# Assassin Bug [HELP]



## Sparky

Does anyone else raise these? I was walking by a bush with HUGE golden orb weavers. I'm planning to catch the assassin bugs tomorrow. Does anybody know how to care for these? I looked online, but I would like opinions from you guys.

EDIT: I caught 3 after I crashed into a really huge orb weaver that scared the dookie outta me.

Male Assassin Bug. They fly pretty good and they will not hesitate to bite. (It bit me and I almost cried)







Female Assassin Bug. This one just finished mating with the male. Looks like she's pregnant.






Nymph. I don't know how old this one is. I found it stuck on a strand of web.


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## Andrew

I was sent an adult female a while back. Laid quite a few eggs for me, but they never hatched.

I think that the eggs require diapause, and thats where they get difficult...young nymphs also require a lot of care, because they're very cannibalistic from the moment they hatch.


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## Sparky

whats diapause?


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## Andrew

Means they need to be overwintered. They can't go straight into incubation after being laid.


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## Sparky

so does that mean after they are laid I have to put them in the fridge?


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## Andrew

To be safe, I would keep them in a container outside and let them hatch when nature calls. I don't think the fridge is your best bet.


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## Sparky

Where do they lay their eggs? Right now I have them in a container with orchidbark.


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## Andrew

From what I recall, I think that my female laid both on the stick in her cage, and on the plastic side wall. Kind of like a mantis, she'll probably lay them wherever she feels like.

I was going to say this species looks like _A. cristatus_(which I had), but now that I look closer, I don't see the signature "wheel" on the back of either of those. Maybe an _Arilus spp._ of some sort?

Maybe Orin or someone else can clarify?

Edit: What color are they? It's kinda hard to tell from the pic. They may be a _Zelus spp._..

Gahh...I need sleep...


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## AFK

There are many thousands of kinds of assassin bugs. It's definitely not the wheel bug. My guess is that it's either of the _Zelus _or _Pselliopus _genus. Maybe _Zelus renardii_?

When I was a kid, I used to keep assassin bugs. They seemed pretty easy and hardy from what I remember. Throw in any comparably size arthropod or smaller, especially caterpillars and other soft-bodied buggers, and the assassin bugs readily eat them. Pretty straigh-forward I thought.


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## Sparky

The nymphs of this species is orangish with a tint of green. The adults are full green tinted with a little bit of brown. I think its a _Zelus_ species also.


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## Sparky

ok my assassin bug just laid eggs, now what do I do?


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## AFK

make an omelet out of them


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## buddhistsoldier88

> make an omelet out of them


EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Moosashi

I carried in my Nepenthes Alata plant to shield it from the winter, and a few days later I saw a big orange and black assassin bug on it. I carried that outside about a month ago, and now I look at the Nepenthes plant in my room and it has little orange assassin bugs all over it! I'm trying to recover them all into a container to decide whether to raise or put them outside (but they'll probably freeze) and I was wondering: does anyone know if they can bite me at night if they're running around hidden in my room and also, can they transmit disease by leaving feces on humans and biting at night, like that story about the kissing bug? should I be worried?


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## macro junkie

AFK said:


> make an omelet out of them


HAHAHAHAHA


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## Malnra

Moosashi said:


> I carried in my Nepenthes Alata plant to shield it from the winter, and a few days later I saw a big orange and black assassin bug on it. I carried that outside about a month ago, and now I look at the Nepenthes plant in my room and it has little orange assassin bugs all over it! I'm trying to recover them all into a container to decide whether to raise or put them outside (but they'll probably freeze) and I was wondering: does anyone know if they can bite me at night if they're running around hidden in my room and also, can they transmit disease by leaving feces on humans and biting at night, like that story about the kissing bug? should I be worried?


I would be worried about all of the above .. ESPECIALLY the bite me when i sleep part ... kill them all ! set your mantids free to war with them !


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## Andrew

Moosashi, if you are in the US, PM me and I will gladly take them off your hands.


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## Moosashi

Geoff_K said:


> I would be worried about all of the above .. ESPECIALLY the bite me when i sleep part ... kill them all ! set your mantids free to war with them !


I probably would...but my first mantid oothecae haven't hatched yet ! Got em in a container right now and the (I think) rest of the egg apparatus that they spawned forth from.


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## Orin

Moosashi said:


> I carried in my Nepenthes Alata plant to shield it from the winter, and a few days later I saw a big orange and black assassin bug on it. I carried that outside about a month ago, and now I look at the Nepenthes plant in my room and it has little orange assassin bugs all over it! I'm trying to recover them all into a container to decide whether to raise or put them outside (but they'll probably freeze) and I was wondering: does anyone know if they can bite me at night if they're running around hidden in my room and also, can they transmit disease by leaving feces on humans and biting at night, like that story about the kissing bug? should I be worried?


Certain assassins eat insects and certain species are blood feeders. An insect eater will never drink blood (just as you can't feed your mantids on oak leaves even though they are related to walkingsticks). Since the eggs came in on a plant and not from an animal burrow, it's extremely unlikely they'd be anything but an insect eater. Some large insect feeders can give a good defensive bite but small ones could never break the skin (if you accidently sat on one you'd never know it).


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## Moosashi

Orin said:


> Certain assassins eat insects and certain species are blood feeders. An insect eater will never drink blood (just as you can't feed your mantids on oak leaves even though they are related to walkingsticks). Since the eggs came in on a plant and not from an animal burrow, it's extremely unlikely they'd be anything but an insect eater. Some large insect feeders can give a good defensive bite but small ones could never break the skin (if you accidently sat on one you'd never know it).


yeah, I tossed in some wingless fruit flies, drosophylla melanogaster, and the little mercenaries promptly surrounded the flies, 3 to a fly, and began skewering the flies with their needle mouthparts. I saw a couple of assassins carrying their newly caught flies around on the walls of the container. I'll go take some pics of the little orange and black nymphs. Their head, abdomen and thorax are orange, while only their legs are all black.


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## Moosashi

sent the bugs to Andrew so they'd have a good home! they made the trip from GA to CA safely, woot.


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