• cobysev@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    American from the Midwest here. We alternated between pillbug and roly poly.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Not a bug technically, an isopod.

    People pay stupid money for rubber duckies:

    If I had cash, I’d want a giant one:

    I always called them Rollie pollies. My brother in laws earliest memory of me is me explaining how good they were to eat.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      You’d want a giant one?

      Giant isopods are found in the deep ocean, typically dwelling on the ocean floor up to 7,000 feet deep in regions like the Indo-Pacific and western Atlantic oceans.

      Would they survive on sea level?

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I assumed as much. So bro would have to have a pressurised chamber that’s also dark, so even if it was see-through, there’d really be no use.

          Maintaining the tank would also be a bitch probably. Feeding, cleaning, etc. Feeding not so much but…

          Anyway, doesn’t seem like the optimal solution as a pet or design choice, unless you’re like a billionaire, in which case you can do whatever the fuck you want (until we find another Luigi)

      • UnrefinedChihuahua@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 month ago

        We keep some little orange isos in our reptile tanks to help with keeping the tank clean. I feel weird paying for fancy “potato bugs” but they apparently help, so here I am.

      • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Springtails and isopods are good “clean up” crews. Usually reptiles, but you can also do cool bioactive set ups for rats.

        Springtails are also not bugs and are hella under appreciated. They are absolutely adorable under a microscope, but you just can’t find great pictures online.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    use to call these

    use

    Well, my voice, if I ever tried. I think a whistle would just be pointless. Do they even have ears? Can you call something without ears, no matter what you use? #l2s

  • Kit @lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    My three year old calls them “ah-peel”

    Edit: I just showed him this post and he said “That my best friend owl-putty.” Progress.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Horror story! Little me heard that they breathe through gills and thinking they would be OK, I filled a soap bubble bottle with water and stuffed 'em in there. When I checked the next day they had disintegrated, nothing by tiny pieces left. I was horrified.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    We didn’t have a single term around here.

    Most common was punkin bug, or pumpkin bug for you damn yankees.

    But, roly-poly, tomato bug, and pill bug were all in common usage.

    What’s interesting to me is that they were also called doodle bugs, despite a completely different bug also being called that. Doodle bug is also used for ant lions around here; indeed, that’s what they’re called almost exclusively.

    They were both called that for the same reason, the little doodly tracks they leave in fine sand and soil, though if a punkin bug is on that, they’re going elsewhere because they don’t really like those conditions.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      1 month ago

      I’m also from the south, and pumpkin bugs and tomato bugs are totally different things. Pumpkin bugs aka squash bugs are Anasa tristis, and tomato bugs are Engytatus modestus. I’ve never once heard anyone call roly polys pumpkin or tomato bugs

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        All I can say is that people be trippin. When I have asked people why they call them that, the usual is “I dunno, I guess they look like pumpkins, that’s just what my family called them, so I do too”.

        I suspect that it comes down to nobody really remembering why a bug is called its colloquial name, nor bothering to ask or explain, and after while, the mistake becomes the norm. Kids mislabel stuff a lot, and spread things faster than they do germs. Easy for weird things to slip in.

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          1 month ago

          Like how people call crane flies “mosquito hawks” but crane flies don’t even have mouths as adults and don’t eat mosquitoes. People don’t realize you can call a crane fly a gollywhopper and be more accurate.