I don't have to teach science to ds4 (he'll be 5 next week), because he goes outside and FINDS it. And then he brings it in my house. :shock: What does one feed a firefly? The encyclopedia was no help, and Wikipedia is very ambiguous - says that it varies and some are predatory while some eat plant pollen. :shock: Y'all know how I am about science. What do I feed these critters ds put into the terrarium? (And, will the snail eat them??? :!: )
:shock: Well, that's no help. :lol: How can you not have fireflies? LOL Where in NM are ya? My great grandpa is in Clovis, and he has fireflies. I think. Doesn't he? I know some of NM is pretty barren though. Maybe that's where you are. :lol: (I'm yankin yer chain!)
Anytime we've tried to keep them overnight....they've died (or magically escaped even with very small holes). I'd just try to play up the "he needs to go back to his family"...and make him a free firefly.
Fireflies eat other insects. They eat snails, worms, and sometimes other fireflies. So I'd be more worried about the firefly eating the snail than the other way around.
dalynn....didn't mean to scare you but I thought you'd like to know the snail could be food....though depending on the size of the snail it may be too big for the fireflies. Also from personal experience fireflies don't do too well being kept for more than a day or two....after that they all start to die.
Um, there's TWO snails. And TWO fireflies. :shock: Luckily, the fireflies are not eating the snails. And the snails, it turns out, are eating the grass. That explains why they've survived in there for a couple of weeks. And therein lies the problem. It's impossible to get this terrarium outside without ds seeing me. I don't know how he does it. It's like he's got it on radar or something!! And, he doesn't care that the firefly misses his mommy and his grandpa and his family. "He's MINE now. He's my family and I love him." :shock:
The rolie polie bugs all died. There were 7 of them. The big one almost survived, but I let it out... and the puppy found it. :? I really hope I can sneak these things outside tonight after ds goes to sleep... and before they try to eat the snails!! ACK! Thanks for telling me! (Ds, btw, thinks it would be cool to watch....)
Well...sounds like his mind is made up....wait till he goes to be and take the terrarium out and let the fireflies loose???? I mean the world can do with two less fireflies...but I don't know how sad your son would be to wake up and find them dead.
LOL... I have found this just funny. I thought all parents let the fireflies go at night once kids were asleep?!
My dd would be in good company with your DS. We just released a 'pet' ladybug today, after I convinced her that it could no longer live in her room. I was just reading my dds the "On Beyond Bugs" by Dr. Seuss, and it has a page on fireflies (we called them lightin' bugs when I was a kid!). We don't have them here, and trying to explain them to my DDs was funny. I finally said they just glow in the dark, and even when they hit the windshield, they still glow! :wink: :roll: They need to visit their auntie, who lives in the midwest, soon, I guess!
I am doing an experiment with rollie pollies, or sow bugs, or pill bugs, which ever name you want to call them. It says to feed them a chunk of potato. They are still alive so far. As far as the lightening bugs, I have never had one live. I did find this on the web though they do eat worms and snails and slugs. They are also cannibals. I would worry about the snail :shock:.
Funny that this post is up I just saw my first firefly last night. He was all alone though poor thing
You remind of the book the Very Lonely Firefly...if you haven't seen it check it out. Ok you're going to think we were mean we would catch a firefly & rub it's glowing part on our shoes...yup they glowed, but the next day yuck all over your shoes!!! I'm a nice person honest...just one of those had to see if it worked things I guess!!!
[/QUOTE]Ok you're going to think we were mean we would catch a firefly & rub it's glowing part on our shoes...yup they glowed, but the next day yuck all over your shoes!!! I'm a nice person honest...just one of those had to see if it worked things I guess!!![/QUOTE] Hehe--you know they make good glow-in-dark earrings too, right? :shock: To be a kid again...
We don't have many fireflies around here but when we do see them the kids get to play with them for a while and then let them go. We used to see them all over the place when I was a kid but now they don't seem to be found as easily. It's been about 2 years since we saw the last one.
I didn't realize there were different types until I moved down south! Growing up, the ones we had were different than the ones down here. Up north they glowed but I don't remember them looking like the ones down here. The neighborhood kids would use them for earrings is how I noticed the difference. Here's a neat link: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/insect/firefly.htm
