Yet another guest...
...in the makeshift insect habitat (really just one of the larger prescription vials I have hanging around). Discovered a huge click beetle, after I heard two of them clicking back and forth at each other. Or it sounded like there were two (wouldn't surprise me, I've seen at least two other specimens of the big'uns, assuming the roaches I've stomped weren't really clicks), but the other (?) shut up after I found the one that was tangled up in cobwebs. Scooped 'im up and slapped the lid on. Could've done without getting the mass of cobweb... and without unthinkingly grabbing the vial that had hair in it (don't ask), but judicious use of tweezers and scissors cleared up most of the problems.
Transferred little Elmer to a larger vial, and found him a little friend (sumbitches keep popping up around here)... whether it's just a regular ol' ground beetle or a baby click, I'm not sure. Need to check for boreholes in the wood :(. I've never observed clicking in the smaller specimens - more like "frantic wriggling until their elytra open and lever them back upright - then again, Elmer's the first click I've ever seen in action. Chibi and Elmer don't seem to have much interest in each other. Remarkably difficult to figure out what to offer them... over the course of several "guests", I've tried various things. There was something left in the vial when I shifted Chibi and Elmer (lots of crap in there that I wanted to clean out), either decomposed vegetation or the remnants of vegetation consumed by a hungry beetle, but I have no idea which. Elmer just got a hunk of lettuce, see what he thinks of that.
Last night I actually thought he'd croaked, since he was on his back just lying there for a long time (even longer than clicks usually lie low)... but this morning I discovered him hanging on the underside of the lid. A too-vigorous leap, I suppose.
Transferred little Elmer to a larger vial, and found him a little friend (sumbitches keep popping up around here)... whether it's just a regular ol' ground beetle or a baby click, I'm not sure. Need to check for boreholes in the wood :(. I've never observed clicking in the smaller specimens - more like "frantic wriggling until their elytra open and lever them back upright - then again, Elmer's the first click I've ever seen in action. Chibi and Elmer don't seem to have much interest in each other. Remarkably difficult to figure out what to offer them... over the course of several "guests", I've tried various things. There was something left in the vial when I shifted Chibi and Elmer (lots of crap in there that I wanted to clean out), either decomposed vegetation or the remnants of vegetation consumed by a hungry beetle, but I have no idea which. Elmer just got a hunk of lettuce, see what he thinks of that.
Last night I actually thought he'd croaked, since he was on his back just lying there for a long time (even longer than clicks usually lie low)... but this morning I discovered him hanging on the underside of the lid. A too-vigorous leap, I suppose.