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Christina Poston says:

December 7, 2015 at 9:49 am

My name is Christina Poston and I am in dire need of an entomologist to help me with a case. I purchased a house built in 2006 this March from a lady who knew about a brown recluse infestation but did not tell us about these noxious pests. I have caught more than 60 of these spiders in various sizes from May to August. I just need a letter stating that the spiders are brown recluse and more than what you would find in a normal house. I am terrified of spiders anyways and to have a house like this is killing me. 😦 Please help me or can you find someone to help me and get justice for me and my children. I can send you all the pictures I have taken of these creatures. Please help.
Thank you,
Christina Poston

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Donna says:

December 9, 2016 at 9:30 pm

I have just tonight “rescued” spraying mantis who has been living in our bushes all summer?fall at least. It is below freezing and it was looking more and more lethargic or still,dormant like… is it ok for it to be inside for the winter in the cool basement in Spanish moss and some of its outside familiar leaves?
Any care hints will be appreciated. Thanks
Donna RN

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- Donna says:
  
  December 9, 2016 at 9:31 pm
  
  That is a praying mantis… it is in a terrarium
  
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- Polistes fuscatus says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 8:37 pm
  
  Donna,
  
  Unfortunately, mantids freeze during winter and usually don’t last longer than a month after snowfall.
  
  If kept indoors over winter, the longest-lived ones tend to die of old age around December-early January.
  
  -Joe
  
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  - Donna says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 8:15 pm
    
    Joe! Thanks. I did take ‘her’ in and she ate some crickets and produced an egg sack and then soon died. I put her back outside and found her belly up. Pretty hard to try to rescue wild things…. but I saved her case and so maybe my actions were super and assisted her dying. Donna
    
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Tom Barron says:

January 1, 2017 at 11:06 am

I have had 2 large horse shoe crab shells and two sheep skulls for over 30 years of years, which I would use in the still lifes I painted. A few years ago I put them in a taped up cardboard box and placed them in my closet. I also put a dead grasshopper carcass that I had for about 5 years and of which i made a number of studies in a small cardboard box. Recently I opened up the small box to look at the grasshopper body and saw that what was in the box was now just some powder with a number of small worm like skins in the box. I opened up the larger box and saw a large number of similar dead and dried worm skins around and attached to the sheep bone and mollusk shells. My question is, after so many tears, where did these worms come from? Thank you.

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- Polistes fuscatus says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 8:35 pm
  
  Tom,
  
  Those worms are Dermestid beetles. They specialize on things that are dead and dried up…and really like insect collections.
  
  You can keep them at bay-for awhile-by using mothballs. They don’t offer 100% protection, but they’re the best thing that entomologists have.
  
  Sorry for your loss. 😦
  
  -Joe
  
  https://askentomologists.com/2016/06/25/what-are-carpet-beetles-doing-on-my-cilantro/
  
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