Neville, the Best June Bug Hunter Ever

Neville loved to hunt and eat bugs. So much so that we made it part of our daily routine. We would hunt bugs for hours nearly every night. Of course this meant that the spring/summer times were his absolute favorite since the bugs were so plentiful. June bugs were his absolute favorite, the creme de la creme of bugs as it were. When June bug season hit, he would systematically eat each one off the porch and then ask me to help him get the ones on the wall.

He would eye the bug on the wall then look over at me and I’d pick him up and help him get the bug he picked out. Neville would eat moths, crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas, spiders and even the occasional stink bug when other bugs were scarce. One time when he ran out of June bugs, I took a cup to the front porch and collected more for him to hunt.

We would go out mostly at night when the porch light attracted the most bugs. I would intentionally turn the porch light on early so while we were doing dinner, the bugs would start gathering for us. During the day and seasons when the bugs were more scarce, we would take to the yard to hunt them down. I’d find a cricket or grasshopper and alert Neville to them. He was so fast and good at hunting them. It was always so impressive. Despite his size and short legs, he was deceptively fast and such a good hunter. One time he even went after a tarantula. It was terrifying (for me, he was always so brave). The tarantula fought back! It reared up and did this funny tumble weed move. Worried about what could happen, I broke the fight up and rehomed the tarantula.