Meet the animals!
Blue Death-Feigning Beetles
(Asbolus verrucosus)
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This is Ringo on the left and Paul on the right...don't be alarmed, he is perfectly fine! These beautiful blue beetles have a nifty trick to deter predators. If they feel threatened, they play dead for a few minutes, as a lot of predators prefer their food alive. Ringo will do it but only for a few seconds as he's not really that scared of me, and Paul won't even do it at all! They have a cool leg flip that rights them again.
I searched for years for suitable beetles for Frazoo and these guys are perfect. Most beetles are too spikey and bitey to hold but these are gentle and don't bite. They will trundle around your hand or the table top just like little windup toys. They come from the southern hotter parts of the USA and can survive without water (although I offer it anyway). Their blue bodies have a weird dusky wax that protects them from the heat. They eat bits of dead bugs and cat biscuits so easy to feed... I hope you like their names, my mother-in-law named them!
Fascinating fact: One of their predators is the tarantula and I was given a tarantula skin to use for my talks, make sure you see it!
I searched for years for suitable beetles for Frazoo and these guys are perfect. Most beetles are too spikey and bitey to hold but these are gentle and don't bite. They will trundle around your hand or the table top just like little windup toys. They come from the southern hotter parts of the USA and can survive without water (although I offer it anyway). Their blue bodies have a weird dusky wax that protects them from the heat. They eat bits of dead bugs and cat biscuits so easy to feed... I hope you like their names, my mother-in-law named them!
Fascinating fact: One of their predators is the tarantula and I was given a tarantula skin to use for my talks, make sure you see it!