Meet Dave, our new friend and laundry help!

DAVE!

While hanging laundry to dry on our balcony I felt something brush against my hand. I thought it was one of Craig's socks that was blown by the wind. As I hung another piece of laundry I saw something move towards me on the drying rack. It was a humongous beetle we have named Dave, like other animals Craig names 😁 

The amazing pictures are at the end of this post 😲

This is when we first met 💗

I don't know what his thought was, but he didn't seem afraid and moved towards me on the metal rod.

He worked hard to turn himself right side up. 

And he made it! I was impressed that he was able to do this on such a slippery surface. He must have super abs!

Here he is walking carefully on the slippery metal rod.

And up another one!

Dave is a Hemadius Oenochrous, a type of longhorn beetle that lives in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Laos. He is also known as the cherry tree longhorned beetle and Wushe blood-spotted longhorned beetle. Calling him blood-spotted makes a lot of sense since he has bright, almost jewel like red spots on his back. He is a handsome little guy. The body of an adult beetle is between 4.5 to 6.5 cm (1.8 to 2.6 inches) long, and the antennae longer than that, which more than doubles his length. Dave is huge and clearly one of the larger ones. He eats leaves, barks, flowers, plant sap, and fruit, so he is a good friend to have.

Later as I was hanging up a pair of slacks in our closet I felt something on the slacks scratch my hand and shook the pants. Unfortunately it was our new friend Dave, and he fell on the floor in our closet 😬 He fell right onto the hard tiles and did not move 😭 I felt so bad. Because he had some serious looking mandibles, and having read that some beetles can pinch you so hard it will give you blisters, I fetched a tissue to pick him up with. He did not move, but held on to the tissue really hard with his legs. I was happy that he seemed to be okay. Before I let him go I needed pictures of Dave, so Craig took some amazing photos for me. It's great living with a fantastic photographer 💗 

We checked the balcony for him when we were getting ready for bed, and he was gone. I hope he found a better place where he is safer.

Enjoy these pictures that Craig took of our new friend Dave, who unfortunately did not trust us enough to stay 💔 - 

Kisses 💋