Poor, Little Dead Bug

   Right now, it appears that it is the "season of bugs".   Last week, swarms of termites clouded over the city areas with a vengeance.  Traffic came to a crawl, ball games were cancelled and it was "lights out" on the Coast.  The lights out thing is to keep the critters from swarming into the house.  Those lucky enough to have streetlights nearby can watch from indoors as the large swarms literally block out the beams of the lights.  They are that thick.  The swarms were not limited to termites, however, as the eastern lubber grasshoppers made their appearance, gnats are out in masses and deer flies attack anything that moves.  Then, there are mosquitoes.  With the over abundance of rain in the early spring, mosquitoes have flourished and are blood-thirsty.  Thankfully, I appear to have very distasteful blood for all of the biting critters. 

  The insects do not end there as the garden has been under siege for a few weeks now.  Hating to pour toxic chemicals on my foodstuffs, my only hope is that the predatory bugs, lizards and birds kick it in gear and rescue the plants.  It is one of those predatory bugs that saddened me today.  I found a dead tiger beetle in the tomato patch. What killed the critter is beyond me since (like I said) no sprays are used on the place.  

  The beetle only caught my eye since it was upside down.  The topside of the insect was black but that underside was metallic blue!  The deceased critter needed to be examined since old ladies cannot go around chasing one of the fastest bugs on earth!  I gingerly picked up the beetle and brought it to the steps where I could see it better.  Yep, that metallic blue was pretty impressive!  After the initial admiring of the colors, I decided to check the "build" of the bug.  (Yep, I am curious enough to examine dead bugs.  That is how you learn.) No wonder that critter is so fast!  The legs were build for speed!  In fact, the whole beetle was fashioned perfectly to be the voracious predator it is. I sure wish it had lived and was protecting the tomato plants.

  Folks, be careful what you put in your yards and gardens.  Those chemical sprays are not discriminatory and will kill ALL insects both the bad and the good.  Just use commonsense when it comes to using any and all chemicals.  Lives matter...critter lives, too.

"Larvae Fishing"

  A few days ago, I noticed a dozen or more Black Tiger Beetles darting about the sand.  I had taken the old dog down to his "favorite" spot and, as I waited, I critter watched.  These beetles are known as the "fastest beetles in the world"!  In fact, they are so speedy that they can run over 5 1/2mph or 125 times their body length in 1 second!  They dart around catching anything that they can overpower with their powerful mandibles.  Since they eat so many "pest" insects, the Tiger Beetles are considered as beneficial but, watch out, as they will bite humans as well.  Ouch!  The females lay their eggs in the dirt and once they hatch, the larvae dig deep lairs where they will spend a good portion of their lives. 

  Watching the beetles brought back a lot of memories from growing up on the farm.  Not knowing any better, my brother and I would catch the rainbow colored Carolina Tiger Beetles and let them reside in our dirt "houses".  The beetles were our residents as long as we could keep them corralled.  It is funny that I never remember being bitten by an adult beetle.  I also remember catching the larvae of the beetles and making them wiggle their way back into their holes.  This memory triggered a thought.  Could I still fish for the larvae and actually catch one?  I started searching for a "fishing" hole!

  To fish for larvae, one needs fishing gear.  The only thing needed is a long thing grass or straw.  First, find an occupied hole, poke the straw into the hole and feed it as far down as possible.  Make sure to leave about six inches above the ground level so you  have something to grasp while "fishing".  Keep in mind that the holes are sometimes 18 inches (or more) deep so the straw should be quite long or the larva may just pull it in and you will be "gearless".  The fishing trip will be over!  Once you get the straw in place, wiggle it gently until you feel something tug on it.  There is your "bite"!  In one quick movement, whip the straw out of the hole and, if you are lucky, you will have your larva.  Just make sure that with that "whipping" you do not fling the larva on someone as they will receive a pretty nasty bite!  If you were not successful, you can reinsert the straw and try again.  The larva is not going anywhere.  That lair has no back door so the critter will still be there for you to tempt again.   If you do not wish to fling the larva out to parts unknown, let go of the straw and watch the larva push it up and out of the hole.  You will be able to see the flattened head as the larva comes to the opening. 

  Yep, I still had it!  I caught my larva but not before trying a dozen or so times to fling it from its lair. Once, I caught it, the critter was flipped into a plastic container and photographed.  It was not happy being this vulnerable so after a few moments, I tipped the container and let the critter could crawl back into its lair.  Word of caution here.  If you are like me and wish to let the critters live, do NOT put it in a different hole.  Make sure to return the critter to its own lair otherwise it will meet certain death from the resident larva.  The intruding larva will back right into the clutches of the resident larva and become supper. 

  So now you know how farm kids entertained themselves years and years ago.  At the same time, we learned about the critters and learned an awful lot of respect for them.  Just for the record...while I never recall being bitten by an adult Tiger Beetle, I can fully attest that the larva are pretty vicious and their bites are quite painful!