CLOSED: Ok then, what the heck is this thing?

Ok I'm a Texan through and through . . . I was raised a country boy and I thought I'd seen and messed with about every type of critter that flies, crawls, slithers and swims in these parts . . . However, I've never seen one of these before or since.

It was crawling around in my paint shop one night and when I flipped on the light he caught my eye. So I grabbed my cam as he was looking to hide inside an empty food can on a shelf. I dumped him out on the workbench to get a better photo of him and he wasn't too pleased about all that action.

Does anyone have a clue?

Water bug, genus Lethocerus. What he's doing out of water & rummaging around your workbench I don't know...

Patrick Alexander

If texas is like us here in Georgia, its looking for water, LOL!!!!

GD..you are very brave..I would never have gone near the paint shop again.

Ick! I'm not scared of insects, but this big ole waterbug would have sent me running with the heebie-jeebies!

Okay - wait a minute ...

You say paint shop? Are those paint cans ... or vegetable (like tomato) cans?

If they are paint cans, I would check your local Nuclear Regulatory Commision's evaluation at my earliest convenience.

They say, "Everthing's bigger in Texas", LOL.

Thanks for the replies :)

hahahaha . . . ya'll are crack'n me up :D :D :D

Paalexan . . . Ahh ok, I noticed the similarities to the 'usual water bugs' we see here - the ones that look like a giant cockroach. But I'd never seen one with the 'pincher like' looking front legs. And he didn't move nearly as fast as the regular water bugs we have around here.

Sublimaze . . . I'm with you there. I was think'n maybe he was a "Teenage Mutant Cockroach" or something . . . well yes and no. I used old veggie cans to mix my paints in when I'm only using a small amount for things.

GroundUp . . . I tend to agree with that ol' say'n ;) I didn't measure this lil bug'r, but I guestimate he was about 3" long.

Thanks again,
GD

oooooooooo....now i know why you have a "paint shop' just looked at your painting ...you are super talented. Do you sell them?

Oh my! So when people outside of Texas say "Waterbug" they are talking about this guy, not the giant roaches (Palmetto bugs) we have? Whoa! I think I'll stick with the 1.5 inch long bugs, instead of 3 inch long bugs with pinchers!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belostomatidae

What bug? Your paintings blow me away. You are so good!!!!!

Thanks and yes I've sold a few and give some as gifts to family and friends. I have always played in some sort of paint and also made a living doing commercial art - from business cards to billboards. The paint cans in the image are in my little Sign Shop.

About ten years ago I discovered "Professional Grade Watercolors" by accident and explored different ideas with them for a while. Some of the paintings on my site reflect the early stages. A couple of years ago, I decided to combine two of my favorite passions, wildlife and painting. The Wildlife and Wild Horses sections are my most recent works.

The more I played with "realism" the more I liked doing that style. As more people saw what I was doing, the more encouragement I got and have been getting more serious about pursuing that avenue. I hope to start working on some wildlife rescue fund raising projects in the near future and also try to get into some different galleries around the country in time. In fact, I will be taking a few paintings to the Airport / Adventure Gallery (in the Dallas Love Field Airport) next week. This will be my first gallery to show in, so wish me luck :)

I'll attach one that's not on my site yet . . . still on the easel :)

Thanks again for the kind words everyone . . . and help'n me ID that monster critter that was in my shop ;) Wow Sweezel, after checking that link, looks like that must have been a youngster that I found huh? lol

I think a crab mama had a cockroach in the woodpile.

GD, yes and I would not want to see the mamma!

How long will your paintings be in the gallery GD? I just have to ask since I work in Dallas. :)

grinz @ ya'll :D

Well, hopefully the paintings won't be there too long - if they sell them that is ;) But I don't expect that to happen too soon and even if it did, I'm sure the gallery owner would be happy to have me bring a few more. So hopefully I will be showing my work there for a good while. I haven't even decided yet which ones to take this trip yet and I'm delivering them in less than a week. lol

The theme of the gallery is Aviation and Nature . . . maybe I should paint a pig with wings? ;)

EEEEEEEWWWW! Doin' the bug dance! I lived in Dallas for a while, and saw a few of those, and YES they do seem to hang out in places that do not involve water, and usually make their presence known when you least expect it. They say the water bugs in TX are so big they're likely to come in your house, steal your TV remote and kick you off the couch!

After living in TX, I decided to change the opening line of the song "Deep In the Heart of Texas" to "The bugs are big and the roaches fly/deep in the heart of Texas"

And what about the Cicadas? Whew! Saw one of those dive bomb my friend, hit him square between the eyes and nearly knocked him out.

Why not paint the waterbug swimmin' - nature/motion - flyin' through the water.

Cicada's - don't get me started on those! We just recently moved into a more wooded suburban neighborhood - my house back's to a small creek area. It's amazing how many Cicada's we have after living in 2 other homes in McKinney and barely ever hearing them. In one 10 foot square area in my yard, where two American elms are growing, I counted 25 Cicada shells/old skins on the tree and other plants. And this was just from the ground to 8 feet high. No telling how many were in the trees where I could not see them.

I have not really seen any live ones around (it's pretty rare), but one did fly out of a tree in front of me the other day. It was out of the corner of my eye, but I doubt it was anything else. The branches on the Elm hang within 5 feet of the ground in some spots, and I have a feeling I was walking right into him so he buzzed off in the other direction.

But don't get me wrong, I do like hearing them and seeing their little shells. Between them and the lightning bugs, it takes me back to being a kid in a smaller town.

LOL
Now there's an idea Growin :D if I could just find him and talk him into do'n the breast stroke and pose'n for me ... lol

Yeah . . . we have loads of Cicadas here. But I also have a few owls that seem to love them as midnight snacks :D I see the owls perching on low limbs in my yard and watching for them to emerge from the soil then they pounce on them and . . . well that's the end of that ;)

When I lived on the Medina River we'd see those Giant Wasps zoom by and if you followed them with your eyes, you could here the Cicadas song change from the stedy hummmmmm to the hmmmmmmEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!! Wasp scored!!!

In fact there was a post (from up by Longview) with a pic of one of those wasp on here the other day . . . here's the thread. Check out this guy . . . they get bigger than my thumb . . . not sure exactly how big, but at least in the 3 inch range - which is pretty large for a wasp! Texas - Geezzzzzz .... lol

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/616853/

I want an resident owl! [pouty face, stomping feet] I have seen lots of bunnies, a field mouse, lots of birds and I saw a rat snake last week, but no owls yet. One thing on my agenda is to build a few owl nestboxes though.

After reading that thread Monday, I googled the wasps and found pictures of the burrows they live in. That evening, while outside, I looked for small holes in the yard where those Wasps might be living. Plenty of large crawdad holes, but not any smaller holes.

Cool! Didn't know there was a cicada killing wasp!

The cicadas are kinda neat, I agree when it's not a really bad year. The first summer I spent in dallas was 1998 and that was a year where there were so many cicadas that when they reached their crescendo, it could be heard over the hum of the A/C at night. How are you supposed to sleep? That was also the year that swarms of these strange grass green two inch long grasshopper/locust thingees would just all of a sudden rain down from heaven. They were so delicate/stupid that many of them would kill themselves on impact on the cement. That was also the year that the crickets/locusts were so bad that when they would die, their bodies would kinda pile up like snow drifts in the corners of building entry-ways and it was just a little gross, especially at the entrance of a restaurant.

I found a freshly dead cicada once before I was coming to CA to visit my folks, so I put it in a jar and brought it with me. Everyone was horrified at the sight of the creature, but more horrified that I had actually packed that thing in my suitcase. I HAD to do it though, because the CA folks would have said I was telling tall tales if I had just told them how big it was!

In Oklahoma, where I grew up we would get those Cicada Killers in our yard - you could hear them comin a mile away like a big airplane flying through....

Another reason I don't live in TX and OK anymore. I can squish bugs here with my fingers....not run for my life

Now I'm all itchy....why did I look at this thread?

lmbo @ Ivy` . . . kinda like slow'n down to see a car wreck on the side of the road? lol

Yeah those wasp are like fighter jets and seemed to roam the river banks up and down looking for a buzz'n lunch ;)

Sweezel . . . Wish I could send you a pair of owls, but they won't even let me get close enough "yet" for a good close up photo opportunity. I've been leaving scraps of meat on some fence posts for them and they are gettting tamer though. Hopefully I'll be able to hand feed them soon. At least that's what I'm aim'n for. Hope'n to get better photos than this one that was taken at sunset and enhanced in PhotoShop.

I've got to stop rubbernecking...... :}

That is an awesome pic, GD.

Very cool. Is he a screech owl?

Thanks rubbernecker . . . errr I mean Ivy :D lol
I wish it was a better photo - clarity wise. That's why I'm wanting to tame these guys down a bit so I can get them to pose for me in my camera's range. :)

No Sweezel I don't think so. They do have a similar look about them though huh? I'm not sure the exact species, but these are actually quiet a bit larger than the screech owls I'm used to seeing. The ones I have here at this place are about 18" tall or so. The little screech owls I had at my old place were much smaller, closer to around 8" and didn't have near the wing span that these guys have. These don't have the 'horns' like the great horned owl, so I guess they're some type of barn owl? Plus I've never heard these make any screeching sounds . . . just the typical hoots in the trees at night. I really do enjoy watching them hunt.

At my old place, I had the pleasure of watching a pair raise their young and teach them to hunt in the creek that ran through my back yard each evening. That was pretty neat to experience.

GD,
Getting back to the subject of your huge waterbug; I was swimming in my parent's in-ground swimming pool once and felt something attach itself to my foot. Well lo and behold...one of these prehistoric monsters was attached to my big toe! Ahhhhhh :D:D:D !! And I thought the scorpions were bad!

I thought he was smaller than that from the picture so I just assumed he was a screech owl. Plus you'd think a big owl would not waste energy on locusts. I guess they were like candy though.

Looking at the picture again, he actually looks like a Barred Owl. They are the only type of owl I have actually seen in the wild. They are big and beautiful. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3680id.html

Ouch TxT! So they were more painful than a scorpion sting? I have seen quite a few scorpions in the hill country and up in Oklahoma, but have been lucky enough not to get stung.

:O wow TxT . . . that would definitely spook a person. I bet you got the heck out of that pool pretty quick? lol Scorpions never bothered me much, I prefer to leave them alone and they do the same for me ;) I have been nailed by them a couple of times, but fortunately I'm not allergic to them like my mom is.

Yeah Sweezel . . . you're good . . . that looks just like the ones here to me :) The "barred" markings are a match for sure. They leave me little gifts on the ground all the time, I've got a small collection of those barred feathers started :) And I think you're right about the 'candy' thing. They must be full of protien or something. Plus the shere numbers of them lil buggers crawling out of the ground, it probably don't take long to get a belly full. And they may also carry them back to their young. I bet they'd make a pretty good pacifier for a baby owl hih? ;)

Thanks for that tip . . . does that mean I need to mark this thread as Double Solved? lol :D

lol sweezel,
Noooo...I was never stung by one of these water bugs..or thank goodness, by a scorpion either. And as for cicadas, call me crazy, but I love the sound of them. The sound takes me back to my childhood near Corpus; reminds me of lazy summers, bbq and swimming! Plus, we use to catch them and tie a string around their heads and let em' fly...lol Of course, we let them go when they tired... :)

Speaking of noises that remind you of childhood....last year we had Katydids come out of the trees and they landed on our window screens all summer. I think it was the Salvia and Hyssop I planted in the windowboxes. There were probably 5 or 10 at a time visiting us every night. It was kinda cool at first since I have never seen them up close, but they are so darn loud and buzzy that I had to scare them away every once in a while to get some peace. I am back to planting Petunias this year.

lol Ivy1
I see that you are in CT. I lived near Boston for 6 years...and use to love the sound of your native katydids during the summer. First the "peepers" and then the katydids...lol When I moved back home to Texas, I had to get use to the sound of our Texas katydids. Oddly enough, I've never seen any on my plants, but I'll occasionally see one around the porch light at night. I always hear them out in the brush country...as soon as the sun has gone down. ! I'd stick with the hyssop and salvias...the hummers love them..lol

In case anyone missed it in another thread, here's the photos of that Coral Snake encounter I had yesterday :) (I put them in the Wildlife section)
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/618592/

Awesome!

Hi GD,

My 10 year old nephew is here with me today and he loves bugs and is quite knowledgeable. I HAD to show him your awesome bug picture, and he wants to share what he knows about your bug, so here he is to share!

Nephew writes:

The creature is a Water Scorpion a blood sucking parasite. They're very mean.

Hi Croclover and Nephew,

That's very interesting and good to know!!! I'll be sure and keep my distance if I see that little blood sucker around here again :D
Thanks for share'n :)

Good-ness! ..
I'm certainly impressed with your nephew, croclover ..
And he's a mere '10' you say!

Geezers! The boogers are built to survive, and 'last' a spell too!!
> http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/freymuth/490i/waterscorpion.htm

Although I've not read completely through the info - there's nothing that 'jumps' off the page, to splain why the varmint was out of his 'element' and crawling around in your paint shop. Unless it'd've been excessively dry there, and he was lookin' for some moisture. I'm like someone else mentioned above .. don't want him to inhale or drink something that may can make him 'worse' (baaaaadER) than what he already appears to be! (lol)

http://www.northern.edu/natsource/INVERT1/Waters1.htm

GD .. Maybe you could give some thought to submitting that wonderful shot of yours, to these folks (they're in need of a photo) > http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/youth/bug/bug031.html

((huggs))

- Magpye

This message was edited Jun 27, 2006 1:04 PM

Hmmmmm . . . well I did get a couple more photos than what I posted above. Maybe they'd like a few? Here's another view - from the front. They do have a 'mean look' about them huh? I don't think I'd want to go swimming it either . . . lol

A mean look? I personally would agree with you, however my nephew suggests that he would make a splendid pet. I'm watching my nephew for the summer, so now I have stink bugs, june bugs and other assorted unsavory creatures in containers. I put my foot down when he wanted to bring the stink bug into the house!