#one very big millipede

[timesnewfishcat]

the watchman :3

[luveline]

Thinking about Eddie going out to get dinner while reader is over!! Reader sees a big bug and doesn’t want to deal with it/tries to trap it so Eddie can deal with it, but Roan legit just picks it up and let’s it go easy while reader is like “roan my hero T_T!!!” Reader def brings over presents for Roan the next visit because of that LOL.

thank u for ur request lovely! eddie and roan —your boyfriend's trailer attracts creepy crawlies, but luckily his young daughter knows how to catch them. 1.3k

The thing about Eddie's trailer is that, while he's more than made it a home, it is full of bugs. Maybe because the trailer park is a huge field of grass, maybe because of the forest surrounding, you're guaranteed to find a bug or two every time you visit.

Sometimes you get lucky with small moths to be herded back out of the kitchen door. Occasionally, spindly spiders on lines of sink drop down into the room and are swiftly captured by Eddie in an open palm. You have never, ever faced this particular brand of misfortune before. 

"What is that?" you squeal, pulling Roan hard against your chest.

She's small, and before your violent flinch, she'd been quite comfortable sitting atop your thigh, her back to your chest. "Woah!" she says, her voice very high. 

"Holy crap," you say, again and again as you shuffle down the couch and off of the side of it. 

As soon as you can stand without fearing for your life, you pull Roan to your chest, her short legs dangling from either side of your thigh. Letting your new boyfriend's daughter die via a mysterious bug bite would be extremely uncool. You quite like her, and her dad's fine (you feel this yawning pit at the very bottom of your stomach whenever you think about how much you want this to work, how much you already love them). 

"Princess, what is that?" you ask, though as soon as you've finished asking, you realise it's nothing nefarious after all. 

She tips herself back in your arms, assessing the bug upside down. "Uh. That's a mildi-pede." 

The bug is long and brown, segments of its body curved and multi-legged. It moves with tiny footsteps but makes good progress, crawling across the wooden slates toward the rug. 

Eddie is the bug catcher. You're the celebrator —he grabs a cup and a piece of paper to sequester whichever insect has decided it must harass you that night, and you get to thank him for being brave with kisses that are somehow shy and congratulatory at once. You're allowed to kiss him, now, whenever you like, but each one makes your lips tingle. 

"You get a lot of those?" you ask. 

"You've never seened one?" Roan asks. 

You live in Indiana, so of course you've seen a millipede. But, you know, normal millipedes, not mutant ones the length of your forearm. 

"I feel like I haven't," you confess, your pulse thudding against your chest. 

"Where did it go?" Roan asks, wriggling to be put down on her own two feet. She sounds far more curious than afraid.

You put her down on the rug and peer over Roan's play picnic table cautiously. You're ninety nine percent sure that millipedes can't hurt people, but you're scared shitless anyhow. 

"Your dad will be back with Chinese food, soon," you say, stepping backwards as Roan creeps forward. It's adorable. You'd coo if your nerves weren't frazzled. "Maybe we could go wait at the kitchen table." 

You'd rather wait for him to come home than deal with it yourself. The thought of somehow touching it makes your skin crawl. 

"She's a super duper long one," Roan calls, dropping to her knees. 

"Roan?" you call back hesitantly. "Uh, don't do whatever it is you're doing. Come on, I'll make you a fun fruity drink again like last week while we wait for your daddy?" 

You bite the tip of your tongue so hard you're sure you've sheared the tip clean off when Roan turns back to you, the wretched (innocent) creature racing its legs uselessly as she holds it up in the light. 

You wrap your arms around your own chest. "Holy crap, babe! Put it down!" 

"Daddy says the bugs aren't scary, they just wanted to have somewhere warm to sleep!" 

"Your daddy is very smart," you concede, strained, easing away as Roan comes closer. The creepy crawly is a contrast to her silky lilac pyjamas and ruffled socks, its armoured carapace shining as it metronomes with each step she takes. "But I'm not as brave as you both." 

"If you open the door, I can put her outside," Roan says, as though you're the child and she's the adult, her tone softened by that seemingly endless patience Eddie possesses. 

You keep your doubt (your disbelief? your awe?) to yourself and cross the short distance to the front door to open it as she commanded. Roan rushes out onto the small porch and down the steps, crouching in the grass to place the millipede down with the utmost care. It's dark out, and she's unafraid, the path lit only by orange light slipping from inside the trailer and the weak headlights of an oncoming car. 

You descend the steps and join her. 

"Here you go, missy mildi-pede, back to the grass," she murmurs. The millipede's back legs cling to her hand. Roan runs out of sweetness and shakes her free. 

You breathe in the cool night air for a moment, watching with Roan as the millipede crawls out of sight between tall blades of bluegrass. 

"You're very brave," you say. You feel a little sheepish to have been rescued by her. 

"Daddy says that all the time," she agrees proudly. 

You offer her your hand and stand tall together as the headlights become apparent. Your car (with Eddie driving, to avoid a game of driveway leap frog) pulls into the space behind his own. He waves when he sees you both behind the windshield, getting out of the car with the takeout bag looped around his wrist. 

"Hi girls," he says, closing the door with his hip. "What're you doing, sending out a search party? I wasn't gone that long." 

"I had to– I had to bring a mildi-pede outside because Y/N was scared," Roan says, her sentence punctuated with a roaring giggle as Eddie swoops her up into his arms, takeout bag and all. 

"Oh yeah?" he asks, smothering her answer with kisses. 

You bracelet your wrist in the other hand sheepishly. 

Eddie doesn't look up. You assume you've gotten away with not knowing what to say until he pops Roan on his hip, reaching for you. More shameful than your inability to deal with a bug by yourself is how urgently you step into his side. He wraps an arm around your shoulder, the takeout bag hot against your back, his lips curled into a fond smile as he murmurs, "D'you finally see the spider in the bathroom?" 

You tilt your face into his cheek kisses. "No?" you ask. 

"I'm calling him Gregory," Roan says.

"He's not that big," Eddie promises, leaning back to stroke your face.

"She saved me from the world's grossest millipede."

"Were you kind?" Eddie asks her.

Roan puts a little hand over her heart. "Duh, daddy."

"She's wicked with them, isn't she? She grabs them like they're nothing," he says to you, his hand rubbing down your arm before he passes you the take out bag. Roan must weigh heavy after a long day; he needs both arms to keep her up. They grin at each other with twin mouths. "She's fearless. Thanks for saving Y/N, babe." 

"I like Y/N," Roan says earnestly. 

You like Roan too —your saviour. You bring her a big Dotty Dolly set the next time you're lucky enough to be invited over, an entomologist Dolly with khaki cargo shorts and a butterfly net. Roan loves it, and Eddie's evidently appreciative, sitting you half on top of his lap as you watch her tear it open with his arms crossed lovingly over your tummy. 

[woso-dreamzzz]

ohh this was something I did not expect but I’m very here for it https://www.tumblr.com/woso-dreamzzz/749582816256327680/i-dont-know-if-you-read-fics-on-here-but-in-the

Headcanons for if this was a thing in the melting pot au???

Okay. I have permission so here we go:

(@wileys-russo @girlgenius1111 , feel free to add your own ideas if you want!)

Sol doesn't have the best relationship with her parents so she's probably instrumental in getting Nena moved in with Ingrid because she doesn't want poor little Nena treated the same way she was. I think Sol would be a great big sister to Nena.

She's also a great auntie to Mapi and Ingrid's girls. She probably lets Bebita and Cub climb all over her and just lather her with kisses and cuddles.

She can spend a while sitting at the kitchen table with Teeny helping her with colouring or helping refill the film in Sunshine's camera. Skatt sometimes just wanders in and hands Sol a millipede and she just kind of has to hold it while Skatt does something else.

She's the go-to babysitter for her nieces/Nena and sometimes she'll be there at pickup with Scout and everyone just cheers her name because they never get told in advance because Sol likes it to be a surprise.

With the things Sol enjoys, she's probably a frequent visitor to the nature reserve Frida works at and Scout brings home sticks and tracks in dirt that has Mapi frothing at the mouth.

Also thinking about Mapi and Ingrid going out on date night and leaving Sol in charge only to find all the kids curled up in Sol's bed with chocolate and cake around their mouths because Sol is incapable of saying no to them.

Now, you just know that Fresa was not happy with what happened with Bambi. She just adores her nieces (and Jaume and her semi-niece Osita) and if you think Tia Alba in Injured was pissed then she's nothing compared to Fresa.

Alexia was really lucky that Eli was there to hold Fresa back because she was ready to start swinging over Bambi being pushed to the side.

Fresa is always going to Bambi's recitals and I like to think Fresa braids ribbons in Bambi's hair whenever they see each other.

Thinking about how Fresa is always hanging around Alexia's restaurants because she gets free food but also because she gets to just sit with Bambi and Pequeñita and vibe with them. She hears how Pequeñita talks about Teeny and is just like 'oh, it's so sweet that Pequeñita has a crush' and Alexia's like 'what do you mean Pequeñita has a crush???'.

Osita was obviously born after Alexia and Jenni broke up but she's just as much Fresa's niece as the others. In Melting Pot, she's the one that got Osita her fox ear headband and she's always spoiling her with fox toys or books.

Fresa still lives with Eli but she has been known to just be at Alexia and Olga's, take the twins and disappear for a bit because auntie-niece bonding time is important and the twins get absolutely spoilt by her all the time and Alexia's always like 'we're running out of space, please stop' and Fresa's like 'er...no, don't tell me how to spoil my nieces'.

In Melting Pot, I like to think Sol and Fresa meet on accident when they're babysitting the kids out at the park and they're both a little awkward with each other because they only know of each other and this is the first time they meet in person.

[littlewigglers]

Okay I’ve never asked on tumblr but I just found your page and I’m OBSESSED!!! I want to get/make a Vivarium/bioterrarium for millipedes and isopods and I can’t WAIT!! Please please if you have any advice at all, I’d love to hear it! Where to get supplies, the buggies themselves, how to handle them, what do you do if they get sick, how much space to they need for how many there are, etc? Your buggy babies are so cute!!

First off thank you! I love all my little guys as well <3

I ramble kinda a lot so I'll put this under a read more.

For advice I'm still very much a novice when it comes to keeping but I'll tell you what I can!

For tanks I got my glass ones second hand or ones made my the store I buy used to buy my millipedes from, you'd be surprised how cheap you can get a nice big one! For Acrylic THESE are the ones I've had the best luck with not warping BUT they sometimes have kinda blurry parts on the plastic, but still I'd say good for the price if you can't afford glass. I tape up some of the ventilation holes to keep more moisture in.

For soil that ISN'T bought from a specialist stores(Sometimes I can't afford it) I use Peat free compost, paired with leaves and rot wood I buy off ebay stores that sell bug/reptile products, I mix them together with some water and leave them in a tub for 1 week to soften up the leaves. Some people go out and get their own leaves and wood but I'm not really in an area to do that so I can't give advice on that. It's important to keep it moist BUT NOT WET!

Heat mat! You want one to put on the SIDE of the tank and not under it, just one would be enough. I have a timer plug for mine so they're on a few hours a day on and off all day. If you REALLY wanna spoil them then I've seen a few people use reptile headlamps.

For moss and plants I again just buy it off ebay in sheets and give it a cheap over to make sure there are no hitchhikers on it before I put it in the tank. It needs watered and looked after for a while for it to take to the tank. Carpet moss is mostly for looks while sphagnum moss is used to keep moisture in areas and should be water/sprayed often. I have a little fern plant in my tank rn they seem to leave alone. I know a lot of people use fake plants as well for decor!

You should make a point to put a little temp and humidity monitor in your set-ups as well. The special reptile ones can be expensive so I just but the little ones you put in rooms and have had no issues with them.

Don't forget to give them hides! Cork wood/bark or coconut shells are nice and cheap. You can also use man made items just make sure they can handle the moisture and aren't made of anything toxic to your new friends. Also give them little sticks and things to climb up on. Just make sure the lid is secured so they can't escape.

For food I just use kitchen scraps like carrot peel, cucumber, apples and melon, give them a cuttlefish bone and some dried tiny shrimps in small amounts once a week or so, but you can also use fish flacks instead. But remember! Leaf litter and rot wood is meant to be their main diet for most species.

For the millipedes I would recommend Ivory millipedes as a good starter one, they're lovely in colour and are often up top, hardy as well, and usually you can get them captive bred which I've had much higher survival rates with vs wild caught. For each species you'll have to look up their needs yourself though, there isn't a 100% catch all set up for all species. Woodlice/isopods I'd suggest dairy cows as they're lovely and also very easy to get a hold of. I will say species of Armadillidium(roly poly/pill bugs) are my fave and I'm very biased and want 500 of them.

For handling just be gentle! I wear gloves in a lot of my videos but that because I've incredibly sensitive skin and can't stand soil under my nails. The worse they can do to you is them staining your skin(not all species), or give you a little nibble. Make sure if you're handling to wash your hands off BUT be careful what hand soaps you use! Wash hands after as well some can be toxic to bugs from what I've heard.

For tank size hmm that's hard, usually you want soil as deep as their body but that can be hard, 10-15cm is what I aim for my BIG boys and 7-10cm for my others, deeper is better but sometimes you'll also just never see them again! You'll want a tank at least a few times longer than your pets body or at least big enough for them to filly stretch out in if you get really big millipedes like giants and a 120cm tank is just kinda unrealistic haha.

I do not have a lot of advice for if they get sick sadly, it's kinda of hard to tell honestly and usually when you can it's too late. I would just say don't beat yourself up too much if some pass away sometimes bugs just do that especially if you don't know their history.

Where to get them depends on where you're from and what you want. A ton of reptile/specialist stores will have wild caught which isn't great but they will have the largest range of species and usually also sell all the stuff you need to tank care of them. Ebay is where I've gotten most of my captive bred and I just message people if I've questions about their bugs there.

I think that's everything I can think of,

Again I'm a big novice when it comes to bugs, @onenicebugperday and @crevicedwelling likely know way more than me, though idk if they're open to questions but they likely already have a lot of info on their blogs.

[uriwoos2]

bnd as my favorite insects ! .⊹˚ ꒰͡ ͜ ི༏ ͜ ྀ͡꒱ˎˊ˗

does this count as headcanons? idk. anyway this is something I decided to do cuz I'm quite literally obsessed w insects of any kind (esp these ones) and also bcuz I currently lack any motivation to write :'( so here it is! <3 warnings: pictures and descriptions of insects. word count: 1.4k

disclaimer! … these insects are mostly uncommon and usually not perceived as cute bugs, unlike ladybugs and bumblebees and such. so note that they might not appeal to everyone, but I love and find them beautiful and adorable, hence why I decided to match them w bnd ! <3 also pls do let me know how u feel about these kinds of "headcanons" ^^ <3 hope you enjoy ! ♡ . . . @onedoornet

sungho ʚïɞ archispirostreptus gigas

— giant african millipede !

𐚁๋࣭⭑ the gentle giant! <3 these long boys have up to 300–400 little feet! the slow moving cuties are nocturnal and can be found minding their own business on the damp floor of the african rainforests. they love warm, dark places where they can curl up and hide easily. when it comes to defense, they aren't venomous and don't bite, instead they use their strong exoskeleton, that kind of acts like a body armor, to coil up into a ball and protect their softer belly. if this method doesn't work they might secrete a chemical concoction that deters all their predators. the coolest thing to me, is how each time they shed they add a single body segment, and four extra legs! ✩

𐚁๋࣭⭑ I think they remind me of sungho because of their overall vibe and temperament. millipedes have a strong, non-threatening exterior, just like sungho hehe. and they're just adorable little big boys <3 they mind their own business and do their job quietly and diligently! also the name gentle giant is so closely related to sungho that I can't help but match him with these guys! <3 I don't think there's anything else.. but thinking abt the resemblance between sungho and african millipedes makes me wanna cry... ( ᴗ ̫ ᴗ )♡ it's just so very cute please :((( <3

riwoo ʚïɞ phidippus regius

— regal jumping spider !

𐚁๋࣭⭑ the most prominent features of these spiders are their small bodies and sets of large black eyes that give them the cutest appearance <3 they have blueish–green jaws and three spots on their abdomen which resembles a smiling face! ^^ these little guys favour tropical regions and are mostly found in southeastern united states. jumping spiders do make nets but don't actually use them to hunt! they won't wait around for the prey to land on their webbing, but instead they will go seek them out themselves !! they are also venomous, and use it to hunt, or when they're feeling threatened. and of course, they love to jump! this useful skill comes in handy when hunting as well! they use a line of their silk as a tether, as it stabilizes their jumps and gives them direction. they have amazing eyesight and hearing! and the cutest thing of all, is that they dance to attract mates, the way that they sway their tiny bodies and wriggle their legs is the most adorable thing :( <3

𐚁๋࣭⭑ now why do these spideys remind me of sanghyeok? just like him, they're kinda small (hehe) but make up for it by being very flexible and active! ◟꒰◍ ´꒳` ◍꒱◞ they're super daring and very very courageous! they're both dancers and just silly little cuties, with beautiful eyes and I just can't help but melt at the sight of them :( their tiny jumps and cute dances remind me of riwoo especially when he's being silly >< it's the cutest thing <//3 and I can most definitely hold both riwoo and jumping spideys in the palm of my hand ^^ my tiny babies <3

jaehyun ʚïɞ allomyrina dichotoma

— kabutomushi or japanese rhinoceros beetle !

𐚁๋࣭⭑ "mushi" is japanese for insect, and "kabuto" - for helmet. the name directly refers to the samurai helmet, which just makes them super badass in my opinion! :D I love adore all stag beetles but these ones are super special to me, because of their unique Y shaped horns! it looks so so cool :( fun fact, this horn is used by males to lift other males off the ground and throw them into the air 😭😭 they're nocturnal and can be found in subtropical and tropical regions in eastern asia. kabutomushi are super popular in japanese culture, and have been a source of inspiration for lots and lots of things, like characters in media, advertisements and so on. they are not venomous and don't bite, but they will often engage in fights with e/o, as they are fierce and unbelievably strong!

𐚁๋࣭⭑ now why does jaehyun get the beetles. hmm.. I think he just gives me this vibe of being super tough and resilient and that's how these guys also tend to be! they're really firm and feisty, just like him! hehe. ૮ • ﻌ - ა myungjae definitely is the type to be super competitive and courageous! I admire these qualities in him, as they make him shine even brighter >< additionally, he is a very reliable leader, who I'm sure, is quite the inspiration for the rest of the members, someone who they look to for strength and encouragement! so yeah! myungjae kabutomushi confirmed !! <33

taesan ʚïɞ poecilotheria metallica

— gooty sapphire tarantula !

𐚁๋࣭⭑ my most beloved emo spideys are sadly critically endangered :( they're native to a small area in southeast india and are tree-dwelling in nature. their bright blue color helps with camouflaging among the leaves. these tarantulas require specific conditions in which they thrive and feel comfortable, as they're highly light-sensitive and prefer to live in humid places. they're not very territorial, and tend to be semisocial or solitary! they're super skittish and tend to get aggressive when they feel threatened. fun fact! they don't have the typical defense mechanism that other tarantulas possess, which is the urticating hairs, which makes them the most vulnerable tarantula species. however, they make up for this shortcoming by being super super fast!! and prefer to flee rather than bite, even though they're venomous.

𐚁๋࣭⭑ the reason I matched this spidey with dongmin is bcuz they're both emo in appearance (lol) and they love doing their thing in their own little space. they're both super quiet, peaceful and like to keep to themselves. and another reason, is that they're both just so unique! ૮₍˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶₎ა♡ and true to themselves! these tarantulas are unlike any other spider and I feel like that's how taesan also is, a super special and authentic person <3 I love these spiders and giant mountain with my whole entire heart !! <3

leehan ʚïɞ hymenopus coronatus

— orchid mantis !

𐚁๋࣭⭑ this beautiful dainty insect is also known as a living flower. their beautiful appearance doesn't only serve the purpose of being pretty, but it actually is a hunting strategy! this is called aggressive mimicry, when the insects blend in with the food they consume or their habitat, as they wait for prey. these mantises pretend to be flowers, their primary food source, which also successfully camouflages them from predators! they're quite rare and can only be found in southeast asian tropical forests. fun fact! hehe. their flower "cosplays" are so convincing that they tend to attract lots of bees ^^ despite their small size, they're one of the best predators, able to hunt prey that's much larger than them (including frogs and birds!!) they also bite, although they're not venomous.

𐚁๋࣭⭑ they are calm, patient insects that use their assets to their full potential in order to achieve their goals. very much like ihan if you ask me!! hehe >< I think the dainty, and delicate appearance of the mantis matches him so so well. and pairing that with their calm temperament and behaviour, it just fits perfectly! leehan isn't one to be startled easily or to overreact, he's pretty chill for the most part and is one of the most charming people I've ever seen! (୨୧ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) I think that sums it up quite well ! (although the fact that these insects are known as living flowers was reason enough for me to match them w ihan ^^)

woonhak ʚïɞ Phyllium siccifolium

— leaf insect !

𐚁๋࣭⭑ masters of camouflage! its appearance is honestly impeccable in replicating a leaf. they can be found in the tropical and subtropical climates, in several countries of asia. fun adorable fact! the newly hatched nymphs are reddish–brown and only become green after feeding on some leaves! how cute >< their leaf mimicry is so intricate, that sometimes they can have dark spots that resemble disease or damage! and the cutest thing is that they sway from side to side, to copy a leaf's movement in the wind. they're the biggest form of walking leaf and most of all, they're able to regenerate!! they are quite calm and docile, and move sluggishly, not to attract any predators. they remain still for the most part and tend to be solitary.

𐚁๋࣭⭑ I matched this cute insect to woonhak bcuz... idk I think it's just very adorable–looking overall and just gives me unagi vibes hehe^^ he's a cutie and the leaf bugs are also cuties, that's quite reasonable imo!! their bright appearance is super nice to look at and resembles how bright and lovely this baby is! (˃ ⌑ ˂ഃ ) ˎˊ˗ but also, my thought while matching him to these bugs was that he's very versatile and just easily adopts any and every concept, almost entirely flawlessly! he's just such a talented lil guy! leaf insects and woonhak are real good at flawlessly immersing themselves in a theme! and they're both just such cutie pies, ok? <3

[w1yre]

ohhh freddie!! he’s so cute!!! just a little baby boy!!! my sweetheart!!!!

freddie fun facts(mostly about his design, lol)

this one is obvious but he’s my frankly-dear fanchild :3

he’s 4 years old !!

instead of giving him mostly defining features where you know who he got each thing from, i tried to mix it up and make it so each thing was shared between frank and eddie

for example, his hair is bright red like eddie’s, but he has frank’s naturally curly hair, or i gave freddie frank’s nose shape with the slight curve upward like eddie, so it’s a mix of both parents for every feature

the only thing i really gave freddie that’s 100% from one parent are freddie’s eyes. i wanted freddie to have eddie’s big eyes because it would give him like a softer look and i just think eddie’s big baby eyes are precious,,,

okay NOW we get to the other stuff sorry

freddie’s personality is also a mix of both parents! he’s very book smart and loves nature like frank, but he’s not grumpy and very polite like eddie

freddie also has his own traits, too, don’t worry

he’s a very messy, fearful, and shy boy, but he’s always trying to improve and grow

freddie loves to make paper chains with his dad :3 freddie wants to be a postman like eddie some day, and he admires him a lot

frank is freaked out by millipedes (a head canon of mine LOL), but freddie loves them so frank will let him have them in the house sometimes

freddie’s favorite bugs are fuzzy caterpillars, millipedes, and praying mantises

as a teenager, freddie would learn how to skate, and he’d collect little race cars

freddie’s mbti would probably be isfp :)

[forgeofthenine]

How do the bachelors react to insects and spiders? I mean sure, they'd probably be able to take them outside or just squash them, but ever since Farkas Skyrim, dude with the strength of a God said he's disgusted by and scared of spiders, I keep thinking about these sort of things. Like yes, they can kill them, but I feel like Rolan at the very least would make the crying cat meme face the entire time in disgust.

The bachelors (+Rugan) reacting to creepy crawlies

Dammon

Dammon never notices when spiders are hanging around, possibly because he has more than a few in his forge

Despite keeping it nice and clean and outside forge is still a perfect place for spiders to hang out

Should you need someone to take a spider outside for you, Dammon is your man

He just cups it in his hands, no thoughts as to if it's venomous

The type to tease you by holding out the spider and watching you try to get away from him

There is one type of bug that Dammon isn't keen on at all, though

Praying mantises

He can't explain why, but they creep him out

Maybe it's the head eating after copulation stuff, maybe it's the way they seem to look into your soul

Dammon squeals every time one touches him

Zevlor

This brave paladin is equally relaxed around insects for the most part

Bugs or beetles aren't enough to scare him, and he's always willing to help you

Zevlor is a true gentleman and is always available to remove any creepy crawlies that are bothering you

He likes using a cup and paper to trap them before moving them outside

He's also happy to tell the kids interesting things about some of the odd insects the refugees come across

The one bug he absolutely will not touch is a centipede

And a millipede, too

Nothing needs that many legs, in Zevlors mind

You can visibly see how he pales at the mere sight of the little pests

Sorry, you'll need to deal with them yourself

Rolan

Rolan hates bugs

Hates them with a passion

There is no way this man is carefully carrying a bug outside for you because his first reaction is to squish it

He makes a face every time he sees a spider and it's all scrunched up and funny

If you laugh at him Rolan will tell you to 'deal with the damned thing yourself'

He still relies on Cal or Lia to help remove spiders from Ramaziths Tower

The one bug he not only stands, but also quite likes, is the dragonfly

Rolan thinks they're both fascinating and quite beautiful, particularly those with jewel colours

He probably gets himself a dragonfly brooch at some point

Rugan

This man talks big game

He can take on anything, he's manly as hell

But, he disappears whenever you point out a spider

Big manly man Rugan HATES spiders

He doesn't particularly like other bugs but he can live with them

Spiders are the absolute worst, in his opinion

He's willing to fight an owlbear, weaponless, in a dark cave but removing a spider is just a step too far for him

If you end up doing it yourself he's quite blasé about it all, feigning disinterest in the whole situation

However, if both of you hate spiders then you're screwed, I'm sorry

Rugan just can't get past those eight, spindly legs and half a dozen eyes

[dimorphodon-x]

A little something that came to mind when I was almost asleep last night.

It’s a deep space techno-organic critter that resembles a millipede, but is completely blind and to an extent deaf. It curls up into a ball as it waits for ships to pass through its territory, where it then sneaks aboard to begin its hunt. As they age, they get longer rather than bigger, with some specimens reaching several miles in length. They’re still big enough that sometimes they have trouble squeezing through doorways.

The lights that go down its body are sensory organs that can pick up radio waves and nearby spark pulses. The organs themselves resemble sparks and, if shot, have a habit of exploding like one. A tough shell means these beasts often survive explosions, and piercing weaponry does very little damage at all. Aside from picking up radio waves, the lights also produce signals, shutting down nearby equipment such as radios, lights and cameras.

They never run after prey, always moving at a constant pace. They will relentlessly follow potential meals they detect. Once they corner their quarry, they rear up to use their long pincers to stab into vitals, usually aiming for sparks or brains.

Sometimes the best way to deal with these things is to lock down the entire ship and wait them out as they patrol the corridors. If they don’t detect prey, they will move on. They are also very rare so stumbling into one is unlikely, unless you’re just super duper unlucky.

[vickysaurus]

Happy New Year!

Let's imagine it was the Earth itself that was going into its 2024th year. That is to say, we're compressing the entire history of the Earth into just the past 2023 years. What events would have happened when?

Well, not too much is certain about the first couple decades after our planet formed, until around 50 CE when we were hit by another proto-planet, Theia, and the debris formed the Moon. After a couple years of the planet cooling down again, the oceans formed out of boiling rain. The timing of the origin of life is very uncertain, but there are chemical signs it may very well have happened as early as the second century. Around 200 CE, the gas giants did a big funky orbit-swapping dance, and in the process inflicted the Late Heavy Bombardment on the rest of the solar system, meaning the Earth was suffering a ton of meteorite strikes for the entire third century.

The first indisputable evidence of life is from around 330, and the first stromatolites appear around 470. Those are basically the first fossils, stones created by layer upon layer of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria living and dying on top of one another. But even with oxygen producers evolving, it would take many centuries before oxygen became a major part of the atmosphere: not until the Great Oxygenation Event, which happened during the ninth and tenth centuries. That's also about the time the first complex, eukaryotic cells evolved through a symbiosis between an anaerobic archaean and an oxygen-breathing bacterium. The bacterium became more and more focused on just the oxygen-breathing task inside the larger cell, until its descendants were mitochondria, which as you all know are the powerhouse of the cell. The next seven centuries passed by with only slow, gradual changes, and life continuing to be unicellular and difficult to find in the fossil record.

(1735's Snowball Earth, by me)

From 1704 to 1730, the entire planet froze over. After merely two years of thaw, it happened again, this time lasting from 1732 to 1742. But these snowball Earth episodes set the stage for the evolution of animals that began right after. Across the mid-18th century, the bizarre Ediacaran biota, with its strange symmetries, fronds, and fractal-like pattern filled the oceans. In the early 1780s they went extinct, possibly due to a temporary drop in oxygen-levels, only to be replaced by a great variety of quite different creatures in the Cambrian Explosion.

(Class of 1799, by me)

Starting in 1784 and running for a few decades, the Cambrian period saw the origin of most of the modern animal phyla, reaching its most famous form in the Burgess Shale fauna of 1799. During this time, most animals still lived on the sea floor, either attached or crawling, with relatively few actually swimming creatures. Plants started tentatively moving onto land around 1817, and in 1825, the rising of the great Appalachian mountains caused a severe drop in global CO2 and thus temperatures, leading to the Late Ordovician mass extinction.

(Horseshoe crabs and sea scorpions on a beach in 1834, by me)

Bony fish first showed up during the 1830s, and around the same time plants were getting serious about inhabiting the land, evolving roots and vascular tissues so they could properly grow there. Millipedes and the ancestors of spiders were the first animals to follow them onto land. Our own fishy ancestors did not take their first step until 1857, by which point the arthropods were well established there and the plants had figured out how to become trees. The Late Devonian extinction, partially caused by the evolution of said trees and partially by the south pole freezing, played out in two pulses over the late 1850s and early 1860s.

(Swamp prominently featuring Meganeura and Mazothairos in 1889, by me)

Arthropods and vertebrates continued to gain adaptations to life on land. The insects became the first creatures ever to fly in 1878, and the high-oxygen atmosphere of the time would be especially good to them. Around 1884, a group of vertebrates called the amniotes, after the membrane that kept water inside their eggs so they could lay them on land without them drying out, split into two groups: the reptiles and the synapsids (which we mammals descend from). The next few decades would see the synapsids in particular being extremely successful as the supercontinent Pangaea formed. Until 1912, when a massive episode of volcanism caused the worst mass extinction of all time, the Great Dying, scouring the Earth of a huge portion of its life.

(A 1930 scene featuring the three branches of archosaur: dinosaur, pterosaur, and pseudosuchian, by me)

The 1910s were a period of slow recovery during which strange new forms of animal evolved. Many different, unrelated reptiles, such as the ichtyosaurs and plesiosaurs, went to sea, where they would continue to provide some of the most impressive creatures for most of the 20th century. On land, the dinosaurs first appeared in 1920, though for the next decade or so they'd live in the shadow of their pseudosuchian (crocodile-line) cousins. In 1934, Pangaea began to break up, resulting in another terrible pulse of volcanism that caused a lot of extinctions and left particularly the feathered and furry survivors with a lot of empty niches to fill, allowing the dinosaurs and mammals to diversify greatly. The last common ancestor of all modern mammals lived in the early 1940s, and by 1957 the dinosaurs had figured out flight, with Archaeopteryx usually being considered the first bird. Other dinosaurs took on an incredible variety of sizes, shapes, and forms. Some of the most famous ones include Dilophosaurus (1942), Diplodocus and Stegosaurus (1955), Iguanodon (1969), Velociraptor (1991), and Tyrannosaurus rex (1994).

(A tropical lakeside in the year 2000, by me)

In 1995, the world was struck by a meteorite, wiping out many groups, including the marine reptiles, pterosaurs, and ammonites. The surviving mammals and dinosaurs went on to diversify across the next couple of years and had formed thriving new ecosystems in the tropical world of the turn of the millennium. The first known bat lived in 2001, and the whales returned to the oceans next year. Around 2009, the world's climates turned colder and dryer. Antarctica froze over and grasslands spread widely. Our last common ancestor with the chimpanzees and bonobos lived in 2021, and by new year 2023, our ancestors were getting brainier and more proficient with tools. That's also when the north pole froze and the Quaternary ice age cycle began. The first known members of Homo sapiens lived on 10 November 2023. The latest ice age started on 14 December, and ended at 2 AM on 30 December. The great pyramid of Giza was built at 6 AM on 31 December and On The Origin Of Species was published at 23:22 PM.

[tkingfisher]

Following the monk seals snorting eels post, I’d said that it wouldn’t be the tenth weirdest thing I’d heard about mammals. And then someone in the tags asked what the ten weirdest WOULD be.

Okay, I’ll confess there was some hyperbole there, because I didn’t have ten off the top of my head, but here’s three that strike me as A Thing:

CW: Animal injury and death! Also it’s disgusting! Read at own risk!

We all mostly know about hyena genitals by now, which is pretty wild in and of itself, but it gets weirder. Given that they have to give birth through the pseudo-penis, you’d think they’d be better at it, but the umbilical cord isn’t as long as the lady hyena’s junk, AND there’s a weird elbow turn, so cubs often suffocate on the way out. This may explain why they’re born so goddamn angry that siblings have been observed fighting *while still inside the amniotic sac.*

(I once peed while surrounded by hyenas. The African bush is not an easy place for a woman with a small bladder.)

(That’s not a weird mammal fact, except insomuch as I am a weird mammal.)

Lemurs will take giant millipedes, nip them to make them secrete toxins, then rub the millipede on their fur as insect repellent. But the millipede toxins also make them High As Fuck and cause them to salivate, so you end up with a bunch of stoned, drooling lemurs passing around a millipede that probably had other stuff to do today, dammit.

Ambergris is a weird waxy mass that stinks like the devil eating sardines in hell, and so of course is used in perfume. (It mellows.) For centuries nobody actually knew where it came from, just that it would sometimes wash up on shore. Eventually it was discovered in the guts of sperm whales and some clever soul figured out that it involved the indigestible bits of squid, like beaks. “Aha!” said humanity, “it must be whale vomit!”

Humanity, alas, was unduly optimistic. See, the whales regurgitate most of the squid beaks normally—they’ve got four stomachs, like a ruminant, and since they can’t chew, the first stomach is super tough and muscular to crush their food and to resist the assault of the squid, which is often still alive at this point—and so if they barfed up the beaks, there would be no ambergris. But sometimes they swallow the beaks instead and it lodges in the softer bits of the whale intestines. And then more beaks get hung up on it and more and basically it’s like a whale bezoar, and since this is of course moderately painful, the body secrete a mucusy goo to cover the sharp edges so it doesn’t poke the soft bits, the way an oyster coats sand to make a pearl.

Except, of course, it’s a whale intestine, not an oyster, and instead of a grain of sand, it’s like the world’s most disgusting Katamari. (Okay, technically it’s called a coprolith, aka “shit rock” but it’s just sitting there hooking any indigestible bits that get hung up on it, as well as a bunch of whale poop, and getting bigger and bigger, so I stand by my simile, dammit.)

Now, if you get a whale who keeps swallowing their beaks, over time, the coprolith gets so big that it creates an intestinal blockage. And at that point, one of two things happens. Either the sheer force of liquid whale poo trying to come out dislodges the coprolith and the whale takes the sort of crap that songs are written about…

…or the whale’s gut explodes. (Well, ruptures.) And the whale expires, bloats, pops, goes through the process of whale fall (which is amazing in and of itself) and the ambergris floats to the surface and marinates in seawater for a decade or so, casts up on a beach, and gets sold for a whopping $10k a pound.

Interestingly enough, making ambergris is a very rare condition, found in less than 5% of male sperm whales. (It only happens in males. Don’t ask me why.) Hunting sperm whales for ambergris would be ludicrously inefficient, and it’s classed as a “found” object under international treaties, which means that you can sell it if you find it cast up on a beach, unless you’re in the US, which classes it as a by-product of an endangered species, although enforcement is usually a little more concerned with the people smuggling live parrots in their socks and not with your disgusting lump of found whale poop.

So, yeah. Mammals. We’re a thing.

[oinkinpigprince]

hi there!! i love your writing so much, i was hoping to request a gwimbly x reader where the reader is a co-star love-interest in his game! thank you so much ❤️

Oooo! Well you better get your hopes WAAY up! This idea is so silly :33c

Gwimbly x Co-Star love interest

You two would have a dynamic similar to Amy and Sonic on set, but more mutual. People absolutely adore the dynamic, it makes Gwimbly more dynamic on screen and you’ve been a fan favorite since you’ve been introduced!

Off set it’s a little lovey dovey and everyone can tell Gwimbly is more in love with you. Your relationship progressed very naturally and even after everything this time you two are still together, even after he disappeared!

(I like to think in this world videogames are kinda like movies?? So you have on screen and off screen relationships and personalities)

Gwimbly is really flirty with you, even before your established relationship. He teases you a lot about your on screen relationship, even if it’s more fictional. He’s a bit of a douche but he always manages to draw you back in with his goofy charm

Don’t worry, you get to tease him right back with how head over heels in love with you he is though. It’s all in good fun though

Often in promotional you two and posed like Bonnie and Clyde, a badass love duo. Back to back holding your iconic weapons or carrying the other bridal style away from a massive explosion!! (I might draw that)

He always fights for you to have equal representation, and you’re the only one besides mr. Millipede who he actually rlly cares for. He can be very demanding to work with, a little diva so he uses his leverage to make sure you have equal opportunity

That’s how you got your own spin off game! It’s kinda a knock off of Mario, you have to rescue Gwimbly from count Groxia, which wasn’t rlly that big of a hit but it was still a lot of fun to make! And you get to carry Gwimbly out of a burning tower bridal style 😎😎

You two work together rlly well though! Often doing tricks together to get through parkour, it feels almost flawless w/ how well you two work together. Even off screen, you two come up with really good ideas for scenes and scripts

When you two are just resting after a shoot, he’ll often fall asleep on you. It’s a really cute sight to see, he adamantly denies he ever fell asleep on you though, not because he’s embarrassed of cuddling you, just that he fell asleep at all

Bringing each other energy boosters during work is very common. He’ll often just show up with a box of donuts and shoves one in your mouth. It’s become an inside joke, always trying to catch you off guard.

Treats you like a GOD(ESS) when you bring him a Bang during his work. Chugs that shit as fast as he can and then burps rlly loudly, absolutely disgusting but you can’t help but laugh at him.

Your fans absolutely love your

[spookyspoonz]

HEY GUYS I NEED HELP!

I recently came into the possession of a giant millipede, multiple small millis, and twenty or so (probably more...) isopods. About 10 of them are giant canyon isopods. PLEASE HELP ME LEARN HOW TO CARE FOR THEM!

If you have any care tips pls lmk!!! I'm very new to taking care of insects and such but I have done much of my own research on how to care for them.

Currently I have all of these guys in a 15 gal tank, a heater pad is attached to one side, the soil is at an angle, lots of leaf litter and a good amount of moss, some cork and rotting wood bark, a little cork log, and a shallow water source incase it gets too dry.

I also have a humidity and temp reader I got from Runnings. I've been giving them ground up egg shells for calcium and some potatoes peels and a cucumber slice for extra nourishment.

The layers in the tank are as follows:

- some small pebbles for drainage

- coco coir

- mixture of peat-based substrate from the store, some work casting organic fertilizer, and more coco coir

- leaf litter and moss

This is what it looks like ^^

It's placed in a generly dark area.

The millipedes name is Cranberry btw!!

(tw sh scars)

And these are the little goobers:

QUESTIONS I HAVE:

- How many insects can I put in one 15 gal tank?? How many isopods? Are there issues between them coexisting? I heard eggs might get eaten and if they aren't fed enough calcium they will try to eat eachother.

- Am I grinding up the egg shells enough? Are the peices too big? When I have the money I might just get cuttlefish bone but it can get pricy.

- How often should I clean??? I heard somewhere once a month but if it's a terrarium and not a singular creature and it's more of an ecosystem should I leave it alone other than feeding and spraying water n stuff?

- Can/should I put earthworms in the terrarium? What about snails/slugs? Would they be harmful or helpful?

UPDATE 5/11/24:

- I found a tiny spider guy in there. Is he chill??

[whilereadingandwalking]

Australia made me fear spiders less. Yes, I saw lots of way-too-big, colorful spiders, but they were all 'over there.' One was in a bathroom corner. But not one came near me, and it was honestly a bit of exposure therapy of sorts. So when I was in Brisbane, I picked up Silk & Venom: The Incredible Lives of Spiders to learn more about how spiders were cool.

This book definitely taught me that spiders are awesome. Diving bell spiders live in underwater nests by using air bubbles. Spiders can use electromagnetic fields to balloon rapidly away from the ground and find new territory. Spiders live at the top of the Himalayas. Spider silk is biocompatible and may be the key to future implants, healing, and even chronic pain treatment. Spiders are a fellow victim of widespread doctor misdiagnosis, because an astounding number of "spider bites" are actually due to something else. Some spiders can change color, others pretend to be ants (very successfully), and spiders make fascinating traps out of their webs. Hanlon's love of spiders comes through wonderfully, and his writing is accessible and fun.

I do think that James O'Hanlon could do some self-examination work on his approach to people's fear of spiders. His dismissive, baffled tone risks alienating the very people that he wants to self-examine. There are a lot of other reasons people might be scared by spiders that he doesn't explore (any Naked & Afraid episode will show you crawly many-legged things are mostly very bad for humans—ants, ticks, cockroaches, millipedes). His mystified lack of empathy will simply turn off many readers. He is 100% right that storytelling is the key to vilifying or saving species (think about how we talk about sharks now vs. after Jaws first came out), and so it's worth pointing out that his storytelling comes off as condescending in many of these passages. Particularly (unfortunately) in two anecdotes that feature women or girls being frightened by spiders, which is a big, big issue (I promise men hate spiders at least as much as girls do).

So ultimately, a good read, but Hanlon could take a lesson from his own book and think about the message sent when stories are told in a certain way.

[bellofball]

Several incorrect facts about Isopods (pill bugs) (just the land ones)

Isopods - the only truly apolitical animal

Fact 1: isopods are a type of very small bug (I am only talking about the little land isopods in this listing, water isopods are very bad and far too large). An average isopod is about the size of a medium-sized pill bug. To put that into perspective, an average-sized Pill bug is slightly smaller than a slightly above-average-sized slater.

Fact 2: Very little is known about the isopod aside from the fact that, on account of their small brains, isopods are incredibly stupid. And they are very stupid. Their small brains should not be brushed aside and leave the isopods extremely limited, particularly in fields like number theory and basic arithmetic. Isopods are not very good at theoretical physics.

Fact 3: No Isopod has ever had potential. Anyone who underestimates an Isopod is right to do so. They are the underdogs for a reason. Under no circumstances should an Isopod be recruited to a wild card baseball team under the assumption that it was being unfairly dismissed by other coaches who assumed it would be bad at baseball because of its very small brain. The other coaches are right, the Isopod is not an undiscovered talent or a flower waiting to bloom. Nor will an Isopod player be just the pick-me-up your grassroots team, who may not have the best equipment but has real heart, needs. Even if the Isopod does well in trials, its Isopod father will almost certainly miss the big game, demoralising the Isopod and ruining everything you worked so hard to build. Best to avoid Isopod players entirely. 

Fact 4: The Isopod goes by many names that vary from region to region… I will not list them here.

Fact 5: are there any interesting facts about the Isopod? No not really. Although after the recent reclassification of Platapus, Octopi and Ducks as Echidnas, the Isopod is now the only known mammal that lays eggs. Aside from that the Isopod is of really little relevance, however, the mega nerds over at Big Science like to argue about it anyway. 

Fact 6: There is an ongoing debate in the scientific community as to whether an Isopod is a Millipede with dwarfism or the lower half of a Centipede. This is very stupid as the Isopod is very clearly a once athletic crab who got into miniature war gaming and lost all of its muscle mass as a result.

Fact 7: Earlier I said there are no interesting facts about the Isopod, I lied, I am not sorry and I will do it again.

Fact 8: Many people, particularly the chronically annoying, like to make the claim that everything is political. Much like me, these people are liars. Isopods have nothing to do with politics, this is because their hands are too small to vote. Instead of admitting to this weakness, isopods pretend to be better than everyone else by never having any opinion on anything ever.

Fact 9: Alone in the animal kingdom, the Isopod is entirely unconcerned with the affairs of man and general politics. Even the Isopod’s closest living relative, the Heyna, got into crypto for a bit, which is sort of like politics for the incredibly stupid. The closest any Isopod has ever come to being political was when one of them once referred to the general public as “the great unwashed” but it only said that beacsause it was copying a character from a TV show it liked. 

Yes, the Isopod is entirely Apolitical, or is that just what THEY want you to think? 

Fact 10: Isopods have been known to be avid enjoyers of books and literary media, They crawl all over any book they can get their hands on and literally devour it. They of course claim to enjoy all books, but will avoid the ones that get “too political”. But what is “too political” for the Isopod palate? Isopods have been noted devouring media like Hunger Games or Harry Potter which get pretty political at certain points but the same Isopods have refused to chow down on works like Angie Thomas’ THUG. Why is that? 

Fact 11: And why did the Isopods specifically avoid eating the November 2021 issue of Son of Kal-E, when they had been noted as enjoying all previous issues. Surely if the Isopods were truly against all politics they would avoid Superman in general, not just the comics with his gay son. 

Fact 12: What's with this pattern? The answer is obvious. The Isopods only have a problem with politics, or see something as political when it deviates from the political norm, or at least what they see as the political norm. Minorities are no more inherently political than majorities but the isopod simply can’t see that. And instead of confronting their own biases, the isopod hides behind a shield of false centrism, using the idea that they are apolitical to deflect any legitimate criticism of their prejudices or beliefs. The Isopods are just as political as the rest of the world, they’re just jerks about it.

Fact 13: Everything really is political. I owe the radical left an apology.

Fact 14: every fact in this listing, including this one, has been a lie.

[onenicebugperday]

@bluem1st submitted: I have met many lovely buggies lately and they fill me with joy! I'd love if you could ID them. I know the caterpillar is an eastern tent and one of my favorites but the others were new to me. The light colored centipede was so small! Could wrap halfway around a quarter! The big beetle I found at work almost drowned in a rained-in bin. So happy I found them and could get them out! Location is: [removed] (please remove location). I hope seeing them brings others joy too!

A great group of friends! I love the very small but long centipede. They are from the top after the tent caterpillar: a geometer moth but don't know the species offhand, a soil centipede, a greenhouse millipede, and a prionine longhorn beetle, probably a live-oak root borer :)

[grumpy-beetle]

Hey!! So I’ve come to tumblr for help with preserving/pinning bugs!! I’m a major taxidermy nerd but this feels very different so I’m not sure where to begin.

I found this dragonfly while cleaning my house and would love to preserve them for photography and display. Just have no idea what to do or wear to begin. Any advice would be amazing!!

Hi there!! What a GORGEOUS dragonfly you found! And big one too! I'm jealous

You've come to the right place though! I've done a good bit of hobby taxidermy in the past and can give you some pointers!

Get yourself some insect pins. You can find these on ebay or amazon I assume. Don't get super long ones, most frames are only about 1-2 inches wide. They're special pins that are thin and sharp. Your choice which ones! (I still have to cut mine down lol)

Find a frame! The term you'll be searching for is going to be 'shadowbox' when looking online. You'll want a fabric backing inside it and enough space between it and the glass to fit your bug. There's special bug frames you can get. I usually go to my local store and get a fabric back crafting frame with a magnetic hinge door.

While you wait to get your pins, your bug is already dry so just keep it away from dust and fracturing. You can clean it with isopropyl on q-tips. Until then! Store in a dry place. (Unless it's a bug that freshly died for you- in that case, off they go into the fridge until they can be pinned.)

You got your pins. Great! Get yourself a container big enough to fit it. Paper towel at the bottom soaked in alcohol/isopropyl. Put another layer between that. Put your bug on top. Put the lid on. This will soften your bug so you can manipulate it. Leave for 24 hours or more.

Now your bug is soft. It won't be nearly as easy as it'd be with a fresh one- so you'll have to be careful with that abdomen. One pin goes through the thorax. That's your main holding pin. Manipulate your bug into place with the rest of the pins.

DO NOT PIN THROUGH THE WINGS. You will want to get a few pieces of cardboard or more styrofoam and stack em under the wings until they can lay flat. Clear piece of plastic (from a box or laminating sheet or something clear) over the wings, and you pin through THAT until it holds the wing tightly in place.

Now just to leave it to dry again! Not in the sun, not over a pure radiator, not anywhere humid. It will take a few weeks. Your bug is dry when you can't move their legs, leave longer for Thiccer bugs. I like to put mine near/atop my geckos heatlamp.

That's pretty much it!

Some bugs need different methods- like millipedes, or stickbugs that need to be gutted and stuffed. But a dragonfly should be good with just drying! Most bugs are.

Here's a picture of my current beetle drying.

Hope that helps!