Suck it up
Think of a vacuum cleaner for bugs. This is a handy, harmless way to gently lift up small bugs by using the power of human breath - but don’t worry, you won’t suck any bugs into your mouth by mistake.
Here are the materials:
- 1 glass or plastic jar (not too big, or it will be too hard to get good suction)
- duct tape
- two lengths of plastic tubing, one cut to 10″, and the other about 20″. I used fish aquarium tubing.
- A coffee filter
- A rubber band
- some clay
- Scissors
First cover your jar with the tape.
Then poke two holes in the tape that are the approximate size of the tubing.
cut a piece off of the coffee filter.
Cover one end of the smaller tubing with the coffee filter and attach with the rubber band.
Poke both lengths of tubing through the holes in the tape. The end with the coffee filter goes inside the jar. Make sure the tubing is not too far down into the jar or you will impede the suctioning. Plus, the bug will have nowhere to go.
Use the clay to create an airtight seal around the edges of the tubing, as pictured below.
The tube with the coffee filter on the end goes in your mouth, and then you suck gently while holding the other tube towards an insect.
While the bug is in the jar you can inspect it with a magnifying glass and try to identify it. We got a Japanese Beetle, one of MANY in the yard. I lifted a corner of the tape to let the little bug go when we were done.
Neat idea! We had fun in the backyard tonight. We were swimming, but I ended up finding 3 snails and another terrestrial flatworm. We let the 3 snails go (after they were spied by a cardinal), but we’re keeping the flatworm. I’ve seen several places now that if you cut them in half, they’ll grow into 2. So, I think we’ll have to try it. We also found 2 toads a few days ago - we haven’t seen toads in our yard in years!!! Alexandra wanted to keep them, but we have enough mouths to feed.
Comment by Dana — June 28, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
This is really cool, and thanks for the step by step photos. I’ve seen bug vacuums for sale at the store, but this is so much cooler!
Comment by
learningumbrella — June 29, 2007 @ 7:35 pm