Assassin bugs inject a combination of venom and digestive enzymes
The Assassin Bug I caught a few weeks ago lived only 48 hours. I was tempted to feed it, but didn’t, partly because I was afraid it would escape, and didn’t feel like giving in to watching an aggressive bug do its thing just to get my jollies. So, other than capturing it, I didn’t do anything to hurt it, and was planning to let it go after asking the health department if they wanted it for examination. Alas, I caught it late on a Friday, it died Sunday night before I could get it to the health department on Monday. I still have what’s left of it, just in case. So perhaps it didn’t die in vain. However, my feeling now is that is was very young, and not likely to have the Chagas parasite, at least not yet, so it may be of extremely limited value. I continue to try and capture a larger mature specimen for this purpose.
I called the county folks on Monday, was told to leave a message. No reply. I emailed the story and included the digital picture, again no reply. The Chagas may be infecting my cells as I write this. I’ve called the infectious diseases doctor back to request the blood test for Chagas. I’m carrying the picture still and am trying to educate my neighbors to the presence and the dangers of this little fellow.
The Assassin Bug is considered beneficial because it controls populations of other arthropods. That’s great, just don’t pick them up or touch them. I’m concerned for our dog that goes in the back yard regularly, as well as our outdoor cat that hunts in the same area. We have no children here, but our neighbors have kids playing outside all the time. I guess if we didn’t have Assassin Bugs we’d REALLY be overrun by insects, because, believe me, we’ve got plenty here in central Texas in both variety and volume, including Cicadas, Golden Orb Weavers (very persistent), fire ants, scorpions, centipedes, etc. Last summer I caught a Cicada Killer wasp, absolutely the biggest and most menacing wasp I have ever seen in my life. Sounded like a motorboat when it flew.