Just So Stories

Given the recent bug books I thought perhaps you might like to know about Minibeast Wildlife. This is where we used to buy The Kid’s mini-zoo creatures. We first discovered them not long after K came to live with me and I took her to Cairns for a few days, about a month after her mum died – mostly to visit the Butterfly Sanctuary, because we had talked about butterflies sending messages. But we also had a couple of other wonderful adventures while we were there including a terrific day trip to Kuranda.

After that whenever we visited the Queensland Museum, she would linger at the displays of the insects and at times was given some baby stick insects to bring home (they are often quite hard to raise – trust me!) – but they are also fascinating, not to mentino the quietest pets ever! Then it was off to Bunnings to buy a mini-greenhouse to convert to an insectarium. Our other option when the critters would drop off their twig (Museum told us we weren’t doing anything wrong, they can just be finicky to raise!) was to buy some – she really wanted a big hairy spider but I put my foot down on that idea (and probably would have literally!).

My FB memories often remind of the ‘fun times’ with escaped stick insects roaming the house, not being able to find the right leaves for them to eat and other hilarious episodes. Sometimes I really miss those days of the zoo and her veritable menagerie of animals including lizards, snake, birds, mice, fish, cats – oh! and my dog plus rats. Gerald Durrell would have been proud of us!

Net-casting Spiders
Asianopis subrufa

When it comes to specialised hunting techniques in the spider world, you can’t go past these amazing spiders. Net-casting spiders (Asianopis subrufa) are remarkable hunters that create an elastic silk net and hold it with their front four legs. They then suspend themselves above a likely spot where crawling insects may wander. When prey strays within the target zone the spider lunges and expands the net to its full size before letting it rapidly contract around the insect, sweeping it off the ground at the same time. The net is made from multiple strands of looping silk and grips to the spines and hairs on insects in the same way as our socks catch grass seeds.  

They are one of the most fascinating species we breed at Minibeast Wildlife. Their unique behaviour is just incredible to watch for yourself, and they have been the subject of many nature documentary series we have worked on. One of these was Micro Monsters with David Attenborough where we assisted the film crew to capture a remarkable sequence of a Net-casting spider hunting. 

You can watch this jaw-dropping behaviour in your own home as we actually breed these intriguing spiders and they are available in the Bugshop. Not only are they harmless, they are really easy to keep.