I have a larva for you!🤗

Sun beetle 🌞,
Pachnoda marginata peregrina

It's a species of flower chafers 🌸 (a group of scarabs) from west and central Africa. The larvae are called grubs.
I sometimes feed them to my animals.
Very rich food! 😋

Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) enjoying the sun 🦋🌞

Normally they always fly away 😆

A nice memory from today a year ago ✨🦥❤️🐑✨

Ichneumon wasp,
Ophion obscuratus

I found this male in the house last night and brought him back outside. It's a nocturnal parasitic wasp species. Females look for caterpillars and inject one egg per host. The caterpillars remain alive until the wasp larva reaches its final instar. The adults feed mainly on plant sap and nectar and continue enjoying their lives. This species is one of the few that fly around even in winter. It's distribution area includes the entire Palearctic and Indomalaya.

Some representatives of the ichneumon wasps (not this one) carry a special virus in their genome and use it to produce virions, which after injection influence the host's behavior, metabolism and immune system.

My furry friend, so grumpy and cute! 😄

Dakota enjoying the ☀️ after having two mice the night before. 😋

European hornet (Vespa crabro)

It's covered in dust.

Female Jamaican field cricket (Gryllus assimilis). This one has just reached sexual maturity. After its moult, the insect first has to harden and take on color. The long sting is called ovipositor and is used to lay eggs in the ground. But that will never happen, because crickets taste best that tender to my geckos.😋

We want sunshine and warmth!
🌞🌡️

Luckily, spring is coming.
My leopard geckos ended their winter rest 10 days ago. On Monday they move back into the big terrarium.

I have made a few improvements to the terrarium. You can also look forward to a live cam, which will be available on my website soon.

In the photo you can see me together with Nameless.🤍

Two years ago I adopted the clutch of a Giant African land snail (Achatina fulica, "White Jade" ). 🐌

Crazy how fast time flies. In this video they were just a month old. It plays at 11x speed. I hope they are doing well in their new homes now. I last saw them 9 months ago.

The little animals are predatory mites. They feed on small insects, springtails and mites. This is useful because they leave the snails alone but eliminate pests.

Mites are arachnids just like spiders and scorpions. There are many specialized mite species worldwide, including blood-sucking ticks and dust mites.