Pet Arthopods

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So does anyone here currently own or have had pet arthropods? Things like insects, arachnids, crustaceans, centipedes, those sorts of things? Got any pictures of creatures that you have or would like to have?

Don't forget "sea monkies" ( those things that come in a pack that you dump into water that you send away for that are advertised in comic books -or were in my day). Sea monkies are actually brine shrimp from lakes in the desert. So thats another common "pet arthropod".

Knew a couple who kept a pet Chesapeake blue crab in a fish tank. Probably the lowest IQ pet that I have ever seen! It just kept its face pinned to the glass wall of the tank,either resting, or endlessly trying to walk forward through the glass wall of the tank. Even fish are smart enough to get the idea that they cant go through the walls of the fish tank and learn to swim around within the confines!

I had Sea Monkies when I was a little kid and really liked them. Had no idea they were actually little shrimp though. In hindsight it's kind of obvious though.

I've had a good number of non-mammal pets in my life. It helped that I grew up in the country near a frog pond, where I could go out and hunt for critters in the wild. It was kind of like real-life like Pokemon, except unlike my brother and some of his friends I preferred not to put several species in a jar just to watch them "battle" each other, unless it was frogs and I had to feed them live insects.

I've also owned fish I bought from the store and even Sea Monkeys. But right now I just have my two cats.

There's a few arthropods in my home. Alas, I own no camera, but I'll post pictures of the type of creature. I don't personally own them all, but I own the following:

Urodacus yaschenkoi


Hormurus waigiensis


Urodacus Manicatus


And I've just placed an order for Charinus pescotti


My little sister owns a few bugs as well, including a Urodacus yaschenkoi of her own, but also:
Spiny Leaf Insect - two male, two female, and has owned others in the past


Some kind of small Preying Mantis, don't know the exact type but she's had a fair few.

Some kind of Katydid, don't know the exact type, but it looked like a leaf


In the past we've had
Coenobita variabilis


And even a few Giant Burrowing Cockroaches


Not to mention an assortment of different critters found in various places.

I do on occasion still catch and raise butterflies from caterpillars, because I find their metamorphosis to be absolutely fascinating. Also, as a child, I used to keep and raise these little buggers.



Carabus violaceus purpurascens, or Violet Ground Beetle.

I would catch those things a lot as a kid & I'd release em after I kept them a while.

Why do people keep things such as those as "pets"? They aren't affectionate. And they are pretty stupid. Is it just because they are interesting?

^ yes? because they want to have a lower maintenance pet?

still where do you people find these creatures?

i'm a mammal keeper, mainly. i've thought about owning tarantulas, but living with my parents...they may not find the appeal that i see!

My family has a toy poodle for affection. The bugs are just very interesting creatures to observe - far more so than any mammal in my opinion.

It's similar to keeping fish really.

That makes sense. Some of them are interesting. I have a phobia about certain ones, but I like scorpions and spiders. Spiders are especially interesting to watch, if they spin webs. I like to see when they start wrapping up their pray.

A lot of the scorpions spend most of the day hiding. By observe I meant more admire the beauty of the animal rather than having it entertain you. It's always great fun to watch them squash some puny bug with their pincers though.

For sheer spectacle, an ant colony would probably be the way to go. They're constantly active and interacting with each other. Of course the word "pet" may not really apply there, since its not individual ants that you'd be keeping but rather the colony as a whole.

Depends really. Some can be found at pet stores, some will turn up in your garden, and some can be bought online.

The first pets that my parents ever got for me which I was completely responsible for (with the exception of buying the supplies for them) were hermit crabs. Unfortunately, I didn't do very well. One died before I really knew what I had to do to care for them properly and the other drowned because my little sister put it in a bowl of water (she didn't understand at the time that not all hermit crabs could stay submerged like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid).

I had an "ant farm" with small red ants as a child. Somehow, some carpenter ants (we didn't have any in the house) managed to find their way to the case, and got inside to attack the red ants. I have no idea why.

I would find it interesting to have another one, though. I like to observe the behavior of animals.

Had an ant farm for a while when I was a kid. Black ants as I recall.

But as an adult when i had live with mom for a while a few years ago- mom got overly emotionally involved with the ants infesting the kitchen. I finally put my foot down and had them exterminated. But for a while they were almost like pets.

In fact we had two species of black ants infesting the kitchen at the same time. One large, and one small.

One night after the dishwasher was full I stared at the kitchen counter and watched the two species going every which way on the same patch of kitchen counter top. It was like looking down from the top of ten story building at a court yard full of German shephards running every which way with an even larger number of little jack russell terriers were running around the same acre (including under the bigger dogs' undersides). Was pondering how "both species seem to get along". Just as I thought that thought it was as if the Jack Russells suddenly heard a dog whistle and froze. And then in unison each jack russell chomped down on the leg of the nearest german shepard. The small ants proceeded to rip the legs off the big ants with military coordination. As the big ants floundered helplessly on the ground without their legs the more numerous small ants then pounced on them and slit their throats. I was like "holy s**t! This is better than anything on TV!" .

And it was kinda inspiring how it was the little ants that kicked ass.