Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/20/you-have-to-send-away-for-the.html
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You could stop by a garden center and pick up a container containing a huge number of ladybugs. You don’t get to watch them hatch from larvae that way, though.
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My mothers’ and aunt’s houses are lady bug terrariums. Constant low-level infestation. They don’t get in food, or cause a mess, but surprise you by appearing all over.
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That is a great idea. I wonder if she’ll accept it. I could also say the larvae arrived and hatched…
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You could have pulled a flea circus and said that they were rare invisible lady bugs.
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Are you sure those are ladybugs and not something much, much worse?
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Stick it in the kitchen and wait for the roaches to move in.
Sony makes a self-populating bug farm but it’s a little pricey… https://boingboing.net/2017/04/17/why-sony-ps4s-get-roach-infest.html
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That and, dude, lady bugs are every where. My old house had a ton of them inside when it got colder.
Spend an afternoon hunting them down. Might even find stems of flower with aphids and you can include that, watching them suck out those little sons of bitches one by one.
There is this trumpter? morning glory? vine weed I had in the back yard which was yellow with the number of aphids on it. A lady bug buffet!
A friend used to have some antlions right outside his window…They were fun to watch…
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Bugs don’t just grow on trees.
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Oh hey! We just bought some from a garden store last weekend and made a simple terrarium (vivarium?) out of a large vase and a piece of window screen. They’re amazing to watch, especially eating aphids and raisins. Cat loves to watch 'em too. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ato05iudzpgiffz/2017-04-15%2020.35.24.jpg?dl=0
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Be wary, our daughters first pet was an Ox Beetle we caught she named “Pretty.” Pretty loved bananas and actually started running towards our shadows as we approached her terrarium I think because our presence were conditioned to equal food. Docile, sweet, and became our lesson in death about 6 months in. There are still a great number of tears shed for dear Pretty if she is ever mentioned in our house.
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Make yer own
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One time I found a large stick insect, and I turned a fish tank into a terrarium, using card board and some screen to make a lid that opens and closes. And then it died 
I did learn the difference between walking stick poop and eggs, though. Hopefully her babies lived on.
Those are aphids. Harmless aphids. Don’t get any on me, okay?
I love how offbeat BB articles remind me of the old days: My 11 year old brother and I (10 years old) discovered a termite-infested tree stump in the backyard of some family friends. They – three brothers midway in age between my brother and our parents – were considered cool and fun to hang around, at least by my brother and I; we learned stuff. Anyway, after my brother brought the termites to their attention and urged them to dig up the stump so that he could see the termite queen, the three brothers were ALL OVER him, laughing hysterically, insisting that he only wanted to see the queen in order to mount her. They went further, suggesting that he “bag up” before doing so. At 14 years old, a boy MIGHT see the humor, but not in my brother’s case; he looked beaten. I managed to stay out of the line of fire.
That’s exactly what I was talking about. They seem to be happier inside rather than outside. For me that’s a big problem.
Also, they smell bad.
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Set it on fire and see if one shows up.
