Bugs: when, where, and how to catch them
The bug system explained: nets, season and hour windows, regions, and the species you cannot catch without pheromones.
The short answer
Bugs are caught with a net and spawn by season, hour window, weather and region. There are 93 species across five regions, five of which only appear with pheromones. Clear-weather days are best — rain and storms cut the spawn rate sharply. The insect wing of the museum has 19 sets of five.
The net and the basics
Bugs are caught with a net — the worn net costs 200g, and upgrades (copper 1,000g up to mistril 5,000g) let you charge it to catch multiple bugs at once. Swing the net over a bug to catch it; some bugs fly in a wave pattern and need a little timing.
Each bug spawns under a specific combination of season, hour window, weather and region. The bugs page lists all 93 with their exact windows, and the item database links each bug to its uses.
The five regions
Bugs are grouped by where they spawn:
| Region | Example bugs |
|---|---|
| Standard (56) | most common species, all seasons |
| Mines (30) | mine-specific bugs, tied to mine floors |
| Beach (15) | shore and ocean bugs |
| Deep Woods (9) | rare forest species |
| Water (1) | a single water-surface bug |
The mines and Deep Woods bugs are the hard ones — they need access to those areas, and the mines bugs sit at specific depths (mines guide).
Hours: the window that wraps midnight
Each bug has a spawn window, and some wrap past midnight: an hour range of [20, 26] means 8pm to 2am. The bugs page shows the raw windows, so you can tell a late-night bug from a daytime one at a glance. This is the most common reason a bug “never appears” — it does, just at 1am.
Weather matters more than you think
Spawn rates are multiplied by weather: calm days are full rate, inclement weather (rain or snow) drops the rate to 80%, and heavy inclement (storms, blizzards) drops it to 30%. The practical rule: bug hunting is a clear-day activity. Rainy days are for fishing and mining instead (fishing guide).
Pheromones: the five hidden species
Five bugs are pheromone-only — they simply do not spawn without the pheromone items, which are crafted consumables that attract specific species. If the insect museum has a blank that never fills no matter how long you wait, check whether it is one of these five before assuming it is a timing problem.
Filling the insect wing
The insect museum wing has 19 sets of five bugs, organised by season and habitat. Because bugs are gated by hour and weather, the wing takes patience more than any other: the museum guide suggests it as the third wing to complete, after fish and flora, when the spawn conditions are already understood.
A practical routine: on clear days, run the standard and beach loops morning and evening (the 6am and 8pm windows cover most species), and save rainy days for the mines bugs, which are not weather-gated the same way.