The Menagerie

I guess you could say I was a very understanding or indulgent Mom. Having two sons who were just fascinated with anything creepy crawly, soon their need to have them as pets took over their desire to just go visit them at the bug zoo in San Francisco, or the Vivarium in Berkeley. Very cool places to take your future Entomologists.


Justin with his first Mantid

We started out small, raising a young Chinese Mantid. Fascinating creatures, except when it came time to feed them. They require crickets as their staple diet. Which meant raising those too. When a mantid eats, it chews off the head first! This is so they don't get bit themselves. Only crickets can live for days without their head!



Walking Sticks

Walking Sticks have to be some of the most unusual insects. Only much to our surprise did we find out they are Hermaphrodite's. While cleaning and misting their terrarium about a month after the arrival of the first one, did we discover we had babies! Hundreds of babies. They eat citrus leaves and dew drops of moisture. We then learned what one has to do to destroy the eggs, if they had ever got out they would definitely have been able to destroy crops. Especially at the rate they multiply.



"Hiss", Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach



I still to this day do not believe Justin talked me into this one! They really are cool looking. They actually hiss when threatened. Basically they can live off of anything, but this spoiled one had Monkey chow blocks and fresh oranges. Truly a Dinosaur bug, and will out live the Human race.



Travis with his Anole "Flash"

The anole was another interesting creature, he changes his color from brown to green. He lived in a terrarium with three tree frogs. They all ate crickets too. At least they did not leave them headless, they swallowed them whole.



Jumpy the Tree Frog



Cone Snail

Unfortunately this guy wasn't with us very long. The pet store did not educate us on his necessities for survival. They require leafy greens and a calcium supply. We gave it the greens but were unaware of the calcium needs. ;o(


Painted Lady Butterflies

We even raised Painted Lady Butterflies from little caterpillars, that then turned into cocoons, and one day beautiful butterflies that were released in our garden.

Devon Rex by the Sea