Share and showcase you favorite non-fossil books & encyclopedia's

[Darbi]

58 minutes ago, Kane said:

The term pagan was initially brandished as a kind of epithet by the early Christians (once they had succeeded being the dominant religion in the Roman empire circa 4th century) against any of the other religions/faiths, usually those that observed polytheism or nature-worship. It was used in a similar manner when Christianity was spread, quite frequently by forced conversions of nordic cultures and in other places. There was a return to an interest in paganism during the Victorian period, and it was likely only in the 20th century that the term was reappropriated by those who chose to revive those narratives as a basis of faith/spirituality. 

Makes sense, thanks!

[ziggycardon]

I recently recieved these two amazing books which I wanted to share here.

The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature's Gems by Patrice Bouchard

This is a book I've wanted for years now but every time I wanted to buy it another purchase popped up, but I finally decided to get it after all these years and I did not regret that decision. A really amazing book with very high quality images of the beetles as well as some informative information. 
Years back I used the be a breeder of multiple exotic beetles species (mainly african flower beetles) but I eventually had to stop with the hobby due to time constraints, but it's definiatly something I do want to pick up again in the future as it was one of my big passions along with fossils and reptile & aquarium keeping.

 

Another book I recieved is one that released this month: Lizard of the World: A Guide to Every Family by mark O' Shea. 

Not as extensive as I expected, but still on of the better books on reptiles I currently have.   

 

 

[FossilNerd]

51 minutes ago, ziggycardon said:

Years back I used the be a breeder of multiple exotic beetles species (mainly african flower beetles)

You are a man of many talents Ziggy. Sounds like a very interesting hobby.

 

Very cool books. I’m a fan of bugs so the beetle book is especially neat.  

[ziggycardon]

On 5/16/2021 at 10:15 PM, FossilNerd said:

You are a man of many talents Ziggy. Sounds like a very interesting hobby.

 

Very cool books. I’m a fan of bugs so the beetle book is especially neat.  

Thank you, it really was a very interesting hobby indeed. 
I often compared beetle terraria as aquaria on dry land due to their colorfull apearance and their very active behaviour.

I've kept many terraria species over the years from gecko's, agamas, other lizards, snakes, frogs, salamanders, arachnids, milipedes, etc... and most of them are usually quite inactive exept for a couple of moments during the day. But african flower beetles are constantly moving, climbing all over their terraria, crawling across the substrate and flying around the enclosure.  

I had a couple of species in a community tank alongside some stick insects and an African Giant Milipede and then some large curver boxes I used as terraria for other individual species. And I had multiple smaller curver boxes in which I raised the grubs and coccoons sorted on size.  
Beetle husbandry was really fun, going through the enclosured every so often to find new grubs and checking on their health to see how they are growing and doing. Making sure the subtrate still has enough food in it and whether the moisture is okay for the to grow up in. 

 

Here is a small video I made back in the day of one of my spotted flower beetles (Stephanorrhina guttata guttata) to some how active they are  

 

And some of the species I have kept, unfortunatly it looks like I've lost some years worth of photos which where on my previous laptop so I don't have any photo's anymore of some of the species I kept.

Spotter Flower Beetle (Stephanorrhina guttata guttata) my all time favorite beetle species

 

Purple Flower Beetle (Chlorocala africana oertzeni)

 

Sun Beetle (Pachnoda marginata peregrina)

 

Japanese rhinoceros beetle grubs (Allomyrina dichotoma)

 

Japanese Rhinoceros Beetles (Allomyrina dichotoma)

 

And however these next two species don't belong to the true beetles (Choleoptera), I really enjoyed taking care of them as well

Two Spotted Assassin Bugs (Platymeris biguttatus) 

 

Giant Waterbug (Lethocerus africanus)

[FossilNerd]

3 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

Thank you, it really was a very interesting hobby indeed. 

Wow! Very cool. Those beetles are beautiful! Thanks for the informative post.