Tags
Pachnoda Sinuata, reptile lightbulbs, smaragdesthes africana oertzeni, viv bulbs, viv heat, vivarium bulbs, vivarium heat
A while ago I
changed the furniture
in the Bella Abode. The Christmas heather came out and was replaced by a winter Primula flower. A sprig of thyme and lavender from my little herb garden, and a small swamp dwelling plant also moved in. But I think the new thing that the beetles like the most is the giant hanging strawberry. Yes, a giant strawberry – not of the edible kind – rather one made of metal mesh, a kind of climbing frame. All the beetles were curious and being happy to climb about on the curly twigs and ceiling and wall mesh, they had to have a good climb around the circumference of the giant strawberry.
I picked up the strawberry in a local garden centre. Of course it wasn’t being marketed for flower beetle pets, and for some reason it was in the bird feeding area. But I won’t let on to them (the flower beetles, not the people who may eye me strangely, at the garden centre).
Well, I’m not sure who is responsible? It must be either the Pachnoda Sinuata or the Smaragdesthes Africana Oertzeni – or both of them! – for laying 15 eggs in the Primula. That was how I spent Sunday evening, in front of the tv, watching the hilarious film featuring a colony of underground singing slugs (Flushed Away), up to my fingernails in soil, carefully digging out beetle eggs…
So I was thinking, IF I was to sell on or swap any spares I had better wait till these eggs have gone to grub – to cocoon – to adult to find out what they are. Unless there are beetle collectors out there who are so bored, they’d be interested in a ‘lucky dip’?
OR – to further muddle up matters – there just might well be an inter-racial beetle or two…
*
Vivarium Lightbulbs:
I canNOT believe I wasted £8 plus p+p on a special 100 w vivarium light bulb for it to only expire in under 2 months later! So, this time round I bought a couple of cheap 100 w bulbs (being advertised for viv use, although the packaging itself doesn’t mention hide or hair of lizard or tarantula) for around £6 including postage costs. One bulb is now installed for the occupants of the Bella Abode, but the ‘sunshine’ from this particular bulb isn’t as bright as the expensive one (yet both 100 watts…)
*