Do you ever just find an insect or small animal, and keep it...?

[N a t]

Like, legally of course. You might just see a bug or a mouse or something and say "You're my pet now" or "I'm gonna feed this little thing to my bigger thing."

Here's a story if you wanna read. If not, just share some cool stories or sumtin wit me. The whole story below is about my new buddy, Bart the Dung Beetle...

I used to try and do this as a kid, but wasn't capable of caring for a lot of animals, especially insects, and was always forced to release them. Today, I was outside on my deck washing a large plastic tray with the hose, and when I first went to turn the hose on, the dog's water bowl next to the knob had a dead stinkbug in it and another bug I'd never seen before. I do something similar to taxidermy where I use dead insects and bones etc for art/jewelry, and thought that this weird bug would make an awesome addition to my collection. Before I could even poke it, its legs started kickin. I was like, "oh, it looks a lil weak." "It's drownin, bugs have difficult and short lives anyways. I'll let it drown and come back for it." I went to cleaning, kept thinkin bout the bug, kept feelin bad. Finally rescued it, and put it in some Rubbermaid for the time being. Bug was still alive later, google searched it based on appearances, turns out that it was a male Rainbow Scarab beetle, aka a type of Dung Beetle, native to my area along with the rest of the southern and eastern United states. Looks pretty exotic for a bug native to NA if you ask me. Anyways, I think he's really cool, and I still want his remains (I am such a terrible person lmao). I imagine they're hard to find. Not many people sell them for cheap, and these guys live underground where they probably die too. Anyways, I moved him to my secure, safe, and insect friendly hermit crab terrarium from way back. He has a hidey log, a food bowl, and a sponge bowl for additional moister. I named him Bartholomew. Bart likes somewhat moist areas to hide in, and he likes to be under things. He has plenty of sand to dig in, but he chose to eat and sleep under the lettuce I gave him. Big surpise to me, Dung Beetles will eat things that aren't dung. They also enjoy some mushrooms, veggies, and fruit. As long as it's kinda rotting. Bart seems to be doing well on his first day. He prefers to run around in the dark.

If it ever seems like his health is declining, or he isn't eating though, I'll be sure to release him. As much as I like Bart, I'm too nice to kill him or let him die because I'm a bad mommy. There is no way for me to tell how old Bart is though, and unfortunately Dung beetles rarely live a full life. Dung beetles CAN live up to 5-6 years, but whether they're in the wild or in a lab, they usually pass after a year. I have confidence in myself though. My whole family has dealt with raising, rehabilitating, and rescuing animals and insects for years. Wish me luck though, cuz it's gonna be Bart's (very short) life >_>

Spoiler: ANYWAYS This is what Bart looks like. To be exact, he looks like the one on the left. These guys come in a few colors.

 

[Bowie]

What a lovely story!

I could never let an animal of any size die, and I certainly couldn't use them for fashion. To be honest, I think it's a little cruel, even if they are just bugs, but I'm really glad you've met little Bart and I hope he can guide you into a bit of an awakening! Wish you both the best of luck.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

My family and I find and keep cats without homes, it's a habit that we can't kick. Usually the cats adopt us instead of the other way around, like literally they will come into our house and be like "Ok, you're my humans now." So we just don't fight it.

As for bugs I find dead ones and keep them, along with other dead things, if I find a bug alive I leave it alone or escort it outside if it got into my home somehow and doesn't belong there. (I leave daddy long legs because they're nice and are adapted to indoor life.) I don't want to cause bugs harm or anything, but if they die I enjoy keeping their corpses as well. =]

 

[LinkToTheWorld]

I used to find bugs when I was a kid and keep them as pets. Not injured ones or anything, I just used to be interested in them. Would always take care of them. These days I really dislike most insects, anything with a lot of legs or legs like spiders are a massive no no.
I don't think I could ever help a spider, even an injured one. I can't actually get near enough to them to catch them or throw them outside. It's a massive fear for me.

As for other animal, I've found a pigeon at my place of work before and literally left work to take him to the vets. Couldn't just leave him there to suffer. I know they can carry germs and things so I was wearing gloves and he was probably put down or released at the vets but I felt I helped a little. I also rescued a baby sparrow many years back. Kept him in a cardboard box at home and looked after him. Eventually let him go free, hope he managed to learn to fly and find food couldn't have kept him forever

 

[ArtsyDreamer]

When I was a kid, the school I went to always had a few crickets hopping around the gym, and after I read this cute little book called A Pocketful of Cricket, I was obsessed with crickets for a little while x3 I was always taking them home from school, naming them and observing them One thing I learned is that they love cereal! I'll never forget the time I gave one a piece of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and I could actually hear it crunching as it ate

 

[Acruoxil]

As a 6 year old kiddo I once saw a couple ants in the kitchen and I poured some sweet syrup to feed them. Eventually a million of them swarmed out of nowhere lol

 

[Antonio]

Yes, i hid a frog in my room due to it being a thunderstorm outside. I was 7 and i let it out in the morning.

 

[debinoresu]

we used to try to keep rolly pollies as pets but they all died lmao

 

[Lightspring]

When I was little, my family, we found a baby Mockingbird fell out of it's nest near a parking lot. We nursed a baby bird back to health and when it got a little older we gave it to the local vet to take care of it.

 

[N a t]

I'm sorry I did not have enough time to reply to all of your comments, but I did indeed take my time and read each one! I loved all of your responses! I can totally agree with you Bowie, that it seems cruel to wear a dead animal. The way I see it though, is that the reason why I collect them and wear them or use them for art is because in the end I think they're very beautiful and I want them to be seen as beautifully after death as they were while alive. I try my best to appreciate them. I have never ever intentionally killed an animal for any reason, except the occasional fly or spider I am so sorry but um, I have slight arachnophobia, and even though I don't hate flies they are not healthy. I certainly would never kill an animal for fashion. I do love them, and it's weird to think I could love animals so much yet be so okay with their corpses you know? I just love eating meat, and making my art too much. Every single bone or insect I own though was scavenged from already dead animals, and if I ever had to kill and animal for any reason I'd try to make it as humane as possible. I completely respect how everyone else feels about it, and I'm kind of happy. Hearing that you find it cruel just tells me that you must love animals.

- - - Post Merge - - -

BTW everyone, Bart is doing very well today! He definitely seems to have enjoyed the lettuce I left him, and he's taking a nap in the sand right now. I'm occasionally going to try different types of dung from around the area, see if he'll eat it, but if it doesn't work out then he can stay so long as he eats his veggies. Apparently the dung is just an easier way for the dung beetles to get everything that any other insect would. Their veggies, liquids, etc.

 

[vel]

if I find a bug in my house I will throw it out faster than humanely possible I'm sorry

 

[N a t]

if I find a bug in my house I will throw it out faster than humanely possible I'm sorry

Lol totally understandable. I love bugs, but will only touch certain ones with my bare hands, and sometimes I still spaz out. I actually have never held my new beetle friend with my bare hands yet, and he's totally harmless. I will allow some insects to crawl on me though. Itty bitty spiders, daddy longlegs, lady bugs, butterflies, and moths are all I can think of right now. A lot of other bugs frighten me, but I love how cool they look ><

 

[Saylor]

My old house had a porch out front that I always used to decorate with plants and flowers, and a family of birds with little babies once nested in one of the hanging baskets I'd put up. There was one day when I was outside watering all of the plants and the whole rest of my family all came out at once, and my dad noticed the birds so he came over and picked up the basket to look at them. One of them--I'd assumed it was the father--got startled, flew away somewhere, and he never ended up coming back. I felt really guilty about it because I thought if I never hung up that basket they would've nested somewhere else and this wouldn't have happened. I tried not to feel guilty by thinking of other possibilities, like I thought maybe the mother and father had a rocky relationship and that was the day the father decided to finally leave for good, but I'm pretty sure it was just because he got scared lol. I felt bad regardless so from then on I always kept an eye on them to make sure they were okay. I didn't know how to take care of birds and I didn't really wanna interfere too much, so I'd just sit out and watch them sometimes, especially on days when it was windy or rainy because I was worried the basket might fall or blow away or something. I got pretty attached to them and I watched the babies grow up so I was kinda sad when they left their nest, which didn't take very long.

 

[Peter]

My parents told me that when I was about 5 or 6 I was obsessed with finding caterpillars in our garden or in the park right across the street from our house because I used to think they were bug Pok?mon. I used to keep them in a huge container and feed them leaves and lettuce, then set them free after a few days

 

[Nicole.]

Like, legally of course.

What? It can be illegal to keep an insect?

I have done so when I was a child; I'd pick up all kinds of insects that I would find in the garden. Ladybirds were the best!

 

[N a t]

My old house had a porch out front that I always used to decorate with plants and flowers, and a family of birds with little babies once nested in one of the hanging baskets I'd put up. There was one day when I was outside watering all of the plants and the whole rest of my family all came out at once, and my dad noticed the birds so he came over and picked up the basket to look at them. One of them--I'd assumed it was the father--got startled, flew away somewhere, and he never ended up coming back. I felt really guilty about it because I thought if I never hung up that basket they would've nested somewhere else and this wouldn't have happened. I tried not to feel guilty by thinking of other possibilities, like I thought maybe the mother and father had a rocky relationship and that was the day the father decided to finally leave for good, but I'm pretty sure it was just because he got scared lol. I felt bad regardless so from then on I always kept an eye on them to make sure they were okay. I didn't know how to take care of birds and I didn't really wanna interfere too much, so I'd just sit out and watch them sometimes, especially on days when it was windy or rainy because I was worried the basket might fall or blow away or something. I got pretty attached to them and I watched the babies grow up so I was kinda sad when they left their nest, which didn't take very long.

This is a nice story! Kinda sad, but you did well. Depending on how old the chicks looked though, I probably would've panicked and called a bird rescue if the parents didn't come back lol. Birds aren't my specialty, I'm always afraid I'm gonna hurt them when I hold them. Surprisingly, caring for a Hummingbird for a few hours was easy, but they don't eat much or anything hard to find...

- - - Post Merge - - -

My parents told me that when I was about 5 or 6 I was obsessed with finding caterpillars in our garden or in the park right across the street from our house because I used to think they were bug Pok?mon. I used to keep them in a huge container and feed them leaves and lettuce, then set them free after a few days

Lol, this reminded me of this thing you could get through the mail. It was basically a "Raise your own butterfly kit". I don't remember much of what happened while we had them since I was a bit young, but I do remember them emerging from their cocoons, and us releasing them a few days later. They start out as caterpillars living in a jar, and you move their cocoons to a special butterfly tent later for them to emerge in. It was fantastic!

- - - Post Merge - - -

What? It can be illegal to keep an insect?

I have done so when I was a child; I'd pick up all kinds of insects that I would find in the garden. Ladybirds were the best!

When I say legally, I mean that there are like, weird laws against keeping certain animals as pets. No, they don't have to be endangered. You just can't keep them. Most wild birds require licenses to own, and if it actually is endangered you shouldn't keep it. Apparently it's illegal to keep some type of black bird as a pet. I'm not sure if this exclusive to my area though, but as far as I know, there are no endangered black birds. I see so many different kinds every year in plentiful numbers. I think the only insects you probably can't keep though, are endangered ones. I mean, if you wanna keep an illegal animal, go for it (but, within reason, like plz don't keep a pet Tiger), as long as you take excellent care of it, and it doesn't affect the ecosystem.

 

[Saylor]

This is a nice story! Kinda sad, but you did well. Depending on how old the chicks looked though, I probably would've panicked and called a bird rescue if the parents didn't come back lol. Birds aren't my specialty, I'm always afraid I'm gonna hurt them when I hold them. Surprisingly, caring for a Hummingbird for a few hours was easy, but they don't eat much or anything hard to find...

Thanks! Luckily they still had their mom, otherwise I would've been pretty panicked too haha. I was just worried I might freak them out if I intervened too much, so I tried my best to look after them from a distance, and the babies turned out fine so everything seemed to work out okay in the end.

Anyway, best of luck with Bart! Seems he's in good hands

 

[ibelleS]

There's a tiny spider chillin' in a corner of my bathroom. It's not the first Bathroom Spider I've had either. This is like #6. I just let them do their thing

 

[wassop]

i used to build houses with legos and put roly pollies in them just to watch them for a while and then i'd release them . sometimes i actually brought one from the playground in elementary and had it living in my desk in a little house i made before taking it back outside at the end of the day .

 

[N a t]

Thanks! Luckily they still had their mom, otherwise I would've been pretty panicked too haha. I was just worried I might freak them out if I intervened too much, so I tried my best to look after them from a distance, and the babies turned out fine so everything seemed to work out okay in the end.

Anyway, best of luck with Bart! Seems he's in good hands

Thanks for the wishes! It's gonna be fun having him around. Mainly a bunch of watching, but I just like watch little changes in the tank :b