The doodlebug digs a funnel in the sand and goes to the bottom of the funnel, covering his whole body with sand. Then he shakes the sand off his mouth and waits for an ant to fall into the hole so he can eat it.

This rhyme is chanted at a doodlebug's hole to try to get him to come up and show himself. Sometimes the person will also put a thin stick into the hole to try to lure the doodlebug up.

Notes

It's interesting to note that there's a very similar rhyme that's chanted to ladybugs.

Another Version:

Doodlebug, doodlebug
House on fire
Doodlebug, doodlebug,
Come on out!

Other Version:

Doodle bug, doodle bug,
Come up and get some
Of this bread and butter!

And:

Doodle bug, doodle bug,
Come to supper
I'll give you some
Bread and butter!

Sometimes this is simply chanted:

"Doodlebug! Doodlebug! Doodlebug!"

Interesting Facts: When the doodlebug moves the soil it creates doodles in the sand or dirt. That's why it's called a doodlebug! The doodlebug is the larva stage of the ant-lion. The adult ant-lion is a flying insect that resembles a dragonfly.

Comments

Doodlebugs were also called You-ee-ups

"Country children, and adults as well, manifest a deep interest in these strange beings. They call them, as has been intimated before, You-ee-ups.... They have seen him in his sandy retreat, and have called him by name, and he has never been known to decline a response. 'You-ee-up, you-ee-up,' cries one, with his mouth just over the opening, and up comes the strange "crittur" as obedient as a lackey. 'You-ee-down, you-ee-down,' says the same childish voice, and down he goes to his den to await, as is thought, the giving of further orders." -Intelligence in Plants and Animals by Thomas George Gentry (1900, New York).

Check out the poem by James Whitcomb Riley called The Doodle-Bug's Charm. It's about trying to get a doodlebug to come out of its hole.

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Recorded by Lisa.