Insects are diverse: They have unique shapes, colors, behaviors, and interesting life cycles. If you love these bugs and would like to keep them as pets, here are 5 insects that would make great pets;
1. Monarch Butterflies
Monarch butterflies are very beautiful. They are also very easy to keep. To get these butterflies, you first need to plant milkweed outside your house.
To increase the chances of getting as many butterflies as possible, you should plant the plants in clusters of three or more.
Once the plants have started growing, check on the undersides of the plant leaves for tiny caterpillars and eggs. When you find a caterpillar, you need to dig up the milkweed plant and wrap the plant with tulle netting so that the caterpillars don’t get away.
You should then take that into your house and let the caterpillars develop.
If you don’t want to wait for a long time to get the caterpillars, you can also order them online for a fairly decent price. (O:
Once you have the caterpillars, you need to feed them until they pupate. They may take about 10 days to pupate. After the butterfly has emerged from the chrysalis, you should release it outside in order to start rearing it.
The two major things that you need to rear the butterflies are flowers and water. The flowers will serve as the source of nectar for the butterfly while water is needed for hydration — especially during the dry season.
2. Silkworms
Although, they are reared on a large scale for their silk, these worms also make excellent pets. For you to keep the worms, you need mulberry leaves for the worms to eat.
The worms also use the leaves as their living places. To get the worms, you have to contact silkworm breeders for the eggs. If not you can also find farms and breeders online where you can buy the eggs or the worms. Mulberry Farms is a great place to buy silkworms and many other worms.
3. Crickets
Crickets are charming creatures and make excellent pets. In fact, they have been kept as pets in china for a very long time. The good side with these pets is that you can easily get them either in your house or in your yard.
If you can’t get them in these two places, you can certainly get them in pet stores (where they are used as food for larger animals).
To keep them as pets, you need to have a little cricket cage that you can buy from your local store or online. If you can’t afford the cage, you can also use a jar with holes punched at the top.
You should ensure that you keep them in a warm spot to ensure that they don’t get cold. To keep them hydrated, you should use a damp sponge. The pets feed on fruits and veggies so they don’t require a lot of money to feed.
4. Lady Bugs
Lady bugs come in different colors which makes them very adorable. Other than being adorable, they are also pretty easy to take care of.
This is because they only need you to provide just small amounts of food and water. To prevent them from crawling away, you should use a cage or a jar.
The bugs feed on aphids, but they can feed on fruits too. To keep them hydrated, you should place a damp paper towel or sponge in the cage or jar. To get the bugs, you can catch them on your own or you can even order them online.
5. Praying Mantises
These insects tend to be weird and crazy. This is because the female tends to devour the male after mating. The babies also tend to devour each other when given a chance.
Due to their tendency to feed on each other, you should keep them in separate containers. You can raise them in kid-oriented kits or in a small aquarium. In both of these places, you need to provide sticks to climb on and plenty of bugs to feed on.
These are some of the insects that you can keep as pets. Before you keep the insects, you should ensure that you have the right food to give them.
It might be wise to observe and be updated on the rules of your state about insect rearing.
Happy insect keeping!
