side benefit to cp: seems they attract different kinds of insects one isn't used to

[cpbobby]

With the exception of my nepenthes and small cp's that are either infants or infirmed; I have them all on the front porch...consisting of sundews, dionaea and sarracenia. Which if i had to guess i would say the sarracenia seem to attract the most insects.

I have seem some strange looking bugs I have not seen before on my porch and it seems the plants also attract insect predators as well. arachnids seem to love the cp and I caught a "daddy long-legs" stealing a meal off my dionaea....dirty scavengers! keep teasing that dionaea and see how it works out for you!

Today it i found something rare(at rare to be on my porch) but welcome....an apex insect predator(that isn't hostile to humans). A praying mantis on my porch looking out of place considering it is green and my porch is stained maroon. I couldn't resist the opportunity so it is in a temporary holding cell until I construct a makeshift terrarium for the female.

Now if I can only find a male.......shouldn't be too difficult. Put the ventilated terrarium outside and hopefully one will come around when the time is right; if so then the vegetable garden will thank me next year.

Never paid these things any mind until I seen a random video of one looking for cp info. cp's are strange and exotic looking but these mantid's can really clean house in numbers.

 

[DJ57]

This is what I found lurking around my seedling pots outside yesterday:

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[Nepenthesis]

Oh my gosh! I hate spiders and that little guy is so cute. ^+^

Found a praying mantis one time. Got stuck between the window and the window screen so I let him out lol. If I ever find one again I'm going to put it in my greenhouse, then find it a mate and hopefully they'll feed the pitchers for me.

 

[DJ57]

Oh my gosh! I hate spiders and that little guy is so cute. ^+^

Found a praying mantis one time. Got stuck between the window and the window screen so I let him out lol. If I ever find one again I'm going to put it in my greenhouse, then find it a mate and hopefully they'll feed the pitchers for me.

That thing was huge and, even though I don't mind spiders, got my heart pumping when I went to pick up that pot and saw it at the last minute, hahaha. It was not going to let go of its prize even while I snapped a couple pics.

 

[lance]

Looks like it grabbed one on those deadly hornets which could have hurt even more! I've been stung by those before and can say it's the worst pain I've ever felt by any sort of bee. They seem to be very attracted to sarrs so be careful everyone!

 

[MICKEY]

yellow jacks bite not sting and it really burns

 

[Wire Man]

Those wasps are so painful! Yeah, jumping spiders are awesome! They're fuzzy, cuddly, and will destroy anything too slow to escape their assault. Here's one on an Okee Giant flower scape;

Ambitious Spider by Wire Man, on Flickr

 

[DJ57]

Mickey:

Not only do yellow jackets sting, they can sting over and over again without dying like honey bees and their sting is very painful. They are also far more aggressive than other wasps I see around the yard. The wasp in my pic is another kind of wasp, not a yellow jacket.

 

[mass]

some cuties.
I've gotta pic from the GH to contribute:

 

[Wire Man]

Oh, that's a pretty little jumper. Very nice iridescence.

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

The wasp pictured is a mud dauber- almost harmless. They have stings, but are more interested in finding mud to build with than being bothered by someone leaning over and watching. I usually see them hovering on the Sarrs, and they come out a lot when I water. I just aim the water at a good clay-ey spot and tell them "come an' get it!" It is fun watching them make mud balls!

Oh, I love jumping spiders! They and mantids are the only invertebrates that will actually turn and look back at you while you're checking them out. Jumpers talk with their pedipalps, a sort of sign language.

I've found a number if interesting critters sow up at the bog, including pygmy hornets, water walking paper wasps, drone flies, robber flies and once a laquer-bright yellow and black fruit fly, with electric magenta and blue eyes. Never saw one like it before, and haven't seen it's like since. Unfortunately, I do most of my "wow!" bug finding in the pitchers. I have found metallic green bees, technicolor beetles, even some nice butterflies. It's amazing what comes around to sample the pitcher's wares.

 

[DJ57]

Lil Stinkpot:

Yup, thats them, thank you for the ID. They do seem very docile, don't seem to care about me at all. This is the first year I have seen so many. I can spend hours watching all the insects in the bog, every year see new ones I never noticed before. The jumping spiders are my favorite by far though.

 

[MICKEY]

there seems to be a lot of different bugs around this year maybe the strange weather, my d regia seems to be catching a bunch of leaf hoppers

 

[hcarlton]

I've had a lot of yellow jackets around my Sarracenia pool, and I discovered (if you're good at catching things) that a little water spritz makes thme helpless on the water surface, where I can pick them up with tweezers and make use of them in a pitcher somewhere.

 

[cpbobby]

I happened to observe it stalking and catching a grasshopper....what a way to go! least the cp's suffocate or spiders use venom.....no such mercy from a mantis. Just pinned the thing down and devoured it alive....least it says grace I guess(bad pun post warning).