|
A whole load of flies came in when I left a window open earlier https://imgur.com/a/YqBN2uW what are they attracted to, are they laying eggs and if so, how do I make sure all the eggs are destroyed?
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 16:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 16:29 |
|
|
Crankit posted:A whole load of flies came in when I left a window open earlier https://imgur.com/a/YqBN2uW what are they attracted to, are they laying eggs and if so, how do I make sure all the eggs are destroyed? Hard to tell from those pictures but they look more like ants or termites than flies.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 16:26
|
|
|
I live in downtown Toronto, so the most exotic thing I've seen is the neighbor's cat but I'm going to Cape Breton in a couple weeks. Any particular critters I should keep an eye out for? Will try and get some pix for the thread, natch.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 16:39
|
|
|
Since most of you will never get the chance to get so close to something this dangerous I took the risk on your behalf...
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 16:48
|
|
|
Mordja posted:I live in downtown Toronto, so the most exotic thing I've seen is the neighbor's cat but I'm going to Cape Breton in a couple weeks. Any particular critters I should keep an eye out for? Will try and get some pix for the thread, natch. Untouched rural land is a hotspot for bumble bees! Be on the lookout for blue herons and seabirds like puffins and razorbills too, though I don't know if they're in season or not. Are you going on a boat tour? Whale watching season is starting about now.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 16:57
|
|
|
Mordja posted:I live in downtown Toronto, so the most exotic thing I've seen is the neighbor's cat but I'm going to Cape Breton in a couple weeks. Any particular critters I should keep an eye out for? Will try and get some pix for the thread, natch. Whales and moose, as I recall. I spotted a few on my trip out that way, but they were not amenable to photographs. Mak0rz posted:Be on the lookout for blue herons and seabirds like puffins and razorbills too, though I don't know if they're on season or not. Oh yeah, I saw some kind of cool diving birds on the east side of the cape. West side was less birdy. This is my first spring in our house and I have a ton of bees around. I've spotted at least three species of bumbler (couldn't tell you which ones), a tiny one which may have been a sweat bee, and something that looked in between a honeybee and a bumblebee which may be nesting in our foundation. I'll try to get some pictures in the near future. Chinston Wurchill fucked around with this message at 17:00 on May 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 16:57
|
|
|
Mordja posted:I live in downtown Toronto, so the most exotic thing I've seen is the neighbor's cat but I'm going to Cape Breton in a couple weeks. Any particular critters I should keep an eye out for? Will try and get some pix for the thread, natch. My wife's got family in Etobicoke, when we visit we take a lot of walks along the lakeshore. Lots of neat birds, not just seagulls. She saw a crawfish once just scuttling along the path. I saw the first weasel I've ever seen outside a zoo. e: My backyard looks like boiled hell but the bumbles seem to like the clover patch I seeded my first year, and the goji berry bush the place came with. They repay me by fertilizing the hell out of my tomates and zukes. They got an orange patch on their bums, so I think they're bombus ternarius. I'll try to remember to get a pic this year if I can. Phy fucked around with this message at 17:21 on May 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 17:16
|
|
|
Crankit posted:A whole load of flies came in when I left a window open earlier https://imgur.com/a/YqBN2uW what are they attracted to, are they laying eggs and if so, how do I make sure all the eggs are destroyed? edit: wait, I'm not sure I recognize the colored legs, I don't think I've ever seen those on carpenter ants. They might not be carpenter ants, not sure where you live.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 18:09
|
|
|
Mordja posted:I live in downtown Toronto, so the most exotic thing I've seen is the neighbor's cat but I'm going to Cape Breton in a couple weeks. Any particular critters I should keep an eye out for? Will try and get some pix for the thread, natch. There's a ton of amazing stuff in Toronto! Go sit in the woods in High Park and see what you see. Head down to the end of leslie street and do the same. We just saw a deer the other day in a ravine at weston and the 401! One time a red tailed hawk buzzed my head on bloor with a dead pigeon in its mouth! Even just head down to to the Don ravine, you'll at the very least see some cute as gently caress goslings but will probably also see some turtles and maybe even a muskrat!
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 20:11
|
|
|
Captain Invictus posted:Those are carpenter ants. You should check for them in your house, possibly hire someone to do it, because they can absolutely destroy wood in very little time. Some carpenter ants have that coloration. I'd say you made a correct ID.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 20:41
|
|
|
Ok. Good that I didn't mess up, but also bad that I didn't mess up.  Carpenter ants disintegrated the foundation of my inground pool, causing it to collapse in on itself, so I have a special hatred of them.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 21:19
|
|
|
my cat is norris posted:Coming back to this, I think it's possibly a coastal cooter? might be. here's another one from the same spot  
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 21:45
|
|
|
Based on the face and shell markings, I'm gonna stick with my first guess of coastal plains cooter, but I'm sure a herp expert will swoop in and prove me wrong. There are so many subtleties to identifying animals that I wouldn't be surprised to find out this was something else entirely!
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 22:53
|
|
|
Captain Invictus posted:Those are carpenter ants. You should check for them in your house, possibly hire someone to do it, because they can absolutely destroy wood in very little time. I'm in the uk, this place is made of wood so hope it's some other kind.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 23:29
|
|
|
Carpenter ant colonies send out winged fertile males and queens in the summer to mate and found new colonies. Since your window was open and it is summer they probably didn't come from the frame of your house which is a plus. They might have hosed on your windowsill but they probably didn't lay eggs on it.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 23:40
|
|
|
Potential BFF posted:Carpenter ant colonies send out winged fertile males and queens in the summer to mate and found new colonies. Since your window was open and it is summer they probably didn't come from the frame of your house which is a plus. On my window? Gross guys get a room. I trapped one in a little candy box https://imgur.com/a/gstsdeU do those pics make the type any clearer?
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 23:47
|
|
|
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjDV6RugG1r/?utm_source=ig_embed
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2018 22:33
|
|
|
What's this little bastard? Garden's full of them.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2018 18:51
|
|
|
Just off the cuff looks like some species of ladybug larva, definitely beneficial.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2018 19:35
|
|
|
Ladybug larva are so hideous compared to their beauteous adult forms
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2018 20:26
|
|
|
Mak0rz posted:Looks like Bombus pascuorum at a glance but I'm not very familiar with European species. That's what I was leaning towards after a bit of research, so quite likely. Thanks for the other identifications as well, everyone! I like bumble butts and I cannot lie.  A queen ant? Was really big.  A fly.  A hoverfly. 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 18:49
|
|
|
Two questions. What is this beetle dude? I think I saw him eating another bug so I'm wondering if he is beneficial to my garden:  What are these larvae? They seem to be killing the poo poo out of my fava beans: 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 19:04
|
|
|
For the beetle, it would help if you gave an idea of your location The second pic isn't larvae, they're full grown aphids and it looks like the ants are farming them (aphids poop basically pure sugar which the ants then eat). Yeah they're gonna gently caress up your plants
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 19:09
|
|
|
I'm not positive but that beetle sorta looks like a lightning bug. Those aphids are gonna cause you problems and the ants will defend them. The sugar they excrete is also called honeydew. Any the ants don't harvest will quickly grow sooty mold, which can also invite infections into the compromised plant. Aphids also tend to carry plant viruses and there aren't really good treatments for that. Insecticidal soap spray is a decent solution for the aphids though. It only works while wet; spray it anywhere you see the jerks. It doesn't really harm bigger hard bodied critters like bumbles, and it's also usually a biodegradable product. You can also look up recipes to make your own.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 19:23
|
|
|
Someday humans will just farm the aphids' sweet, sweet rear end juice ourselves E: seriously though what's the biological utility of making GBS threads pure sugar? Wouldn't it be far more useful to metabolize it? Is it just for the benefit of interspecies relations?
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 19:51
|
|
|
vaguely posted:For the beetle, it would help if you gave an idea of your location I'm in the pacific northwest. There are no lightning bugs here so there is that.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:07
|
|
|
Also, aren't aphids green?
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:07
|
|
|
poverty goat posted:Someday humans will just farm the aphids' sweet, sweet rear end juice ourselves Symbiotic relationships.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:12
|
|
|
Literally A Person posted:Also, aren't aphids green? If you google "Black aphid", the first result gives you your answer of "Black bean aphid".
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:12
|
|
|
Literally A Person posted:What is this beetle dude? I think I saw him eating another bug so I'm wondering if he is beneficial to my garden: Soldier beetle I think, family Cantharidae. POOL IS CLOSED posted:I'm not positive but that beetle sorta looks like a lightning bug. Soldier beetles and fireflies are in the same superfamily! 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
Umbra posted:If you google "Black aphid", the first result gives you your answer of "Black bean aphid". Ow my  the yeti posted:Soldier beetle I think, family Cantharidae. This looks to be it. Feasting upon the aphids I'd think.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:31
|
|
|
I've been invaded by these 5 or 6 little clusters of these guys were hanging out around a window, sitting perfectly still. I don't think they know they have wings, because they all scattered on foot when I dispersed them w/ the salt gun. Is this an ant sex thing or something poverty goat fucked around with this message at 20:39 on May 26, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:36
|
|
|
Ants defend the aphids from predators so it's a pretty advantageous adaptation. There are green fly, black fly, and wooly white aphids. Sometimes aphids also look reddish orange. Basically they're just fuckers who are among the worst agricultural pests and have gained resistances to several pesticides. Knocking them off plants with streams of water also works, actually...poverty goat posted:I've been invaded by these drone ants emerge around this time of year so yeah ant sex. a horrible childhood memory involves stumbling over like hundreds of these things on a water dispenser where i was living. the yeti posted:Soldier beetle I think, family Cantharidae. Cool! learned something new! 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:47
|
|
|
One of the worst memories of my childhood was at my grandma's house in florida, I was smashing a massive stump in her back yard with a hammer to look for bugs like stag beetles and stuff. Then I swung the hammer super hard and it passed right through a rotten section and slammed right into my leg, leaving a dent in my shinbone. But that's not all, that rotten section was also a fire ant nest, sending hundreds of fire ants airborne in my direction so not only did I gently caress up my own leg with a hammer as a seven-year-old, but I also got covered in fire ants and ran around screaming getting bit and stung kids are dumb and don't think things through. Also fire ants are the worst.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 20:52
|
|
|
Rad critters from the Pennsylvania woods: Sweet millipede, looks like the black ones with yellow stripes out west. What can possibly top-   Bright colors! Bigger! More wiggly! (Apheloria virginiensis?)But wait, there's also a shitload of these big sexy spirobolida all over the drat place!  I just really like millipedes...  Also saw this cool dude, who would not slow down for anything:  But its cousin was super chill. She sat on the edge of our picnic table and hopped on me for a little tour and photoshoot. I can absolutely see why/how people have pet salticids.  There were also birds (+6 life list  ) and swallowtails and such too. Big beetle just hanging out on a nice obvious sign:  And finally, if anyone can ID this moth I'd be quite grateful. I was thinking a Forester of some kind but can't find a match, and it's missing the orange legwarmers. 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 21:19
|
|
|
Literally A Person posted:I'm in the pacific northwest. There are no lightning bugs here so there is that. Lampyrids are found all over the world. I've seen many in forest parks around Vancouver.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 21:42
|
|
|
Lightning bugs are real common down here in Florida. A quick google tells me there's 57 species. apparently.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 21:46
|
|
|
POOL IS CLOSED posted:Insecticidal soap spray is a decent solution for the aphids though. It only works while wet; spray it anywhere you see the jerks. It doesn't really harm bigger hard bodied critters like bumbles, and it's also usually a biodegradable product. You can also look up recipes to make your own. Getting a bunch of ladybugs can also get rid of them - I wiped out an aphid infestation on my roses by dumping a bag of them on them. Biowarfare  .
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2018 23:34
|
|
|
You can literally order boxes full of ladybugs, so that might be a good idea to get rid of aphids, yeah. I work at UPS and we ship them all the time, it's a bummer when they get broken open at times though. Not as annoying as when the boxes of crickets do, though
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2018 00:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 16:29 |
|
|
Some critters: This idiot ran out in the road and got stunned passing under my car  Never get tired of slimy salamanders :3  The squared off head and external gills made me think this might be a mudpuppy but someone on iNat thinks it's an immature Plethodontid   Dolomedes sp; the owner ran off into its lair and I didn't feel like being all that invasive  Woodchuck, had a nice little den under that embankment  Nerodia sp.  Mushrooms from the same outing over in the mushroom thread! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3850811&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post484467215 the yeti fucked around with this message at 00:55 on May 27, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 27, 2018 00:51
|
|