(Part 2) Best products from r/whatsthisbug

A specific regional guide will usually be more meaningful to own than a general guide that covers all of North America.

That been said, I personally own and recommend the National Wildlife Federation's Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America. It's packed with pictures and organizes everything by order, and then by family (to really understand the groupings, you should familiarize yourself with taxonomic rank). For each order, it includes some basic anatomical diagrams to help you distinguish one order from another.

It's also printed on some pretty durable gloss paper and has a water resistant cover, as icing on the cake.



I have not compared it to the Kaufman guide, since my book store does not carry it.

Comparing it to the Audubon version, I find that the NWF's guide is better for beginners due to having a picture for everything it lists. I also noticed the toner was coming off on my hand on the audubon guide while I was flipping through it in the book store.

I scarcely use it now because I've gotten good enough at identifying orders and a good number of families to use bugguide to narrow things down, but it was nice to take along on a camping trip.

Note that if you want to learn how to differentiate families of beetles or butterflies or spiders based on their anatomical traits, you'll probably need a specific field guide pertaining only to that bug. I can't recommend any, since I don't own any. Or use online references - again, bugguide is pretty good for a lot of things, but I have learned a ton from just googling for the information on a specific taxon.

I looked up the humidity % for West Lafayette. You do indeed live in a pretty humid area - ranging from 71-88% in the next two days. By contrast, Vancouver (where in my experience slugs cannot survive indoors - including a basement apartments), the humidity is currently at 62-82%.

You can buy a cheap hygrometer for $5-10 in the reptile section of any pet store (example here or more fancy one). I use both of these types to monitor humidity levels in my slug terrariums. I would like to see you buy one of those and then post back what the readings are in your room.

In my tanks I like to see my humidity level in the 85-95% range, that's where I'm going to see the highest activity level from my slugs. Around the 80% level their activity level will be reduced. Around 60-70% you start to see defensive hibernation and clumping of slugs to preserve body moisture. Below 50% is not conducive to slug life. That should be your goal for your room. You can get there by running a dehumidifier, air conditioner, maybe just opening your windows and getting more circulation (alternatively, if it's more humid outside than in your bedroom, try keeping the windows always closed).

Slugs are nocturnal, so yeah, past midnight is when you're going to see them. They're not wandering around outside during the day, they're sleeping. If there's no food in your room, they might just be coming in because other slugs have been coming in. Slugs excrete pheromones in their slime trails, communicating sexual readiness ... other slugs wishing to reproduce will follow a potential mate's slime trail for quite some time. In other words, your bedroom might be some kind of destination spot for slug orgies. They also have memories which, according to studies last at least 4 months or longer, so even if your bedroom doesn't have food, if it used to have food four months ago by the previous tenant, that might be worth a trip to an adventurous slug. Then once the slug with the memory goes in, other slugs may follow the trail hoping to find food, romance or both.

I'm also curious about what the slug population is like outside your place, in the grass and any gardens outside. Take a flashlight (your phone flashlight is fine) at around 11pm, the day after it's rained if possible, and just shine a light along the grass and any vegetation. I bet there's loads of slugs out there.

We just cleared 6+ yellow jacket nests from around our home. The usual traps we get at Walmart weren't catching anything (the hard plastic cones) so we ordered something different from Amazon. I'll drop the link below...

RESCUE Non-Toxic Disposable Yellowjacket Trap, West of the Rockies https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004TBKL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hPgyDbKBK9NCH

It is important to note that these attract yellow jackets species found west of the Rockies. We are in the PNW as well, worked GREAT!! I mean a solid inch of yellow jacket corpses in one evening. Good luck!

He's two. It happens. If I could make a recommendation, though, there is an absolutely amazing book, I'm Trying to Love Spiders, by Bethany Barton. You and he might enjoy reading it together. My students love it! (I teach summer school classes about bugs and spiders to middle school and elementary school students. The older kids are a bit beyond that book, but the little guys love it! They like patting the page whenever "Squish it!" appears.)

I'm a bit late, but here are some (pretty fuzzy) pictures I got from hunting them a while back with one of those UV Flashlights. They glow a bright greenish color!

On the wall

Three in a container

I'm in north west Phoenix and I don't see them too often in the house, but look around on the walls of your residence at night with a UV light/blacklight - I'm sure you'll find at least one or two of them just hanging out. You can find good flashlights for under 15$ on Amazon

You can find some of those rubber-coated tongs (or ice cube tongs) at the dollar store if you want something to safely relocate them elsewhere.

Yeah, Googling is hard without knowing some of the common families and such. There are nearly 50 thousand spiders in the world, and that's a lot to sift through!
Bugguide has some helpful pages, including this one that goes over some of the different eye arrangements you see in North American spider families.
If you're at all interested, there's a very nice new book full of vivid drawings of spiders, would probably be nice to flip through with the kiddies.
Spiders are a fun thing to get into!

Possibly a Great Ash Sphinx. Not completely sure, but they have the yellow/white stripes and horn, as well as red-rimmed spiracles. *Edit* You also look to be holding an ash tree leaflet.

Based on his size, he is close to pupating, and will probably turn pinkish soon. He will eat "Cherry, Ash, Privet, Lilac, and other allied plants..."

If you wish to keep him, a steady supply of leaves will be necessary. I recommend a pop-up butterfly cage, with long sticks propped up diagonally and horizontally for resting and pupating (eventually).

Otherwise, find a tree of his recommended diet, and he will take care of the rest.

Good luck!

I had good luck with Snapware airtight canisters, clasp-top mason jars, or traditional canning jars -- any jar in which the airtight seal is maintained by some pressure. I had less luck with press-top jars.

I'm sure someone else will know, but in the meantime, I'll give an enthusiastic recommendation (for any budding entomologists who may be on this subreddit) of Tracks & Signs of Insects and Other Invertebrates. Best field guide I've bought in a long while.

I think these are lepidopteran eggs, but I'm not 100% sure. If I had that book on me, I'd check!

I have one of these; it was a joke christmas present, but it actually works quite well.

but if you're going to get one, don't pay $25, amazon's cheaper

edit; looked around, and this also looks pretty cool

Unfortunately, yes it is. Fortunately, they are not near as difficult to get rid of as the rumors going around. I had them last year and my apartment manager gave me some spray called Viper.

http://www.amazon.com/Viper-Insect-Concentrate-16-oz/dp/B003FKTDXW

I sprayed the baseboards, carpet, bottom of furniture, let it set for 48 hours, vacuumed, repeat once a week for three weeks, washed all of my clothes and kept them in plastic bags in the top of my closet, and have been bed bug free since. Good luck!

That's what the step up traps are for:

https://www.amazon.com/Climbup-Interceptor-Bed-Bug-Trap/dp/B0033SC0LI/

I put diatomaceous earth in the center circle, talcum powder in the outer ring. They can climb into the outer ring, but can't climb back out. Worked magic for us.

I think the Vaseline / double sided tape is a great idea! I didn't think of it when we had our problem.

Oh, yeah -- this is crucial. The bed cannot touch the wall. Absolutely. Thanks for mentioning that.

I bought this one for under $40. It's not as strong as a regular microscope, but you can see the result in my video (and this video and this video). I really like it. Read the reviews so you don't have any surprises. Also, it doesn't come with much for documentation, just a CD. Since my computer doesn't have a CD drive, I had to search around and came across this which works pretty well.

i had them in my shower, bathroom sink AND kitchen sink. bleh. i would put a pot of water on the stove and get it very hot (not boiling because i have pvc pipes and don’t want to risk melting them lol) and i would put a few squirts of dish soap, make sure it’s the kind that’s a degreaser. the flies live & breed in the film and gunk of your pipes and you wanna make sure that the water is nice and soapy, the more bubbles the better. and i would pour it down the drain. i used a medium sized pot and did 2 potfuls per drain, every night. make sure not to use the sink or shower after pouring it down the drain. you want to let that soapy water sit in there, so do it before you go to sleep. another thing i would do is take a small cup of bleach and dilute it with a pot of hot water, i did that a few times too. haven’t seen one since.

i also bought this stuff. imo, it’s not worth it. i followed the directions on the bottle and i would wake up to flies.

An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles is a great book about beetles, for iding them i like the peterson guides.

Appreciate it! Any tips on how to get rid of him/them possibly? Going to clean my room, would this be smart to put in the room?

Use this Diatomaceous Earth to get them gone.

It non-toxic and completely safe unless you have an exoskeleton.

I looked it up, do you mean this stuff? Diatomaceous Earth

If so, I'll order some right now. I just want to get rid of these ants lol

I would just put out any generic sticky trap on your sofa for a few days. Something simple and cheap like this. You can totally get them at a hardware store or bodega too. Don't stress it too much but if you catch anything it's time to call an exterminator asap.