• BlowMe@lemmy.world
    441·
    6 months ago

    I mean have you seen a tick or a mosquito well fed? Those fuckers can grow a belly.

  • tobogganablaze@lemmus.orgEnglish
    341·
    6 months ago

    Insects probably can’t get fat.

    There is some flexibility between segments in the abdomen to allow for some stretching but not enough for significant expansion. Bedbugs for example hardly change size after feeding.

    But if we expand the definition of “bug” a bit and include arachnids, then things look different. These have very flexible abdomens than can expand significantly. Prime example would be ticks, which get really, really “fat” after feeding.

    • Aviandelight @mander.xyz
      17·
      6 months ago

      You most definitely can overfeed scorpions and tarantulas. I once had a rose hair that I bought off someone who didn’t have time for it anymore and the little girl was so “fat” that I had to put her in a low top cage to keep her from climbing for a few months until she slimmed down. She would have ruptured if she fell from a height of a foot or more.

    • Tyoda@lemm.ee
      15·
      6 months ago

      You just gotta look at honeypot ants. Those babies can s t r e t c h.

      edit: they are actually converting their food. I thought they were literally stealing honey… whoops

  • ArkhamNightshift@lemmy.world
    23·
    6 months ago

    I don’t think their exoskeletons allow for that, I think they just grow in size as opposed to getting disproportionate weight gain like a big belly

  • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeEnglish
    11·
    6 months ago

    They don’t get fat, they just get longer or larger overall.

    Once most cocoon species hatch into their respective moth, the moth is unable to eat by its own design, slowly dying of starvation over a few weeks, which is why the moths in your bedrooms just get smaller and smaller until they seem to vanish. Poor little guys :(

    Now apply that in reverse. An insect that eats is just going to look like a bigger insect. Same goes for when they’re pregnant. If insects got fat, leaving a mound of sugar outside for them to eat would lead to fat ones, but instead they just eat themselves to death.

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
    123·
    6 months ago

    They don’t get fat…they get EATEN!!! Tasty delicious air snacks. Butterflies are called butterflies because they taste like butter and make ME fat.

  • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks
    8·
    6 months ago

    Yes, in the sense that they have fat stores. The example that comes to mind is pretty disturbing, so here’s your chance not to read it: >!I read a thing about cockroach cognition a while ago but can’t find it again, but it was about how the scientists studying them imposed human personality traits to them but got a harsh reminder that the behavior patterns weren’t necessarily signs of intelligence or personality when accidentally crushing ones abdomen and seeing it try to eat its own exposed fat.!<

    • Bassman1805@lemmy.world
      61·
      6 months ago

      Not sure if it’s my specific app or lemmy as a whole, but that spoiler tag isn’t working. Sometimes they’ll break if you put a space between the tag and your text.

      ! Testing with spaces on both ends !<

      ! Testing with a space at the front!<

      !Testing with a space at the end !<

      !Testing with no spaces!<

      • Bassman1805@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 months ago

        Not sure if it’s my specific app or lemmy as a whole, but that spoiler tag isn’t working. Sometimes they’ll break if you put a space between the tag and your text.

        … >! Testing with spaces on both ends !<

        … >! Testing with a space at the front!<

        … >!Testing with a space at the end !<

        … >!Testing with no spaces!<

        Looks like reddit spoiler tags just don’t work in general

  • leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl
    91·
    6 months ago

    Apparently insects have fat cells too, like humans.

    Except humans can amass a huge amount of these in certain areas (like belly fat) while in most insects it is more distributed.

    Some insects are probably~ capable of “brown” fat too.