Buges

I'm 22 and my pronouns are They/ Them

Rules

Minors, please do not dm me. You can like and reblog, but let's keep interactions appropriate

No bug hating, not even for wasps or mosquitoes

No Zoophiles, P3dophiles, Racists, or Homophobes

Marching band

Spider image and more details below!

I grow vegetables in pots and in grow bags, and I've also got nets over them to keep non-beneficial bugs out

In one of the folds of this net, I noticed a mama spider holding onto an eggsac, so I left her alone there. The way she was sitting, I couldn't identify her.

But now the sac has hatched, and there are little baby wolf spiders that have emerged :]

Firefly populations are struggling right now! Light pollution makes it hard for them to find mates with their lights, and the lack of leaf litter makes egg laying and finding food difficult.

How you can help

Turn off your outside lights at night, and even draw your blinds or curtains if your indoor lights are on. Reduce light pollution so fireflies can find each other!

Stop raking your yard if you can! Fireflies need leaf litter on the ground to lay their eggs and to grow up to maturity.

Stop spraying your yard with chemicals, killers, and pesticides! This one is self explanatory, I feel, it kills them.

Why fireflies are important to us

The larvae are good pest control, eating common garden pests like slugs, cutworms, and grubs. Any farmers or gardeners out there, fireflies are your allies!!

They're pretty :( can you imagine if our future generations grow up never seeing fireflies in person, only seeing them in movies? That's sad.

But since I'm back, look at this beautiful girl that built her web in my back door!

Spider warning!!

Here we have this beautiful wasp queen building her nest in my back door!

I can't see her very well, but given my location and the type of nest, I can assume this is a paper wasp queen.

When paper wasp larvae hatch, they remain in their combs to be fed and taken care of, and when they're ready to pupate, workers will cover their comb with a cap.

Wasps are predators, hunting smaller insects like flies and caterpillars, but they also are foragers and important pollinators.

Unlike yellow jackets or hornets, paper wasps are generally docile unless their nests are disturbed, in which case they'll defend the nests with their lives. And unlike bees, wasps can sting more than once, since they don't leave their stingers behind.

Wasps are also venomous! While their venom is generally only used for prey, some people are allergic to it and it can cause anaphalaxys, so be careful and steer clear if that applies to you!

My wasp queen here unfortunately has chosen a poor place for her nest, since we use this door daily. But it's not her fault! She simply found a high, dry space, and like any good mother would, she built her nest where she thought her offspring would be safe.

Unfortunately for her, I have to remove her nest while she's gone foraging, since I have dogs and I live with someone who is deathly allergic to wasp stings. Fortunately, she's the only one at the moment, she hasn't laid eggs, so all I have to do is remove the nest and clean the area while she's gone.

This little guy is known to only exist in three caves near lava flow on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i. Only six populations are known to exist!!

While most spiders have eight eyes, these guys seem to have completely evolved them out altogether, making them completely blind

They are completely harmless to humans and only lay about 15 - 30 eggs at a time, with the mother carrying the egg sac in her mouth or on her back until the babies hatch!

After the babies hatch, they cling to their mother's back for up to a year, until they reach maturity are able to hunt on their own, in which case, they finally leave the safety of their mother.

The ⚠️ four-spotted sap beetle ⚠️

If you are a gardener and you grow your own crops, keep an eye out for this one! Not only can they damage crops, but they can make them unsafe to eat, as they carry pathogens and can cause mycotoxin-producing fungi to grow on said crops and fruit. This toxin can cause acute poisoning (vomiting and abdominal pain) all the way to cancer and organ failure.

Listen, I love my bugs, with everything in me, but I also fully acknowledge that many of them can be dangerous, even if they don't bite or sting.

If you grow your own crops and you see these beetles around them, just throw them out, don't risk it. Don't try to rinse it, don't try to cut the fungi off, just don't risk it. Sweet strawberries are not worth potentially getting cancer, my loves

To prevent sap beetles in the garden, get rid of any decaying matter. Given that I am a gardener, myself, I understand this can be difficult for certain fertilizers and compost, since that's what the plants feed on.

But the four-spotted sap beetles are very attracted to rotting or damaged fruits and crops, so if you have crops that are bruised and starting to decay, remove them!

Check your harvest before consuming! Four-spotted sap beetles may also burrow inside the fruits, leaving behind holes that look similar to holes created by slugs

Pesticides don't seem to work on these guys, and the University of Minnesota Extension program actually recommends against using them. What some people do, instead, is set out bait traps using decaying fruit, away from their garden

Now, if you see one in your house, like I did, please do not panic. You won't get poisoned just by being near it, you'd have to actually consume something the beetle has contaminated. Just stay calm and remove the beetle :)

I put mine back outside where he belongs

And when it comes time to restart my garden for the spring, I'll just take proper precautions to ensure my crops are safe and clean, checking them daily

These little guys usually are only seen between April and May across Europe, Asia, Northern Iran, and Western Siberia

The adults eat nectar and pollen, while the larvae will eat the leaves of the plants they were hatched on, those being Tansy, Wild angelica, and Hogweed, but they also have been known to occasionally eat roses (dog roses, cinnamon roses, and burnet roses), which causes them to be viewed as pests within the garden

The sawfly larvae look like this

Notice how it lives up to its name and saws right through the leaves!