How to Buy Bugs
Bugs can serve many functions, from pets to food. Learn where to go to buy the bugs you want.
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You Will Need
- Internet access
- Farmers market
- Garden center
- Hardware store
- Bait shop
- Pet store
- School
- Book on care and handling (optional)
Steps
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Step 1
Buy bugs for pets
Buy pet bugs -- scorpions, centipedes, hissing cockroaches, spiders, and mantises -- from online retailers. A simple keyword search can result in dozens of outlets that sell pet bugs.
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Check local pet stores for common pet bugs, such as spiders and scorpions, and pick up a book on proper care and feeding for your bug.
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Step 2
Buy bugs for your garden
Purchase bugs to protect your garden. Many bugs, such as ladybugs and mantises, eat insects that are harmful to gardens. Farmers markets, garden centers, and hardware stores frequently stock ladybugs and mantis eggs during the early growing season.
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Step 3
Buy bugs for bait
Buy bugs to use as bait when you fish. Many bugs, including cockroaches, crickets, caterpillars, and beetles are popularly used as bait and are widely available online, in bait shops, and at pet stores.
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Step 4
Buy bugs to use as a teaching tool
Check online or visit a local school to find catalogs of educational bug materials. Ant farms, mealworms, and beetles are popular for teaching about insects and their life cycles.
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Step 5
Buy bugs to eat
Look for edible crickets and mealworms at bait stores and pet stores, or shop for more exotic bugs, like scorpions and spiders, many species of which are edible. Whether for a pet or a chocolate-covered snack, buying bugs is just a matter of turning over the right rock -- or website.
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There are 1,462 recorded species of edible insects.
