Grow your own bugs?

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ChrisR
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Grow your own bugs?

Post by ChrisR »

I see in the local Garden Center one can buy a kit to produce Ladybirds/Ladybugs. The man behind the counter said they tried it, and produced dozens.
I wonder if anyone has tales to tell, or advice, on getting their portraits?

Stevie
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Post by Stevie »

Are these Asian ladybugs ?
If so i think your native ladybugs have problems enough allready .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Do you mean "kit" as in something like this?
With our Ladybug Rearing kit, you can discover the metamorphosis of a real live lady bugs. Mail the certificate in the kit to receive your Pink Spotted ladybug larvae. The see-through domed habitat allows you to get a bug's eye view as you watch the small alligator-shaped larvae eat their special food and drink from "water bubbles." [ref]
Kits like this are a pretty cool way to get exposed to insect life history.

Obviously you'll get a distorted view of feeding behavior. Ladybugs eat aphids in the wild. These kits probably use aphid-flavored goo pellets.

But for larval form, molting, pupation, and emergence, the kit should provide quite an agreeable experience. The kits are as close to foolproof as the vendors can make them, which makes them a lot more reliable than trying to "grow your own" from wild-caught material.

It's a lot of fun to watch the life stage transitions up close. See this old thread for an example. Scroll down to the 7th post in the thread for some more explanation.

--Rik

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