# Assassin Bugs



## ellroy (Sep 16, 2005)

Anyone keep or kept assassin bugs? Are they interesting captives? Is it worth risking being blinded by their acid squirting?!?!? :wink:


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## Samzo (Sep 16, 2005)

> Anyone keep or kept assassin bugs? Are they interesting captives? Is it worth risking being blinded by their acid squirting?!?!? :wink:


I was going to ask this.. i want to get some but arnt sure how leathal (if at all) they are and what to feed them etc..


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## Obie (Sep 16, 2005)

I have some of the P. "mombo" orange spot assassins. They are awesome. I like them as much as mantises actually. Very interesting behavior. They love to eat prey bigger than themselves. Never been sprayed by their venom either...


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## Samzo (Sep 16, 2005)

cool, do you have any pics of setups?


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## Obie (Sep 16, 2005)

I keep the adults communally in a 10 gallon aquarium. I keep them fairly dry. They like to have bark or egg crates to hide under...much like roaches. I decided to give them a more "naturalistic" settup than I give my roach colonies though. They climb up to the tips of the grape branches in my settup to shed, and they also drag their prey up to the tips to keep other assassins from taking it (which they try to do :twisted: ). Its amazing to see one of the adults take down a full grown Blaberus craniifer or hisser, and then drag it to the tip of a twig - impaled on its proboscis :shock:.

Here's the tank I keep my adults in - there are about 10 assassins in it:





Here's an adult up close (kinda):





I keep the nymphs in shallow 9" deli cups with holes:





Obie


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## Samzo (Sep 16, 2005)

oh wow thats pretty cool. can you handle them to move from containers rather than "pet ahndling"?


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## Obie (Sep 16, 2005)

Hmm... I've never tried it. Don't think I want to actually...after hearing how painful their bite is, and watching them attack prey :shock: . I use "stovepipe" forceps to gently pick up the nymphs and move them. For the adults I put on gloves and pick up the bark that they hide under and move that - with the assassins clinging to the underside.

As for handing:

My general philosophy with ALL my animals and insects is: LEAVE THEM COMPLETELY ALONE as much as possible. I personally think that dogs are the only animal that truly enjoys being picked up by humans (and even many dogs don't), so I really don't handle any of my critters unless I have to in order to clean...and then I do it in the least stressful manner (for them) that I can think of. By doing things this way I have been lucky to observe more or less natural behavior in many of my captives...since they totally ignore my presence and rarely hide - because they know I am not a threat...and they are almost never stressed.

I have toys that I play with and I have animals...but I personally dont blur the line between the two :lol: . I guess I see my critters more as semi-wild, but in a small habitat, than as pets.

Thats not to say that mantises, crested geckos, leopard geckes, etc. cannot be gently handled for the keeper's enjoyment -- they certainly can and most people do. But I feel that a price is paid for it (by the animals in unnecassary stress...and the keeper in altered behavior of captives).

Ok -- thats my rant about handling :lol: .

To each his own  .

Obie


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## Orin (Sep 17, 2005)

http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandante...ntidsAssassins/

There's photos and info on this site.

The venom they spit isn't a big deal, just wash your eyes and you're fine. However, the bite is insanely painful. They aren't mean and don't attack you like many spiders and mantids which is why it can be easy to grow careless and be bitten (they only bite if grabbed/pinned down).


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## Andrew (Sep 17, 2005)

Ive got assassins too, I like em just as much as my mantids. Right now ive got the "white spots" and "orange spots", and have another species coming next week. :wink:

Thanks,

Andrew


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## Reeves (Sep 17, 2005)

I have "Mombos". Extremely interesting insects, they're my favorite in my collection next to my mantids. They've never spat venom at me.


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## ellroy (Sep 17, 2005)

I take it they can't climb the glass? Very nice setup you have their Obie!


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## Obie (Sep 17, 2005)

They actually can climb glass, but mine don't do it very often. They can fly too. Also, the newly hatched nymphs are very tiny. These are all good reasons to have a tight-fitting screen lid with a small mesh size.


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## Andrew (Sep 17, 2005)

Ive yet to see mine fly..and although they can climb glass/plastic, they arent very good at it.

Thanks,

Andrew


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## ellroy (Sep 19, 2005)

The Mombos are gorgeous, haven't seen them for sale in the UK though.

Whats the average life span?


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## Orin (Sep 20, 2005)

> Whats the average life span?


 30 months total.


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## revilo (Sep 30, 2005)

Hi, this is my first post here.

We keep our white-spotted assassin bugs in a screw down cage according to USDA rules. Here, in the US, a permit is generally required to keep this species. When they bite they inject a combination of venom and concentrated hydrochloric acid. If you got a full bite it would definately require a trip to the hospital. Think massive ulceration and muscle damage down into the bone. I always use forcepts to handle them.

We keep them on a loose bed of sphagnum with several long stick angled up to the sides of the cage. The cage is about 3'x1.5'x2.5' all plexiglass and metal. There are around seventy adults in the cage and juveniles are raised seperately. Sixty or so crickets are fed at a time, less will make them attack each other.


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