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Oh.. My.. god

8K views 66 replies 32 participants last post by  GDominy 
#1 ·
Ok.. I used to live in an area that had big bugs... But this was a surprise... I found this guy on the side of my house today!



*shudder*
 
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#6 ·
I remember as a child (that's about 30 years ago...) May bugs used to be very common and were even considered a pest. We used to "play" with them, they were part of our life. A year later they disappeared, and since then I have only seen single specimens of Melolontha melolontha every few years.

Not sure what happened to them, but they are sure impressive. Just imagine the noise they make when you step on one. :icon_conf
 
#10 ·
Yeah I found one of these, about 2-3" long, in my driveway many years ago. It was dead, but a fine specimine. Actually, quite unsettling to learn that such things lurk around my neighborhood :p

--cich
 
#11 ·
That reminds of a rhino beetle I found in my driveway when I was a kid, now that thing was big. It's "horns" (for lack of a better word) were a couple inches long alone.
Have you ever seen a cicada up close? I heard there's supposed to be a bumper crop of them this year in the states.
 
#13 ·
That's nothing.







That's what gives me nightmares.
 
#16 ·
amanda huggenkiss said:
Thanks Colin. Thanks a lot. Now I'll never be able to sleep again...
Well, I think it's hardly fair that I had to suffer through seeing it and you don't get to as well. ;)

George Willms said:
... Colin, was that thing in your house?
Hahaha. Hahahaha. Haha. If that was in my house, I would move. Seriously. I would not stay there anymore.


Actually, it's been around the Internet -- I saw the pictures a few years ago posted on another forum I frequent, and have never forgotten it. Just returning the favor. A simple google search found the images for me. :)
 
#17 ·
ColinAnderson said:
Well, I think it's hardly fair that I had to suffer through seeing it and you don't get to as well. ;)


Hahaha. Hahahaha. Haha. If that was in my house, I would move. Seriously. I would not stay there anymore.


Actually, it's been around the Internet -- I saw the pictures a few years ago posted on another forum I frequent, and have never forgotten it. Just returning the favor. A simple google search found the images for me. :)

Omg! I wouldn't even dare getting the clock down!
 
#18 ·
George Willms said:
You people all need to go spend some time in Costa Rica if you want to see some big bugs! They are all on 'roids and growth hormones down there I swear!!!

Colin, was that thing in your house?

Yup...some unbelieveable insects and spiders there!! I did an OTS (organization for tropical studies) course there for two months and saw everything from orange kneed tyranchula (sp?) and tropical hunters and stuff. Those tropical hunters were the coolest. They would make their nests on each of the four corners of your bunk and sit and wait for a snack. I guess you can call them "human" adapted since they're also in all the shower stalls and bathrooms. I saw one that captured a katydid at night and by the next morning it was an empty shell!!

Got bit by a bullet-ant while I was at La-Selva doing a research project and apparently while I was all the way at the arboretum, everyone heard me scream "FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCdge" at the field station. Imagine putting your thumb on a table and having someone repeatedly beat it with a hammer every 5 minutes for 2 days straight. Nice huh? :)

Don't get me started on bot-flies.
 
#19 ·
Hey I was at La Selva too! :) I fortunately managed to escape with no bites from bullet ants. There were a lot of the fir-di-lance snakes around that year when I was there. Now those things scared me. Venom that dissolves skin, flesh, and blood vessels!!!! Yikes! We saw a dobson fly down there that was about 9-10 inches long. Man, those things look nasty!



Did you get bit by a bot fly? If so, what was that like? I had this unexplained "rash like" area on my ankle once I returned home that eventually went away. I never did figure out what it was though.
 
#24 ·
George Willms said:
Hey I was at La Selva too! :) I fortunately managed to escape with no bites from bullet ants. There were a lot of the fir-di-lance snakes around that year when I was there. Now those things scared me. Venom that dissolves skin, flesh, and blood vessels!!!! Yikes! We saw a dobson fly down there that was about 9-10 inches long. Man, those things look nasty!



Did you get bit by a bot fly? If so, what was that like? I had this unexplained "rash like" area on my ankle once I returned home that eventually went away. I never did figure out what it was though.

Yeah, I got my arm oviposited in by a bot fly. We went ahead and let it develop for about a week, and then I couldn't stand the jiggling. Kind of like aliens. The fly lands on you, instead of biting you it lays an egg under your skin. About two days later I had the red bump and the maggot was moving around. We used a piece of beef slapped over my arm for about 6 hours to get the thing to crawl out. It wasn't longer than 1 cm but it was still nasty looking. Yeah, I was letting a maggot eat me from the inside out!! hehe Gotta experience it.

Our field course went to La Selva (saw several fur-de-lance and hog-nosed pit vipers), Cabo Blanco (UGA's absolute preserve) tropical hunters everywhere, Cero dela Muerte (too darn cold for bugs), Corcovado (the best place in the world...freshwater river with Snapper and Cayman breeding, brackish watter with bull sharks and crocs breeding, pacific ocean...heaven...until you hear the howler monkeys at 4am!, Monteverde, and Barro Colorado Island in Panama.

I've only heard stories about bushmaster's but apparently they're even worse than fur-de-lance. There was a naturalist at Corcovado that had one arm and he had gotten bit by one about 15 years ago. Since it's a 15 mile hike into the station from the nearest city, there was really no way to get him out of there, so they gave him local anethesia and used a machette to cut his arm off until a plane could get there. cool huh?
 
#25 ·
Hmmm..from what I've heard the fur-de-lance is even nastier than the bushmaster. Much more agressive, they'll actually chase you for a long time, and if I remember right you die if you don't get the antidote within 90-120 minutes. Yeah the bot-fly is rather nasty. My teacher had one in his head one year. We were at La Selva, Monte Verde, Palo Verde, and Manuel Antonio. I absolutely loved Monte Verde, everything was rather warm for me.....:)
 
#26 ·
Wow, the best I can come up with is having a very young cotton mouth latch onto my hiking boots, kinda funny really, wouldn't let go. I spend a lot of time in the Saylorville basin area, lot's of flatlands with huge driftwood piles so cotton mouths are a commom sight, I've seen diamond backs occasionally, but I guess Iowa isn't know for venomous or otherwise dangerous creatures.

Bobcats are coming back strong, and I've helped with a tracking project to confirm several resident cougars (a once native cat along the river valleys), several confirmed brown bears but they're probably just passing through and some wolves (my personal favorites) up north by the Wisconsin border but elk repopulation is on hold so we have deer and coyotes as our key wildlife right now.

I never realized how boring this state is until reading everyone elses adventures.

Ah well, moving north in about five years hopefully so .....
 
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