PART 2 - WEIRD PETS

PART 2
other fighting insects that cousin peeleepian and i caught were crickets, scorpions, dragonfly, greenish jade beetle (we called KIM KU) and yes how can i forget the memorable cute stick insects.
crickets, i believe most know. only the males fight. this one we actually turn it into an enterprise. many kids also started into this cricket craze. every boys were busy catching the dark colored crickets and pitted the insects against each other.
mind u! we bet our meagre allowance of 5c or 10c against each others during the cricket match. some boys were so fedup when their cricket lost that they stamped on the defeated insect squashing all the juices and flattening the poor dead loser....;9(
crickets were interesting insects. beside fighting, the males sing quite a cricketty song....i just loved to listen to them during the night. i got a whole lot of them males and females. breeding them was so easy. just fed them with newspaper or leftover rice can already....
dragonfly was another interesting insect i reared. but this one normally after a brief moment of fun, it either ended up dead or i would set it free.
i had to go to the big longkang that ran through my kampong to catch this fast hovering flying majestic insects. there were the dark blue and the bright red. then there were the smaller thinner more colorful bright bluish damselfly.
watching the dragonflies darting and skimming above the gently flowing stream was a very relaxing sight to behold. once a while they would rest on the slanted concrete of the longkang. that was my chance to catch it by grabbing hold of it's wings.
caution here. the dragonfly also has nasty biting jaws. u have to back fold the 2 pairs of wings to render it powerless.
next step. i would tie a thread to it's tail. after that setting it free. so it's like a remote controlled insect linked by a long thread. very fun!
after awhile either the insect tired itself out and dropped dead or i tired myself and set it free.
the same was done to the bright greenish jade beetle which once a while would fly into our hall during the night attracted by the flourescent light.
the beetle was a bulky critter. it flew clumsily and usually nosedive turn-turtle and went into a frenzy spin. when it fell onto the floor, i would grab it. again, i would then tie a thread to it's hind leg, then walah! a remote controlled flying beetle.....hahahaha.....;9)
scorpions were notoriously dangerous. this one i left it to my bolder cousin peelepian to handle. again u put 2 scorpions together, they would slut it out, sometime ending death of the other.
this poisonous fella hid in damp dark places in the forested area of mt faber which was then the hilly range that surrounded bansiewsan. (it had since being cut into 2 hills: mt faber and telok blangah divided by henderson rd which cuts in between the original hill range.)
..to be cont'd.....