Tom

Aren't there any insect owners on here? We need this board to become active.
Tom

Neville

yeah, i'm a insect lover too, want to keep a tarantula Spider, but can't get one in our country!!! what other insects can i keep? though spiders r not insects actually...........

Tom

I know they aren't insects, but they all fall under the same thing with an exoskeleton.
Tom

Donpa

I'll do my best at making this board more active in the summer. I generally don't keep live insects through the winter :P

Donpa

Alright guys, since it is now spring and the insects are appearing I am going to start my first project this weekend. I'll post pictures after I get something set up, but I most likely won't have any actual insects until later.

Tom

Sweet, sounds like fun. I'll probably end up doing that on Sunday and Monday instead of yard work like I have planned.
Tom

sirdarksol

Well, currently I'm keeping a small colony of ants somewhere in my walls. I keep a wasp hive in a tree out in my backyard. That's about all I have for keeping insects.

Tom

Cool. I have to destroy my huge ant farm this summer. My parents say that the tree will destroy almost everything in the back half of our property if we don't get rid of it.
Tom

sirdarksol

I forgot about that ant farm. I've got an ornamental maple-shaped ant farm in my front yard. Unfortunately, it seems that the ants are damaging the farm itself, and it is close to the corner of my house.

aquariumnewbie

I breed my own mealworms to feed my fish. I've having lots of adult stage beetles.

Donpa

If you are able to raise enough meal worms you can grind them up into flour. You can make some very healthy, clean, sustainable food with mealworm flour!

aquariumnewbie

Whoa~ Serious?! Don't they turn up being gooey or slimy?

Donpa

Here is some info on how to clean your insects and make them into flour. This info is from www.eatbug.com.

To prepare a batch of crickets or mealworms:

Take the desired quantity of live insects, rinse them off and then pat them dry. This procedure is easy to do with mealworms, but fairly hard to do with crickets. To do so with crickets, pour them all into a colander and cover it quickly with a piece of wire screening or cheesecloth. Rinse them, then dry them by shaking the colander until all the water drains. Then put the crickets or mealworms in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer until they are dead but not frozen. Fifteen minutes or so should be sufficient. Then take them out and rinse them again. You don't really have to clean mealworms, though if you want, you can chop off their heads. Cricket's heads, hind legs, and wing cases can be removed according to personal preference; I like doing so, since cricket legs tend to get stuck in your teeth. You are now ready to use the insects in all kinds of culinary treats!

To make insect flour:

Spread your cleaned insects out on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Set your oven 200 degrees and dry insects for approximately 1-3 hours. When the insects are done, they should be fairly brittle and crush easily. Take your dried insects and put them into a blender or coffee grinder, and grind them till they are about consistency of wheat germ. Use in practically any recipe! Try sprinkling insect flour on salads, add it to soups, your favorite bread recipe, on a boat, with a goat, etc.

I have never actually done this myself... so I'm not entirely sure on how tasty they are. I would not advice freezing insects for only 15 minutes to kill them, unless you have access to liquid nitrogen . I suggest freezing for 24 hours minimum.

Sabi

Well, what about bees? We have some hives on the farm. And we have the normal spiders creeping about the walls at night and hiding by day.:P

aquariumnewbie

Wow! Donpa that site you provided is great! I'd hope to be able to prepare something like that. I've the interest to eat insects. Lol. But eating them with the sight of them will turn me off. perhaps in a flour form, i will be having more appetite to eat them. Lol. Thanks for that brilliant site you provided.

goggles2

well i live in a basement so i have quite a few spiders and other crawlers running around my room from time to time.... they make great fish food used to feed em to my african butterfly fish before he passed away he loved spiders

im fascinated by tarantulas and such ive seriously considered getting one

for now though i just have our resident giant house spider population (i get some whoppers in here sometimes)

lee250

I caught a 4" centipede and have him in a 10 gal fish tank with lid. I went in the backyard and cut a rectangle piece of dirt that just fits in the tank with grass groing in it and it looks pretty cool.

Lucy

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