Giant insects fascinate me. With the exception of the roach anytime I see a insect of unusual size I have to investigate. I think I have Az to thank for it. His spider phobia inspired me to investigate the more bloated and gigantic members of the species that live in my yard (living near a swamp.. er lake we get tons of large critters). Once I appreciated that the largest and ugliest of spiders were often the most harmless my whole attitude towards insects changed a bit.
Tonight on the window at work was a grass hopper that could have fed a family of 4. It was about 3 inches in length and pretty darn chunky. The fun thing to do with giant mutant insects is to touch them. Yes, touch them. Giant insects, it has been my experience have an odd confidence about them. I think when you get so large that most birds would choke on you then you start to get a little bit cocky. I remember a giant moth in Riverview that was almost as large as my hand and bright orange. It didn’t flinch when I petted its head much in the same way I might pet a hamster. So I reached out to the giant grasshopper which had two rather long antennae whipping about. One antenna hit my finger with no reaction. Then the other whipped over and when both of them touched my finger the green monster jumped back a couple of inches. But see that’s the difference between regular insects and ones possibly exposed to mutating amounts of radiation: a normal sized grasshopper would have been out of there, but the giant grasshopper takes a few steps back to decide if I’m a threat or not, possibly mulling over the idea of kicking me in the head with a giant spindly leg.
On a side note, when my idiot antics finally catch up with me and my ignorant fondling of some deadly species of bug leads to my death please try to phrase my obit in such a way that I don’t look like a total moron.