Cane Beetles. We used to see them in plague like proportions every summer when I was a kid. I used to spend my mornings before school getting out the pool skimmer and rescuing them by the dozens from Mum’s swimming pool. Now… we hardly ever see them at all. Where did they go? Is it the little Indonesian gekkos that seem to have taken over South East Queensland that is responsible for the absence of the Cane Beetles? Or is it the drought that we’ve been experiencing the last ten years of so?
I have no idea where the blame ought be laid but the absence of Cane Beetles and their flashy cousin the Christmas Beetle has been very noticable indeed. So much so, that when I found a Christmas Beetle in the garden today I kept him aside contained with some shrubbery and water until the Small Child came home so I could show it to him. Angel says he remembers seeing them once before.
Once! In seven years! Such a rare sighting deserved a photo op so I pulled out the new camera and placed the little beetle back amongst the greenery to take some pictures. Several shots snapped off while telling the Small Child a story about the beetles being so plentiful when I was little that my sisters and I used to chase each other around with them and put them in each other’s hair (ah sisterly love… some thingst never changes)… when unexpectedly Caesar (our Aussie Terrier) wandered into the middle of our photo shoot and promptly ate the subject!
We did get him to drop the poor little beetle and while shocked he seemed mostly unharmed . Silly puppy.
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