Creepy Crawlers – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Forgive the spaghetti western movie reference. That Clint Eastwood film is such a classic, its title alone so quotable, I couldn’t resist. And it is fitting, to be fair. As just about every human being on the planet knows, many insects and their ilk are beneficial whether attractive or not. Civilization as I know it would be devastated if honeybees weren’t pollinating our food crops or earthworms improving our soil.

A Welcome Visitor

Others aren’t so welcome. Last summer’s Japanese beetle invasion devastated my Harry Lauder’s walking stick. I've had to dismember this member of the filbert (hazelnut) family, a longtime part of our landscape.

My husband wants to keep these
remains as a sculpture (?!)

On a fun note my assassin snails have reproduced. They are named for their diet of pesky species, which inundated the tank within months of my poor clown loaches all dying. Since the adults decimated my nemesis it’s fortunate that assassin snails eat general detritus. Sometimes I think the pure existence of these creatures would be easier than life as a complicated human. But I prefer not to surrender all my free will just yet.

Sorry this little snail’s image is grainy...

Have you ever wondered what bugs experience? If possible, would you like to spend a day as one? What insect life form would you choose?

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