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Is it appropriate to ask here about...

Culturing insects?

I've become interested in the cochineal bug, and I'd like to try to raise some of them (and perhaps even a few other similar bugs, lac comes to mind). If this isn't an appropriate place to ask, I sincerely apologize.

Thank you,
John O.

It is fine to ask, just that
It is fine to ask, just that many folks don't know.
I do know that cochineal requires growth of quite a lot of Opuntia cactus... I seem to recall finding these bugs on wild prickly pear in Florida.
If you live in an area that can support growth of many Opuntia, I would guess you just grow large amounts of it and the bugs will come to you!

 
Well...
I can grow Opuntias here. Don't know if they'll thrive or not. I'm not trying to grow many, many of the things... I'd just be happy with a small self-sustaining population of the bugs.

Right now, I've managed to make contact with someone in Arizona who claims they can find and mail a cactus pad with an infestation, but depending on where the bugs are in their lifecycle, I'm not even sure they're transferrable to another plant. These things don't even have legs except early in their lives, right? So I guess I'm hoping there will be a few eggs or juveniles that I can transfer to the live plant.

For the meantime, I was thinking of keeping the cactus inside, hoping to avoid any predators.

Any insights would be appreciated.

 
Depends where "here" is
Some Opuntias grow surprisingly far north, and in some areas one definitely doesn't associate with cacti. If you're in a state that has native Opuntias, there's always the possibility that having someone send you an infested pad might run afoul of plant-quarantine or other regulations.

One source of plant material, if you're in an area with a significant hispanic population, is nopales, the young pads of a cultivated Opuntia that show up in ethnic markets. They might be suitable feed-stock as is, and could probably be used to start new plants.

 
Nashville, Tennessee.
I think I've occassionally seen prickly pears in people's yards this far north, but not often. Another reason to keep them indoors. Truthfully though, I'd be shocked if they could propagate here. If they can, chance are the insect's already here as well, no?

Does anyone want to venture an opinion on them becoming invasive? I grow some plants that are potentially invasive as well, and those all stay indoors and their seeds are carefully destroyed when they reach that point. But plants are probably easier to keep an eye on, they don't have 6 legs to scuttle away on, or little wispy filaments of wax to float away on.

 
In my experience . . .
cacti with budding habits usually reproduce vegetatively. If prickly pear grows in your area, it can spread when a leaf falls to the ground and sends roots down.

However, prickly pear is big, and it needs lots of sun. These facts argue against keeping it indoors. Maybe you could manage young plants in a very sunny window or under lights.

 
one thing to remember...
even though prickly pear cactus can grow in the region, coccineal bugs may not survive the winters in colder parts of the country. You'll have to research that. In Wisconsin, we do have prickly pears growing in the southern parts of the state, but do recall seeing an absence of coccineal bugs on these cactus. If you still want to pursue culturing coccineal bugs, you might want to contact the US Dept. of Agriculture to see if permits may be required to ship live insects from one part of the country to the other, especially if you are going to receive live insects from a source outside your home state.

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