Cicada skins!

[Silver Buttons]

I was out walking, on my way to go shopping, and noticed a bunch of cicada exoskeletons clinging to a wall. For those who don't know, they spend their larval stage underground for several years, then change to a more bug-like form, burrow out of the ground, climb a tree, and shed their skin to become the familiar large, noisy, flying insect that makes a huge, buzzing racket up in the trees.

Anyway, on the way back I picked all the exoskeletons off the wall and took them home, figuring they'll make great hermie food. The mind of a hermit crab owner works in strange ways.

I put the unused ones in a jar and stuck them in the freezer. I have bug skins in my freezer!

[MudCrabDude]

Sounds cool. They will probably be enjoyed as much as crickets are.

[Guest]

My crabs seemed to nibble these a little bit when I tried them a long time ago. I should keep my eyes peeled for another cicada exo to offer again! Thanks for sharing, keep us posted!

[Derange]

Ugh. Just the WORD cicada is enough to make me shudder.

Definitely let us know how your babies like it, though! Once the swarm comes back in a few years maybe I can use it as an excuse to try and conquer my phobia. "It's for the crabs!!"

[Silver Buttons]

Well, Beatrix completely ignored it! She went for the powdered algae, instead, then went back up into the moss pit. Jasper hasn't come out of hiding yet, which is unusual. He's usually a few minutes behind Beatrix when they come out at dusk. Will check on them later tonight.

[Guest]

We have an electrical buzz all around our house right now. They sound like a high pitched electrical power line. There are about 10-15 cicada exoskeletons on our back porch. I never thought to give them to hermit crabs - interesting idea.

[Kilimanjaro]

This is a really neat idea! I'm gonna have to go searching... I was planning a harvesting walk anyway to stock up the new store.

[MacandHunter]

That is a good idea. Cicada's are pretty much one of the worst things in the world...so good idea to put them to good use.

[MudCrabDude]

I think they're cute.

Like giant, noisy houseflies.

[Silver Buttons]

I used to love picking them up when I was a kid. I loved insects, the bigger the better!

Well, I checked on the food dish this morning, and while they seemed to have eaten the krill and the spirulina algae--and Beatrix was eating the moss when I went to bed--it looked like the cicada carcass was untouched. BUT Beatrix just now came out of the moss pit and headed straight for the cicada and is chowing down heartily on it! It's unusual for any of them to be out and about in the daytime. They usually sleep all day in their mossy hideaway till dusk.

I took a picture of her that came out real good.

[Kilimanjaro]

Aww, that picture is so cute!

[Silver Buttons]

She has been active for HOURS! I've never seen her this active in the daytime. She's been climbing on stuff, investigating the shells, hanging off the side of the fresh water dish. At one point, she twisted completely around in her shell to modify the opening, pinching bits of it off with her big claw. Tried to get pics, but a branch was in the way. I put a small cup of almond milk in there to see what she'd do, and she loves it! Can't get good pics of that, either, she's too skittish and won't hold still.

[MudCrabDude]

Cool

[Guest]

wonderful! thanks for the photographic evidence too! PM me if you'd like to be highlighted on my blog!

[wodesorel]

This is hysterical! Only crab people would look at a bug exo and think "Oh! Crabby food!" I just love it. I mean, my hubby thinks I'm nuts for always going "Do you think the crabs would like this?" at the grocery store. I hope we find a cicada skin so I can pull that one on him. He'd freak!

We have a few cicadas this year, but not many. We get the 17-year swarms around here, but there hasn't been one in my area that I can remember. (I may have been too young at the last time.) A few years back my aunt who lives in a different county had such an extreme swarm that she had to shovel off her driveway and porch with a snow shovel because the skins were so thick. That was the same year I got conked on the head by a dying cicada on the college campus - boy, do they leave a goose egg!