#lishd

[onenicebugperday]

Hello favorite! I have a small (18x12x12") ZooMed terrarium which for years has hosted only a Lace Flower plant (Alsobia dianthiflora). It's set up with a drainage layer and vivarium substrate, and would be easy to make bioactive. (I keep a bioactive tank for my crested gecko.) I'm wondering if you know of any bug friends I could keep in that tank which wouldn't require regular trips to a pet store - so, no crickets or mealworms, but any critters that could live in that space and (cont)

(cont) would happily eat frozen food (bloodworms maybe?) or Pangea Gecko Diet. No worries if you can't come up with any - the Lace Flower plant is a delight on its own - but it would be lovely to have a [very low-maintenance] friend in there. :) TIA!

Hello! I think any low maintenance non-predator bug friend you wanted to keep in there would require quite a few changes to the substrate and additions of decor to be appropriate. The only thing that you could probably just toss in there and they'd be fine would be isopods - though they'd still need a few changes and they would almost certainly breed so heavily you'd have to upgrade the enclosure. Millipedes would be possible but again, there are a few changes they'd need. Or a snail maybe, though they might eat your plant.

[onenicebugperday]

Have you seen Phenomena (1985)? I didn't even know it existed before today, but I thought immediately of you because it's full of Jennifer Connelly having a ~bond~ with insects! Hardly a brilliant piece of cinema, but it's not a bad watch for those who like bugs and Jennifer Connelly. The uncut version is available free on Tubi if you're interested. (PS the soundtrack is bizarre AF.)

No I haven't seen it but I just watched the trailer and that was a wild ride lol I can't decide if I want to see it or if it's too bizarre

[onenicebugperday]

Oh golly Tumblr just taught me about the bombardier beetle and its boiling hot butt juice. Please feature this bug sometime soon, or perhaps a link if you already have? Fascinating! PS I love you and hope you're back to full force after your illness <3

I am feeling much better, thank you. I have not shared a bombardier beetle! Mostly because photos don't do it justice. But maybe I can find some gifs or a video to share in the near future :)

[onenicebugperday]

I just wanted to take a minute to appreciate you for your language choices. I've taken good influence from you! You have helped relieve some of my unnecessarily gendered language, and I thought it was very kind when you posted a "clearer" image of a wasp instead of saying it was a "better" image. That sort of thing really matters to me and helps a lot with my interaction with the world. So I wanted you to feel some appreciation for it. You are visible and your kindness is effective. <3

Thank you so much! It’s good to know all the effort I put in is appreciated, though I would do it anyway :P

[onenicebugperday]

Hi Taylor! I checked your FAQ, but there isn't anything about this. I was wondering where you got your education on bugs, how you got to be so good at identifying them. I saw it's just a hobby for you, but I didn't know if you had taken classes or studied, or if you're just one of those magical people who found a passion and went and absorbed everything you could find about it. I'd love to hear more if you don't mind a personal education ask. :)

Hello! I have not taken classes or anything, no. I went to school for English and work as an editor. But I've always loved animals which of course includes bugs, and I learned a lot about them by running my nature blog for years (@end0skeletal-undead which is now on hiatus). I stopped running that one because this one is WAY more active. Hilariously, I started onenicebugperday thinking it would be a chill blog to run, only having to post one bug per day. Didn't work out that way, but I'm glad!

Anything else I've learned in terms of facts or how to ID is from reading, watching documentaries, looking at field guides and online resources (especially inaturalist, but bugguide also has some great resources for IDing), and of course practice from running this blog. Tbh running this blog has taught me the most just because now I see bugs all day every day and practice really is the best way to get good at something. It helps to have great attention to detail and a really good memory, though. But obviously there are a TON of bugs out there, so I'm always learning and still regularly make mistakes!

[onenicebugperday]

After a mild heart attack and a flash of curiosity as to whether you would know what kind of earwiggy wasp thing has taken up residence directly next to my pillow, I realized it was just a shadow from the bottom of the horizontal blinds. Pretty good bug-mimic light play though, hey? X)

Lol tbh I would have believed that was a bug shadow

[onenicebugperday]

Found these fellows in Costa Rica, preeeetty sure that's a leafcutter ant doing business, but I don't know the moth. Any idea? i appreciate their pointy legs. ^_^

Leafcutter cuttin leafs! Good for her. Boy, the moth was a tough one. I’m fairly confident it’s in the superfamily Hepialoidea, the ghost and swift moths, but I couldn’t find an exact species match. If I were you, I’d submit to iNaturalist! Possibly someone there could be able to narrow it down.

Also just a reminder in the future please send bugs for ID via the submit page and not the ask page! Thanks!

[hannibalthekingsnake]

lishd replied to your post: “TFW you encounter one of those people that think cute videos of snakes...”:

haha making snakes cute improves the hobby drastically. half the people who "hate" snakes do so because they're not furry or cuddly or cute.

Right? Not only that but people can choose to love their snakes the way they want to? And see them however they want? It’s not damaging anything. That’s the same mentality of like, you’re not a REAL FAN of snakes unless YOU LOVE WHEN THEY’RE THE NATURALLY VICIOUS PREDATORS THAT HAVE EVOLVED OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO HUNT AND THAT’S THE ONLY WAY YOU SEE THEM like he literally said people that think snakes are cute are a “cancer on the hobby” and “causing everyone to be called bad labels” like chill lmao