The Mandibles!!

It's got my finger!!

Well, Professor Ewan got his first pet of the summer, and in an unexpected location. We opened the front door and there on the porch was a Japanese stag beetle (kuwagata). It was a surprise to say the least. With a totally uncharacteristic turn of speed the Prof picked it up and transferred it to a pet box while I was still pointing at the spot on the ground. It seemed like he'd been training all his life for this moment! Anyway, our guest has adapted well to his new home, possibly because of the abundant supply of jelly that my son has lavished on him. It's getting to the point where I'm afraid I'm going to wake up one morning with a 2 meter set of mandibles locked around my neck!!

About the right size for my son to ride it!

 Actually, stag beetles make great pets. They're easy to look after. All they need is a suitable piece of wood to hide under, a reliable source of jelly and can be carried around on a finger. With two you can enjoy the spectacle of them trying to fling each other off the piece of wood! One thing to avoid is holding them to close to the face. They have a very beetle like habit of spraying fluid out of their back end. You can see this in the video :)

Mystery Beetle

 Don't have a clue what this beetle is. Found several of them in a small area of a bamboo forest I was walking through with Professor Ewan near our home in Japan. We took a lot of photos and spent some time after we came back looking through one of his bug books without any success. It was about the size of a fingernail, green and cream color and didn't fly away despite getting a lot of prodding and handling. We came back the next day for another look but they'd all disappeared so if anybody out there has any idea what it is, please add a comment to this. My thanks in advance. Until then this is the 'mystery beetle'  :)