Season's Greetings

Stick Insect Leg Generation, Part 2

In an earlier post, I described my observations of the development of regenerated legs in the stick insects. Then I sort of "lost" that particular stick insect in my garden. (That happens too many times!) But last week, I found her again. She had not shed her skin since that last photo. But a few days indoors, and she shed. Her new leg is now almost full size.


The shed-skin.



Close-up of the curled up embryonic leg (skin)



Head-on view of the stick-insect after shedding. The new leg is its rear-left leg, appearing in the upper right of the photo.

They're not milkweed bugs.

They're box elder bugs! There were several clusters of them on this park bench in the arboretum.



Here's a "zoomed out" view of the bench. You can see the dark clusters of the bugs on the top corners.

RC Scuttle Bug

Saw this in a Radio Shack ad from yesterday's paper. Think it looks sort of like a mantis? RC Scuttle Bug
Maybe I should take a little trip to my local Radio Shack and see one in person....

Bug Girl

This is me. Well, this was me, as a kid, about 9 years old. Holding a praying mantis. I was already seriously addicted to bugs!

It really is a crappy picture, but I treasure it, because in my heart, I am still just a kid fascinated by lizards and bugs.

Toby and Spike

This is generally not a very good time of year for finding bugs, unless you count the ants in our bathroom. I figure, though, that anyone who appreciates bugs would not mind seeing my lizards, either.

Toby and Spike are brumating right now. It's kind of like a low-level hibernation. They sleep most of the time, and don't eat, but they do move around a little bit, and will wake up and look around if you turn on the light or make some sort of commotion near their tank. Spike had been completely hidden under the logs since the end of October. Toby was sleeping with just her head visible. A few days ago, they moved to where you can see them both. I thought they looked cute.

After the holidays, I will start warming them up again.


Sleeping beauties: Toby (on the bottom) and Spike