calliopes_pen

Gah!

Mom went outside to let the cat in, and discovered a giant green bug that hissed/clicked at her. I think it also has a hard shell covering it. Mom poked it with a stick, and it did a horrible clicking sound.

Does anyone know what this is? Mom can't kill it, because she couldn't stab it through the hard shell with a stick. I went out to look, and ran away when it made that sound. (Yes, I'm terrified of bugs.)

I'm keeping the cat in until we can figure out what it is.

(And oh, this icon is so appropriate...)

ETA: OK, according to Mom whenever it's touched or moved at all, it makes that sound. And the cat was trying to play with it because of the noise.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a hissing beetle! (Original name, huh?) They're harmless, really. Relatives of cockroaches. They make that clicking noise by shooting air out from under their shells. It won't hurt your cat, but some cats enjoy playing with them. ("Oooh, this makes a noise when I poke at it.") So you can either move it somewhere else, wait for it to move, let the cat at it, or move it yourself. But they don't bite and they're not venomous or anything, so you don't have to worry about the cat. Or yourself.

Thank you, that's good to know.

And Mom wants to know what they're good for. Because, and I quote "the hissing is just plain scary."

And when it made that sound, I did scream out that it might be a hissing cockroach. Apparently, I was half right if it's a relative of the cockroach.

What they're good for? Cat toys. That's about it. And the hissing is just plain scary because it's supposed to scare off predators. Doesn't stop some cats though. My first cat (Flash) used to toss them around in her mouth and loved it when they hissed.

Sounds a little like how my cat was around it. Apparently, she just slapped at it a lot so she could hear that hiss.

While Mom and I ran around with sticks and poked at it, she just rolled around in the grass. It didn't bother her at all.

Eeeeewww I hate green insects. That's no help whatsoever, but just to let you know I share in the gah.

According to someone that posted before you, it's a hissing beetle--relative of the hissing cockroach.

That makes it even more disgusting for me.

Yuck. Yeah. That's more disgusting.

*sigh* LJ ate my post. Trying again...

Actually, beetles and cockroaches aren't related at all, other than the fact that both of them are insects. That's like saying that dogs and horses are related. Um, okay, both mammals...but pretty different from each other.

That being said, the mechanism for the hissing in your beetle and the Hissing Roach is (probably) the same: They force air out through breathing holes in their abdomens. Chances are you'd never see a Hissing Roach in the wild, because they're found only in Madagascar, zoos, and pet stores. Also, they're a "clean" roach...they're wild and rather shy, and don't willingly infest people's houses--and thus don't come in contact with the diseases found in our houses. In fact, there's over 3000 known species of roach in the world, and, of those, only 25-30 are pestiferous. The other 2970 species live out their lives quietly in the woods or the deserts or the swamps and don't bother anyone. But because the 25-30 are the ones we SEE, we base our opinion of ALL species on those ones and ignore the 90% that aren't a problem.

*cough* Um, yeah. I actually like Hissing Cockroaches, which probably makes me strange. LOL

Any way to get a pic of your hissing beetle? I'd like to see it...

Unfortunately, by this point it's probably run off. When last seen, it was near the garden. I'll see if I can find it again. (Or at least a picture online that looks like it.)

OK, I just went to check, and it was gone. Mom wondered how it got away so fast, and whether or not it can fly.

I looked it up online, and instead of the hissing beetle, I found pictures of hissing cockroaches, something from Star Trek, and what looked like it would have been porn if I'd clicked on it.

It had a very dark green shell, I can tell you that.

Might have been some species of rhinoceros beetle--did it have a horn (females don't, though)? Rhino beetles are known for hissing. Beetles can fly, so it might have flown away.

*sobs* I wanted to see it...

*makes puppy eyes* If another one shows up, can you get a pic?

Yes, if I ever see another one I will take a picture. :)
(This is the first I've ever seen--other than on shows like Jack Hannah.)

No, I don't think it had a horn. Based on how slow it walked, you're probably right. It had to have flown away.

Mom got a slightly closer look at it than I did, and said it was a dark green/darkish blue kind of color. She described it as a mixture "like a stained glass window."

Or it might have been one of these (http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=IS0019). I don't remember them hissing, though, and haven't lived in an area that had them in ages...

It was almost partly that color, but it definitely hissed, though. So, I doubt it was a June Beetle.

Mom had another question about the hissing beetle. She wants to know if when there is one, does that mean there will be a lot more? She doesn't want to wade through them in the front yard.

(Yeah, that would be disgusting.)

*ponders* Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what it actually is. If it's related to one of these (http://homepage.mac.com/senorwences/PhotoAlbum13.html), then probably not. We had them in St George, and there didn't seem to be a lot around when we'd find one. If it's related to the Green June Beetle I linked above, you might be in for an infestation for a month or two, because they tend to hatch all at once and then congregate.

...and what looked like it would have been porn if I'd clicked on it.

*snicker*

I actually saw a poster for 'cockroach porn' in someones' journal here on LJ...and no, it wasn't porn for roaches.

That was just...scary. LOL (just kidding) I think it's great that you know so much about...bugs. *shiver*

I've said it before and I'll say it again, thank **** I live in the UK. Our beetles are civilised and don't hiss. :p Cockroaches ::shudders::

We used to have to deal with these huge brown things with antenae as long as them (and they were friggin' long!)that made loud clicking noises. My mom would kill them with Dads' hammer.

Beetles = okay
Cockroaches = not okay
Spiders = okay
Bees = run screaming like a little girl

I'm not sure what the logic of how I react to insects is.
If you do see your beastie again, I'd love to see what it looked like.
When I was in Malaysia, there were these big green bugs that were about a foot long that hung on trees, pretending to be leaves. Shudder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gah!

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