For More Advanced Collectors
Instead of hunting down insects, you can make the insects come to you. Here are three ways you can draw in insects. BEWARE! These techniques may work splendidly, and you will have plenty of insects to sort through!
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Pitfall traps. Wrangle up a plastic bowl, and put in a drop of liquid soap as well as a bit of water so that the insects that fall in cannot get out. Dig a hole into the ground where the bowl can rest, so that the top is level with the ground. Then, leave the trap overnight, and see what you collect the next morning. Depending on the color of the bowl, the contents of the bowl, and the location, you can get many types of ground dwelling insects.
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Black lighting. Wrangle up a black light (found at local hardware stores, or in your brother’s room) that you can plug in outside. Also, find a white sheet you can use underneath the light (don’t steal one from the linen closet—make sure you can use it for bug catching FIRST). After dark, plug in the black light over a white sheet. Insects that are attracted to the light will hang out on the white sheet—from there, you can see them very well, and pick off the insects you would like to save for your collection. This works best in a clearing, so that insects can see the light from long distances.
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Baiting. You can also get insects by simply leaving out their favorite food. If you would like to collect fruit-eating beetles or butterflies, leave out fruit. If you would like to catch the insects that feed on carrion, leave out rotten meat. And, if you would like to catch dung beetles, leave out . . . well, you get the point.
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