The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Disregard... The ladybug went to a better place.
Richard_Dastardly
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
About ten minutes ago I noticed a ladybug crawling on my desk. Seems one of its wings won't retract into its shell and, being that it's cold and rainy, I've taken it upon myself to adopt this poor creature and either nurse it back to health or watch it die a lingering death through neglect. I'll go ahead and make a little terrarium when I get home.
Unfortunately, I don't have convenient access to aphids. Do ladybugs eat any sorts of fruits or sugars? Chocolates, perhaps? I did put some water in its cup in which the ladybug immediately dunked its head. But, I don't know if it was getting a drink or trying to drown itself.
I'd appreciate any help. Suggestions concerning names are par for the course.
I don't have a camera at work, so no pictures. But this ladybug is as cute as a three legged kitten.
Unfortunately, I don't have convenient access to aphids. Do ladybugs eat any sorts of fruits or sugars? Chocolates, perhaps? I did put some water in its cup in which the ladybug immediately dunked its head. But, I don't know if it was getting a drink or trying to drown itself.
I'd appreciate any help. Suggestions concerning names are par for the course.
I don't have a camera at work, so no pictures. But this ladybug is as cute as a three legged kitten.
Richard_Dastardly on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
From the first link.
I'm looking for second opinions here.
Coccinellidae are designed to ingest aphids. Are they obligate carnivores? No, not in the sense that cats are. Aphids are more of a "slow moving sugary snack in a meat wrapper", an organism that exists to consume plant matter and digest it until being plucked up and eaten by another, much larger but still rather small critter. Can Ladybugs consume other stuff? Yeah, they're beetles after all they can subsist on a lot of stuff but they extract a good deal of nutrition from the aphid not because of the aphid's flesh itself but from the half-digested contents of its digestive tract.
Crap. So, apparently I've actually rescued this.
@MadScientist: They are all ladybugs, there are just different types. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae
And a couple other links on that google page offer the idea of using a soaked raisin as food. The only food items I saw offered were aphids, raisins, and super tiny spots of honey.
Yeah.. I didn't realize something so cute could come from... that.
Anyway, it drank up all the water I gave it, then its wing went back into the shell so, assuming its healthy, I set it free outside my office.
Godspeed, insect.
More like nasty alien bug hiding in a cute little shell...
Grossed out for the day, thanks.
The reason the beetle has found its way into your home, is probably because it is at the end of the season. The beetle normally dies off (or hibernates, I believe) with the cold weather, but instead, it finds its way into your home, and mistakes the warmth as a sign to stay awake. Thus, the beetle lives in your home for a while until it dies of starvation.
Wait... how... wha?!?
Once I realized what kind of bug it was I handled it like your average woosy. Before that, though, I was letting it crawl on my hand and then was pushing it around with the tip of my pen.