Category Archives: Joe the Bug Hunter

Charlie was chasing his tail. At least that is what Joe thought at first, but on closer inspection he realized he was after a bug. A fly to be exact.

The only thing Joe really knew about flies is that they have sticky feet and they liked stinky things.

He knew it would be difficult to catch, but he grabbed his bug gun anyway. It was worth a try.

After 40 minutes of chasing, Joe finally gave up and trudged over to the laptop to do some research.

He read about how flies lay eggs in batches of 75-150, but little white maggots hatch instead of baby flies. When they finally emerge into adult flies they fly around and eat rotten food to get the energy to lay more eggs. They are most active during the day. If they are inside at night, you’ll find them hanging out on the ceiling or in the corners not doing much of anything.

Joe was not impressed with the fly. What was it’s purpose? Laying eggs and eating?

The maggots, or fly larva, were kind of like mini worms. He read about fishermen who throw a handful of maggots into the water to attract the fish they really want.

“I wonder if Grandpa ever does that,” he murmured.

Suddenly, Joe had an idea. With renewed determination, he grabbed his bug gun and headed back to the kitchen.

“Mom,” he exclaimed, “I know what we can get Grandpa for Christmas!”

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Every so often Joe heard it. A loud chirp, then a soft chirp. Fast, and then slow. He asked his mom what made the chirping noise.

“That is a cricket sound,” she answered. “Sounds like it is coming from the basement.”

“They can talk?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“No, they make the sound by rubbing their hind legs together…at least I think they do. Maybe you could do some research and tell me.”

That was all he needed. He grabbed the notebook he used to take bug notes and headed for the laptop.

He was surprised to learn that they were related to grasshoppers and katydids. He’d had a run in with both earlier in the year.

After reading about how they make the sound he turned to his mom and said, “Well, they don’t use their legs to make the noise. It says here that they use this big vein that goes along each wing. It looks like it has teeth on it. Cool!”

“And how do they make the noise?” asked his mom.

“They run the top of one wing along the bottom of the other. Kind of like a zipper. They hold their wings open to make a loud, echoey chirp.”

“Cool,” said his mom.

“Yep. Don’t worry Mom, the leg thing is a popular myth. I’m sure lots of people thought that.”

Joe’s mom just smiled.

As Joe read on he learned that there were four types of cricket songs: the calling song, the courting song, the aggressive song and the mating song.

The calling song was for the girl crickets, but it was loud to let the other boys know to stay away.

The courting song was really more like the dating song and it’s very quiet.

The aggressive song comes out when another boy cricket is near and the mating song was for after a good cricket date.

Other crickets could hear the chirps because they had a little membrane below their tiny cricket knee.

He was a little grossed out to read that they eat their own dead if there is no food around. Other than that they eat dying plants, fungi and seedling plants. They don’t usually bite people, but when they do it hurts because they have super powerful jaws.

Chirp.

“I’m going to go investigate. These things lay eggs about now and it says they can hatch up to 200 per female. We don’t want these in the house…they eat seedling plants.”

“Yes, please do! We’ll be starting our plants in the basement for next year’s garden and we don’t want them eating our seedlings.”

Joe quietly tip toed around the basement living room with his bug gun at the ready, stopping every so often to wait for the chirping to start up again. Finally he found the little guy. It was in the bed of one of his dump trucks.

Joe chuckled, “Well that was easy.”

He looked at it for a few moments and remembered something he had read. His eyes lit up.

“Mom!” he shouted. “We need a big lizard!”

Joe hummed “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” as he watched the small black spider spin its web. He’d been watching it for 10 minutes and marveled at its grace.

But, what kind of spider is it? A question he couldn’t ignore.

Sighing, Joe watched as the little bug climbed down the wall, seemingly finished with its web and perhaps going to hunt. He had the bug gun waiting and the bug house standing by for observation. Gently he squeezed the trigger, sucking the scared little thing into the containment jar and slowly dumped it into the waiting bug house.

And now for the research.

Spiders are amazing creatures. Joe read wide-eyed the many talents of the house spider. The males wander around hunting small bugs. They rely on their vision and speed to catch food and carry it back to the web. They are sensitive to light and, depending on the threat level, will either move toward or retreat quickly from it.

“Cool,” Joe whispered when he read that they have 8 eyes, six of which look forward for prey…the other two darting side to side to keep a lookout for threats or more tiny bugs to eat.

They don’t just wander, unless they are not bothered by any threat. They move with purpose and stop to think and evaluate where to head next. They can run long distances if they need to. Joe imagined a tiny spider marathon.

Joe looked back at the web and noticed that it was funnel shaped, a common way to catch its prey. It was also very intricate with silk threads spun over the flat window sill. Joe’s eyes widened when he read that the webs could get very big if they were left undisturbed.

The girls can live a long time…one to two years if no one squishes them, so they try to find spots that are hidden like the basement or the attic. Joe wondered why this one picked the window sill in the living room.

Eggs are laid in late fall. There could be up to 50 eggs. Whoa! Joe smiled thinking how much his mom would like 50 little spiders racing around the house. NOT.

They hatch in the Spring and molt over 7 times to become adult spiders.

Joe read how they retreat when attacked or disturbed rather than fight back. It is easy to catch them as they will walk straight into a cup or container. If they do bite, it doesn’t hurt. Joe wasn’t willing to test that theory though.

Joe thought it was cool that they caught bugs. If he told his mom that, would she leave it alone? Probably not.

He thought and thought, looking outside at the swingset and shed.

The shed! He could relocate it to the shed. If he just let it go outside the poor thing would die when it got cold, but maybe in the shed it would have a better chance of survival. He checked the web to see if eggs had been laid yet and seeing no egg sac he took the bug house and headed outside.

Once he got into the shed he looked around trying to think where to let it go. He finally decided it had the best chance up in the rafters.

Slowly he turned the bug house on its side and opened the lid. The spider stayed very still for a few moments and then tentatively darted forward, stopped, and then quickly ran out of the bug house. It settled itself in the corner and after a few minutes started to reconstruct its web.

Joe decided that if his mom ever noticed the spider in the shed, he would let her know that they eat garden pests like aphids. She would like that.