Please help me identify this unknown bug!!!! **Update On Johnny Adam**

[Bec]

While at Walmart (of all places) today my kids spotted this bug on the cat food bowls. We picked him up and brought him home because we were afraid someone would smash him out of fear.
I would like to know what he is , what he eats and where he is from but I can't find any information on anything that looks like him!

Here he is on my son's hand, he is about 1 or 1 and a quarter inches long

Sorry the pics are fuzzy, but my camera doesn't take good close-ups!

 

[gapeachy]

looks like maybe a pine beetle

 

[HorseFeathers]

Somethin neat!

 

[mahen8622]

looks like what we southerners call an assasin bug but thats still a little large maybe on those walmart steroids lol assasin bugs typically eat other bugs mainly pests theyre great to have in your garden they eat squash bugs like popcorn... if you stuck your straw like nose in popcorn and sucked all the guts out lol if its not a assasin bug it might be a large shield bug and i have no clue about what they eat

 

[porteryork]

Looks like a big old stink bug to me. Be careful!

 

[Bec]

I just looked at some pictures and none of them look like him.... He is really friendly though and has taken a liking to my son...lol.

For right now, we have him set up in an aquarium with repto-bark and some wood things to climb on and some fake plants.

From his antennae to the back of his hind legs he is probably close to 2 inches long! He is very large!

 

[CountryMom]

Quote:
It is an assasin bug. Great for your garden. However, watch out. They bite and it hurts. We usually have tons of them in the spring.

 

[Bec]

OK I think he is a leaf footed bug!!! He looks IDENTICAL to this picture!

http://urban-ipm.blogspot.com/2008/05/leaf-footed-bugs.html

 

[SterlingAcres]

I don't know what he is, but we have loads of those here and the chickens love them

 

[lucyintheskywithdiamonds]

I dont know exactly the name of this bug but i do know that it has a straw like mouth and it inserts its straw mouth into other bugs , this is how they eat. They are definitely predators, but i'm pretty sure they wont hurt chickens