Kabuto Chronicles: A Very Large Bug's Life
There are all kinds of strange "pets" available, but I believe the weirdest one we've ever had is this one: a kabuto mushi, or "helmet beetle," if you need a close English translation. Around springtime you can see the larvae being sold in many kinds of places, from pet shops to airports. Our neighborhood shopping center was handing them out for free, so we accepted the challenge and picked up a few.
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The larva (left) is about 5 cm (2 1/2 in.) long, and needs a special soil that contains sawdust. You can always buy this and the other essentials wherever the larvae are available. One interesting thing we noticed was that, like people, they have individual habits. The one shown here was always laying on top of the soil, while the others always kept themselves buried. (Guess they were shy.) |
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After thrashing around as a larva for a while, it sheds its skin and looks a bit more insect-like (right). Day by day it turns darker until it's a medium brown. |
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In this pupa state, it looks like it's covered with a thick layer of clear lacquer. It doesn't do much, but will squirm if touched. It will shed this layer twice during the next few weeks before emerging as a young adult. |
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And the finished product (right). This is a male, with its unique arrangement of horns. Now the kabuto mushi will spend the daytime underground, coming out only to eat after dark. As you can see, their legs seem on the spindly side for such a bulky body, but they have tremendous gripping power. Strangely, they don't seem to mind being handled; it takes quite a bit of agitation to make it get out its wings and fly away. |
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And its flight is fun to watch, too, because they fly so slowly and make so much noise.
Well, that's what raising a kabuto mushi is all about. Now we've got to take them to the shady wooded areas of the hills that they like, so they can fly around all they want and get on with their lives.
If you ever get the chance, try raising one or two from the larva stage. It's much more interesting than just buying adults, and it's a great opportunity to see what a bug's life is really like, on a large scale.
Watch my kabuto mushi movie: medium (WMV format 1,185 KB) small (WMV format 121 KB)
