Nova Scotia. Back then I recall swarms - thousands of those iccky reddish bugs - teeming around street lamps and back door lights. I refused to go outside after dusk during the month of June, when they would emerge for about 3 weeks. Danged things...if one flew at you, it would either get tangled in your hair or get stuck on your clothing. Man! I had one get stuck on my sweater once when I was around 12 or 13, and I ran screaming down the street in a wild panic. They're pretty harmless overall (although their larvae - white grubs - can take over a lawn and destroy it in no time), but I still get the willies over them.

Oh, and then there's the cockroach, as was mentioned...I kinda freak out over them too. Guess I have a phobia for hard-shelled bugs! (And whoever said they wanted to own a Madagascar hissing cockroach...:scared:!!!!)

***LOL...as I was going through a bug site to get a pic of a June bug, my cat's tail brushed against my leg...I must've jumped a foot! Told ya they give me the creeps...

 

[pamnock]

I love bugs!

Matthew and I are currently raising Monarch butterflies. Our first chrysalis hatched yesterday -- a beautiful girl!

Cicadas are a yummy treat for many creatures - our hamster loves them!

I have abig beetle (buried itself somewhere in the bottom of our terrarium). We also have some grasshoppers and a few pretty milkweed bugs.

Now snakes are another story. Ryan brought a little corn snake into the house yesterday and I screamed and ran! :shock:

Pam

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I've never seen those here either. The biggest things we have are what I call 'mini terantulas' which are non poisonous spiders but the females have huge butts the size of quarters. Other than that, the biggest bugs we have here are bumble bees and grasshoppers!

 

[nermal71]

Pam question for you. Where do you get your chrysalis for the butterflies? I homeschool and that would be an awesome project for my kids. Probably next summer now as it's almost end of summer.

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

Hearing about what creatures you all have over there makes me glad I live in England!:lol:The scariest thing we get here is probably a little house spider, although I'm still scared of them!:scared:

 

[pamnock]

nermal71 wrote:

Pam question for you. Where do you get your chrysalis for the butterflies? I homeschool and that would be an awesome project for my kids. Probably next summer now as it's almost end of summer.

We also homeschool and are raising the butterflies for a science project

The eggscan be found on the underside of milkweed plants. The eggs are small (size of a pinhead), light colored, and you may only find one on a leaf. The caterpillars are striped yellow, black and white and are smoothed skin. (Another common species is fuzzy, also eats milkweed, but is harder to raise). Very young caterpillars appear to be just a very tiny, thin black worm, but quickly grow to nearly 5 centimeters!

Simply keep them supplied with fresh milkweed leaves (they also love the pods). They are in the caterpillar stage for approx. 14 days before making their chrysalis, then they hatch from the chrysalis after about 14 days.

Depending on the region you live in, you still might be able to find eggs and/or caterpillars. Milkweed generally grows in very sunny dry regions.

Many companies, such as this one http://educationalscience.com/butterflyfarmkits.htmsell butterfly kits.

Pam

http://www.geocities.com/pamnock/



I also have a homeschool group for rabbit owners. Not very active anymore, but a lot of useful info and linksin the archives. Especially a lot of study info for 4-H and royalty,and links relating to school studies as well.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschooledrabbits/

 

[Bassetluv]

pamnock wrote:

I love bugs!

Matthew and I are currently raising Monarch butterflies. Our first chrysalis hatched yesterday -- a beautiful girl!

Cicadas are a yummy treat for many creatures - our hamster loves them!

I have abig beetle (buried itself somewhere in the bottom of our terrarium). We also have some grasshoppers and a few pretty milkweed bugs.

Now snakes are another story. Ryan brought a little corn snake into the house yesterday and I screamed and ran! :shock:

Pam

hahaha...Pam, you and I are opposites! I love snakes of any kind, but bugs scare me. I had a green grass snake once as a pet, and was always drawn to them whenever there were exhibits.

I love Monarchs...they are so beautiful. And they seem to be appearing in greater numbers this year. I have a milkweed plant in my backyard and a monarch has been hanging around it quite a bit...I'm was hoping to see at least one chrysalis on the plant, but haven't spotted any so far. Also have a ton of what I think are aphids covering the plant (they're small and orange)...I've noticed the odd ladybug eating them, but they don't seem to be keeping the numbers down....

And ewwwww...I never knew that hampsters ate bugs, let alone cicadas! EW EW (visions of crunchy bugs in my head...YUCK!)

 

[Bassetluv]

MyBabyBunnies wrote:

I've never seen those here either. The biggest things we have are what I call 'mini terantulas' which are non poisonous spiders but the females have huge butts the size of quarters. Other than that, the biggest bugs we have here are bumble bees and grasshoppers!

MBB, you're lucky...! Although I'm not crazy about spiders of any size. They scare me! My problem is, I could never kill a bug of any kind, even if it terrified me...just wouldn't have the heart to do it. I figure they have just as much right to be here as I do. (However, I made an exception when cockroaches invaded my apt several years ago...I did have to call in an exterminator.) Those mini-tarantulas sound iccky...

 

[Bo B Bunny]

WOW this thread turned around huh?

I'd die if I had cockroaches in my house. I hate them!!!!

We don't have many poisonous things - just brown recluse spiders, black widow spiders and timber rattlers in the southern part of the state. We don't have big things like bears or moose, but we have bobcats and coyote.

 

[maherwoman]

Hehe...yeah, I noticed...it went from hay to bugs...ick!

Lol...you can't imagine how it felt seeing that HUGE cockroach go RUNNING for our front door, though it was a small comfort to know he was leaving as fast as he possibly could because our kitties had noticed him and were AFTER him. It was a funny sight, I'm sure, both me AND my husband on the couch, legs up, feet off the floor, grossed out! Lol...my daughter was asleep, or that brave little cutie would have gone after him with her tennis shoe!! LOL!!

YUCK!!!

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I'd have been doing what we call "the scooby doo run"..... your feet move and you aren't going anyplace. :scared:

 

[maherwoman]

Yeah, lol...and you'd have to be doing that sound effect they did...badinka badinka badinka badinka!! LOL!!

 

[pamnock]

Our first male monarch emerged today!!!!!! Was hoping for a boy soon - the first 5 were females.

Went out to gather more milkweed to feed the caterpillars and came home with my favorite arachnid (a HUGE female)! http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/black_and_yellow_argiope.htm

Pam

 

[stephiemarie78]

hey be glad in florida we have Palmetto bugs they look like giant cockroaches they totaly creep me out

 

[pamnock]

Quite a "buggy" day for us! Stephanie and Matthew rescued a praying mantis from inside of Walmart. The poor thing was starving and devoured a grasshopper as soon as we got it home.

Pam

 

[Bo B Bunny]

*shivers* from the spider, but held the hissing cockroaches at the fair! I love those things!

 

[missyscove]

Bassetluv, june bugs freak me out too, especially when they're in the swimming pool, then their legs are almost, like, sticky, eww.

I'm pretty okay with the bugs as long as they stay outside. Every couple of days I manage to find a spider in the shower, a nice surprise. If someone esle is awake, I make them kill it, otherwise I use a very large wad of toilet paper so as not to touch it. One time I was in the middle of my shower, not wearing my contacts (I'm basically blind without them) and looked down and saw a dark spot, I didn't know what it was, so I bent down to about 10 in. away so I could look at it and then I lept out of the shower screaming, and freaked my mom out who was at the counter drying her hair, it was a water beetle or something like that, not something I ever want to be that close to ever again, let's put it that way.