The Deep Forest beckons...

You find yourself stood in the deep forest; large, lumbering beetles stomp about the leaf litter as a small raccoon dog nuzzles a broken VHS tape.

Hello there! I am a buggy-foxy being named Pepper (the very one you see happily wagging their brush in greeting above this text!), a little insect-vulpine critter with a collective of various arthropods residing in my rather fluffy coat. This is my Digital Forest, a place where I coexist in this little forest with various critters and other beings that live, or at the very least seem to be here often. There's some edible wild berry bushes over there, so help yourself to some if you're peckish and when you're ready, why not explore for a while?

I am the custodian of this forest, a tiny patch I have been cultivating in the vast digital Landscape of the internet as a dedicated place for what I produce with my tarsal bugfox paws, as well as my dearest special interests! Across this Digital Forest you will find my artwork and comics (including my main webcomic project, God Animal!), pages and writings dedicated to my special interests such as biology, fox plushes and Pet Monster media and a little grotto containing a myriad of links to other locations of interest on the internet. There may also be some areas of the Digital Forest that are a little off the beaten path, which may or may not contain some silly critter antics and fun...! This Digital Forest a constantly growing and evolving entity, with new areas of the forest appearing often!

However you choose to explore this Digital Forest and engage with it, I hope you enjoy your time here. Yip! ^w^

Featured sightings from the Forest...

Featured art-January 2026

Our old friend Dynastes tityus, the Eastern Hercules Beetle, has paid a visit to this clearing of the forest! How wonderful! I think he's looking for some treesap to feed upon...

(Older art from 2025.)

Bug of the Month-January 2026

Ocypus olens, a rove beetle known in certain regions as the Devil's Coach-Horse Beetle.

A member of the rove beetle family (Staphylinidae), this spectacular beetle is found in moist woodlands and other similar environments throughout much of Europe, in addition to some regions of North Africa and North America. The species maintains anatomical traits typical to rove beetles, such as foreshortened elytra that visibly expose multiple tergites of the abdomen. Also typical of rove beetles, the species is predatory and preys upon insects and other animals such as gastropods.

In addition, this beetle is also known to bend the abdominal segments forward and release an odorous secretion from glands at the end of the abdomen in order to deter potential predators. Though this beetle does have functional hindwings, it is rarely seen in flight. The Devil's Coach-Horse Beetle is nocturnal, often remaining hidden under leaf litter or logs during daylight hours.

Notably, the common name of this beetle is derived from European (specifically British and Irish) folklore, entailing a range of superstitious beliefs about this species. The folklore pertaining to this species in Britain and Ireland ranged from the beetle being associated with Satan (of course evident in the name), to the beetles being capable of cursing or even killing humans just by looking at or pointing the terminal segment of their abdomen in their direction.

Aside from being a beautiful little beetle (and one I myself have encountered once, albeit sadly a recently-deceased specimen), it is one of my favourite examples of how insects (and other animals I feel a deep connection with!) are perceived in world folklore. ^w^

Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Ocypus.

(Click here to view the Bug of the Month archive!

17th January 2026

As of today, I have implemented a new look for the site and overhauled all of the main pages! I plan to add some further tiled background image assets, as well as produce some small icons to accompany the navigation menu. I have now reworked all of the main pages of the site, though if anything that was present before was missing, it will be added again in due course.

If there are any issues with any elements or pages not functioning as intended (or you have any general suggestions or feedback), please by all means do not hesitate to inform me via a comment on my Neocities site profile (if you have a Neocities account, of course). Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the new look of the Digital Forest. It feels a lot more faithful to my intended aesthetic and feel of the site, if I do say so. ^w^

Yip! -Fox-Fleas

• I am currently writing an article for the Bugfox Biology Writings section. It concerns some of my favourite beetle families and species, as well as a general overview of the order Coleoptera!
• I intend to add more writings to the Pet Monster section, in addition to finishing the Digimon World Iceberg Chart page. In the case of the latter, I have a small number of entries to add.
• I am currently collating material for the Fox Plush Photography page, too!