# The Ultimate Island Bell Farming Guide



## Slickyrider (Jun 28, 2013)

So, this is something that many, including myself, have already done to farm insane amounts of Bells in relatively short bursts of time. Repeatedly catching the rare beetles that appear on the island after 7 PM, until you've caught the maximum amount that the basket can hold. Unfortunately, it isn't down to a strict science yet. That's what this thread is for, at least hopefully.

The most valuable, single post about the process is surely  this tumblr post.

There's also another thread on this matter: 
 "Want To Make 1 Mil Bells Per Day?"

The algorithm therein is mostly true, but not entirely. But first, let's back up, and make a simple, step-by-step guide for doing this.

1. Enact the Bell Boom ordinance. This is crucial, and practically required.
2. Ensure that it is between *7 PM* to *11 PM*. Preferably around 7 PM.
3. Go to the island, and walk outside. (*Note: mashing the "A" button while in Kapp'n's boat allows you to skip his song, and immediately travel between your town and the island*.)
4. Get the net from Lloid. Head to the center of the island, and scare away any bugs there, whatsoever.
5. Begin slowly patrolling the perimeter of the island, around the palm trees. If you see a bug on a palm tree, you should probably* catch it. These bugs will net you anywhere from 7,200 to 14,400 Bells a piece, under the Bell Boom ordinance.
6. Repeat until your pockets are full, and deposit them into the basket in the hut. The basket can carry up to 40 items, and your pocket capacity is 16 items. Make two "full" trips outside (catch 16 rare bugs on the palm trees), then make one half-trip (8 bugs on the palm trees), and your farming trip will be complete. Of course, be sure to sell them at Re-Tail, for maximum profit.

*Price Guide*

[14,400 Bells] - Rarer than others
Horned Hercules
Golden Stag

[9,600 Bells] - What you'll usually be catching
Horned Atlas
Horned Elephant
Cyclommatus Stag

[7,200 Bells] - Try to avoid this one*
Goliath Beetle

I don't need to tell you that the less Goliath Beetles you catch, the more money you're going to make. Try not to catch any whatsoever, in all honesty. Unless Reese is buying them at premium prices, which brings me to this little chart:

*Premium Price Guide*

[7,200 Bell-Yield Bugs = 10,000+ at Premium]
[9,600 Bell-Yield Bugs = 16,000 at Premium]
[14,400 Bell-Yield Bugs = 24,000 at Premium]

*Common Bugs*

Wharf Roach
Tiger Beetle
Horned Dynastid, Oak Silk Moth, Fruit Beetle, etc.

As alluded to in the tumblr post, the above bugs prevent/reduce the spawning rate of rare beetles on the island. You have to either frighten them away, or catch and release them, in order to allow more rare beetles to spawn.

The Horned Dynastid, Oak Silk Moth, Fruit Beetle, and all related bugs, only spawn on the normal trees in the center of the island. All you have to do is run near them/the trees in order to get rid of them. Easy, right? Same for the Tiger Beetle. It moves at an extremely slow pace, and all you need to do is run near it, for it to hop away like the coward that it is.

The Wharf Roach is, by far, the absolute worst bug in the game. The developers must have put it there, just so you couldn't absolutely break the game within a half an hour. This is the only active obstacle between you and infinite bells.

So much as slowly walking by using the net, normally walking, and especially running, will set off the Wharf Roach. What I mean by this is, it will start running in absolutely random directions, and will become impossible to catch. The only way to rid yourself of the malicious Wharf Roach, is to force it to commit suicide, by guiding it to running into the ocean, or catching and releasing it. The Wharf Roach is constantly changing the direction that it is facing, so forcing it to commit suicide isn't as difficult as it might sound. Using your net while near it will cause it to run farther than it usually does, directly in the direction that it is facing. It is literally the most bothersome creature throughout the entirety of this game, and will cause you grand amounts of frustration while doing this. Now, this brings me to another matter...

*Sensitivity*

What I mean by this is, all bugs have varying degrees of sensitivity. The level of action that you can create while within its vicinity, without causing it to fly away is its "sensitivity limit". Once again, here's a simple ranking:

[Extremely high sensitivity]:
Horned Hercules - You might not even see this thing, before it flies away. You could be walking behind the tree that it is spawned upon, and it can simply fly away. Be sure to slow your movement speed as soon as you see this thing, and make sure that you do NOT fully move the gyropad, to maximize your movement speed while slowed by the net. This will surely cause it to fly away.

[Moderately high sensitivity]:
Golden Stag - The game gives you a bit more leeway with the Golden Stag. Don't get me wrong, fully moving the gyropad will probably still cause it to fly away, but it won't just immediately flee if you're walking behind its tree. Once again, slow yourself as soon as you spot it, and be sure not to exert the full extent of the gyropad.

[Moderate sensitivity]:
Horned Atlus & Horned Elephant - You get a bit of breathing room here. Simply walking (without net-slowing yourself) probably won't frighten them, as long as you're not near the tree. I find the Atlas to be more sensitive than the Elephant - you have less "walking room", so to speak, before it flees. Slow yourself with the net when you're about halfway to the tree (a bit more than halfway for the Atlas), and it isn't wise to fully exert the gyropad once you get close, so be sure to slightly retract the gyropad once you're starting to get there.

[Low sensitivity]:
Cyclommatus Stag & Goliath Beetle - Walking, even running (at a distance) is pretty safe when going for these bugs. You CAN fully exert the gyropad, until you're nearing the shadow of the tree. I mean, the low-sensitivity bugs still have feelings, you know? Anyway, these are by FAR, the easiest to capture. Like I said, though, try to avoid Goliath Beetles at all costs. As for the final subject, something rather important...

*Tree Positioning*

Personally, I cut down everything (including bushes) in the center of the island, then retrieved 4 fruits from one of the tours, and planted them in a square shape in the center of the island. I find this to be rather easy, as, when first entering the outside of the island, 2 bugs almost always spawn on the bottom two trees. After waiting a bit for the rare bugs to spawn, there's almost always a rare on the bottom-right palm tree. I kept the original number of palm trees (12), though I find that most others don't.

One of the posts in the thread that I linked at the beginning of this one, stated that they cut down all but 2 palm trees (one on the left, one on the right), and kept one tree in the center. Though I have never tried this, I'd imagine that it's effective, to some end.

So, in the end, what should you do? Well, I'd advise at least digging up the bushes in the center, so that no butterflies spawn. They're absolutely unnecessary, and will only cause issues. Tree positioning is probably the most contended subtopic in island-Bell farming, and I don't think that there's a single, optimal way. I'm quite fond of my set-up, but it's not perfect for everyone. Try it for yourself. Experiment. Post your results here, or somewhere else.

*Concluding Notes*

To conclude this guide, here's a golden rule:

1. Don't catch Goliath Beetles. Seriously, I can't stress this enough. You're only hurting yourself.

If you return with no Goliath Beetles at all, you'll probably make somewhere between 400,000-450,000 Bells, depending on how many rare bugs and sharks you caught. Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that sharks should be caught at all opportunities. That's just common sense, though.

Note: Saw Sharks are only worth around 8,000. All other sharks available on the island are worth 10,000+, however, so only the Saw Shark isn't worth it.

The entire process takes anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes, depending on how lucky and efficient you are. This is assuming that you only discriminate against Goliath Beetles and Saw Sharks, and catch only the beetles that spawn on the palm trees.

Good luck to everyone, and happy farming!


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## Mario. (Jun 28, 2013)

Wow thanks for the guide and thank you for telling us how to skip the music while going to the island it kind of got annoying


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## AlanS181824 (Jun 28, 2013)

Interesting thanks for this.


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## Slickyrider (Jun 28, 2013)

Thanks for the positive responses, guys. I hope this can eventually be stickied :3


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## Jellymae (Jun 28, 2013)

A handy tip I've found with the Wharf Roach is that you just have to 'attempt' to catch it and miss, it will run away and commit suicide into water or dive into the nearest bush and you don't have to chase it off. Hope this helps 

Edit: Sorry I skim read and didn't realise you had put something similar. :s oops!


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## Garrett x50 cal (Jun 28, 2013)

Use Majorsmasks tut and if you're like myself or that tumblr girl and don't wanna mess up your island just go on club tortimer in my experiences nobody has messed with me and half the time nobody is on the island with me.


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## Divergent (Jun 28, 2013)

Thanks! Really helpful as I always come back from the Island with pockets full of Goliath Beetles just because they look pretty Knew I was doing something wrong!


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## RisingSun (Jun 28, 2013)

I disagree that all of the center bugs are worthless.  I often find a rainbow stag in there and it is worth almost as much as or more than the bugs on the palms.  I also don't have a problem with what I bring in, which almost always includes goliath beetles and most of the center bug trees (the only thing I refuse to catch is fruit beetles and wharf roaches) and I almost always make at least 150k-200k per trip without the bell boom ordinance.

Of course, it is a matter of opinion on what is best.  It also matters on how much you want to make in bells.


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## intimeoflilacs (Jun 28, 2013)

With the bell boom ordinance one Horned Hercules on days when Retail is paying more for them nets you 24k


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## Yurusumaji (Jun 28, 2013)

I decided to try this guide out and see if it's worth its weight in Bells.

Some things worth noting: my island is completely unaltered, I started at 8:08 p.m. (finished around 9:30 p.m. because I took a few breaks between full inventories to eat, I would say overall hunting time was around an hour), I do not have Bell Boom on.

I made 375,000 Bells.

I would say the thing that made the most difference for me was scaring off all the bugs in the middle. I saw a lot more "money bugs" on the palms this time around, one of my trips around the perimeter netted me 3 bugs in a row. Obviously all this bug grinding business is a matter of perspective, but overall I liked this system. It's less labor-intensive than my own system and nets me more money in a comparable amount of time and significantly less effort. Thanks!


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## Cazqui (Jun 29, 2013)

With or Without bell boom for me makes no big noticable difference. I still make 3-400k for a full bin. even with goliath beetles.


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## ViolinShapedObject (Jun 29, 2013)

I've left all original palm trees on the island but cut down all the regular trees, and also saved the bushes (I get no butterflies for whatever reason): I still net around 400k per trip, even catching quite a few goliaths (then again, I catch a ton of golden stags and horned hercules)
However, I also grab a fishing rod since sharks are actually pretty common around the island as well. Albeit most of them sell around 8k each (not whale shark which I think goes for 12k-14k?), it's a nice change of pace from catching beetles constantly for a few hours on end >.<


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## jaso1n (Jun 29, 2013)

I made it so i had two palm trees on both sides of the island, and one tree in the center.  Around 9pm, i kid you not, this was the small order of stags i caught.  Horned elephant x3, rainbow stag x2, horned hercules, x6, goliath beetle x4, horned atlas x5, giant stag x2, gold stag, x4, emporer butterfly x4, whale shark x2, saw shark x2, saw stags x6  This was my entire basket.  Final price was around 500,000 with out ordinance.  I didn't even know about ordinances until AFTER i got done with that run, lol.   
       I'm going to go with the idea of digging up the bushes, so the butterflies don't spawn.  I usually just replace them with higher priced stags anyway, haha.  I hope this help anybody!  Feel free to add me, by the way.  Just send me a message if you do.


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## JasonBurrows (Jun 29, 2013)

This is an excellent guide, it is possible to make a minimum of 153,600 Bells and a maximum of 230,400 Bells.

I myself made 800,000 Bells last night.


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## Slickyrider (Jun 29, 2013)

Thanks for your responses, everyone. I'm glad that I was able to make this, after many hours of repeating this process, and finally nailing it down to where I liked it best. I updated the guide with the premium worth of the 14,400 bugs (and gave credit to intimeoflilacs for it), and made a note about avoiding Saw Sharks at the end.

@Divergent: Haha, yeah...trust me, I made the same mistake when I first started doing this. It took me a while to finally realize why I was only making 350,000-380,000 a trip :3

@RisingSun: Well, as you said at the end of your post, it's all about how many bells you want to make. This guide was made with the presumption that the reader wants to maximize the amount of Bells made each trip, so that's why I stated that ignoring the center bugs is best. It's all in the hands of the player.

@Yurusumaji: Haha, yeah, that's why I included the little "depending on how efficient you are" tidbit at the end of the guide. I often find myself checking my Youtube subscription box, or watching a stream for a few minutes, if I find myself bored with grinding. It is an extremely monotonous process, but as far as I can tell, the best way to make the most Bells in the shortest amount of time. You sort of have to come to the island with stuff on your mind, so you don't get absolutely burned out from performing the same action repeatedly, for hours on end. 

Anyway, thanks for exercising my guide! I'm glad you were able to profit considerably well from it, and find it efficient and effective :3

@JunJun: You probably catch 16+ 14,400 beetles/sharks, right?

@afflyingpenguin: As the hardcore AC fan that I am, I completely understand you. It's a refreshing break to cast a line for a few seconds, instead of constantly running around in circles with a net in your hand. As you know, it's more profitable as well ;3

@jaso1n: I've always wanted to try something like that out. Your set-up sounds wonderful, just as well. I'll be sure to check it out, once I'm done collecting all of my furniture.

@JasonBurrows: Thanks. I'm just glad to see that people are enjoying this :3


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## TheCreeperHugz (Jun 29, 2013)

Wow, this is really useful! 

Thanks !


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## Ehingen Guy (Jun 29, 2013)

RisingSun said:


> I disagree that all of the center bugs are worthless.  I often find a rainbow stag in there and it is worth almost as much as or more than the bugs on the palms.



This. Rainbow stags are worth 10k, along with giant stags. I planted a few extra trees on the island to catch those critters.


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## DorsalAxe (Jun 29, 2013)

Rainbows and Goldens appear in the middle, so it's worth leaving a tree there.

Personally I don't want to ruin my island, so I find a Club Tortimer island and go to town cutting down trees. The island resets once everyone leaves, so you're not exactly ruining it anyone else. Bugs tend to spawn more frequently in multiplayer, I find.


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## RisingSun (Jun 29, 2013)

DorsalAxe said:


> Rainbows and Goldens appear in the middle, so it's worth leaving a tree there.
> 
> Personally I don't want to ruin my island, so I find a Club Tortimer island and go to town cutting down trees. The island resets once everyone leaves, so you're not exactly ruining it anyone else. Bugs tend to spawn more frequently in multiplayer, I find.



Actually....goldens are on the palms and rainbows are on the regular trees.


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## Robert Plant (Jun 29, 2013)

Nice guide.

Yesterday I went to the Island to farm some bells from 5pm to 6pm. I got around 300K bells. Then I got back from 8pm to 9pm and got another 300k.

This guide is sure helpful.


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## Gizmodo (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you very much for this  usually been making 200,000 a night, so hopefully will make more tonight


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## Olivitess (Jun 29, 2013)

Will have to try this out tonight! Thank you for the guide!


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## ben_nyc (Jun 29, 2013)

This is a good read for beginners!  Thanks!


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## Robert Plant (Jun 29, 2013)

I followed your guide, with the exception that I've captured a few Goliaths, and I ended with 6 golden stags (I didn't knew I could do such thing), 1 Horned Hercules (finally!), 10 Horned Elephants, 9 Cyclommatus, 6 horned atlas, 6 Goliaths and 3 Rainbow Stags.

Result: Got to the Island with 34.000 bells, and when I finished selling at Re-Tail, I had about 387.000. Along the farming I did yesterday, I have 820.000 bells in the bank.


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## Akai (Jun 29, 2013)

I think you got mixed up a little bit. The hammerhead sharks are the ones worth 8,000. Saw sharks are 13,000 I think. Great guide. I've been doing this since I got the island and have made quite a bit. One thing I look out for is if someone is camping in town. Sometimes the camper will offer to play a game to buy one of your bugs or sharks. It is an easy 50 k + per bug or shark if you manage to pick the right color etc. You just need to repeatedly talk to the camper until the game is offered. In one sitting with the camper, I made 1,000,000+.


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## jaso1n (Jun 29, 2013)

Does anybody know any other ways of farming bells, aside from catching stags on the island?


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## RisingSun (Jun 29, 2013)

jaso1n said:


> Does anybody know any other ways of farming bells, aside from catching stags on the island?



Getting into the stalk market.  If you can work with a group of friends, you could easily rake in a bunch of bell.


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## jaso1n (Jun 29, 2013)

RisingSun said:


> Getting into the stalk market.  If you can work with a group of friends, you could easily rake in a bunch of bell.




I have seen posts about the stalk market.  Is that an ingame thing, or is that all on the forums?


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## Slickyrider (Jun 29, 2013)

Updated with new information, corrected whatever was incorrect, and prettied it up a bit as well.


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## ben_nyc (Jun 29, 2013)

jaso1n said:


> I have seen posts about the stalk market.  Is that an ingame thing, or is that all on the forums?



It's a risk to procure the Turnips to begin with.  But, if the initial cost is suitable, buy a bunch & in the Stalk Market thread run by Charity, friend a group of members that will 'announce' their daily Turnip prices- the higher Retail is offering per Turnip, the greater the profit.  The town w/ the best value will obviously host this 'group.' 

Turnips have a weekly shelf life- control your prospects or risk a tough loss.  Good luck!


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## Aloha (Jun 29, 2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfn8mH_U9IQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfIe107hoko

Ways to make bells fast.


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## zblueboltz (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm sort of less agreeing on the goliath beetle part if you're trying to get all the beetles in before 11 PM, otherwise forget about them! You might be able to earn more catching them, re-tail before time ends.  I find it usually lets me cut to under 30 minutes to get in much more money.

You can still scare the beetles away though it's likely they'll form into a common bug if you're unlucky. Just don't bother with Goliath ever if you're catching after 11 PM, saving the beetles somewhere imo.

[edit] Also the Horned Hercules is worth more than that! Okay I'm wrong I  think.

Also from personal experience I found golden stag somehow worse in sensitivity - but probably from all directions.

I think some beetles have more sensitivity when approaching them from the side andteh front of the tree.


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## Ziggle5 (Jun 30, 2013)

How many bells are other people getting from this method?

I'm getting around 506k an hour, 338k per trip. Each trip takes around 40 minutes (including selling and banking) and I'm catching goliaths and don't have the rich town ordinance.


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## Thunder (Jun 30, 2013)

I don't find Wharf Roaches difficult to get rid of, from my experience (and I apologize if this has been said) swinging your net close enough to it will cause it to flee.


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## Sleepy (Jun 30, 2013)

Note: Hammerhead Sharks are only worth around 8,000. All other sharks available on the island are worth 100,000+, however, so only the Hammerhead isn't worth it.

------------------
What? Re-tail buys my sharks for 12,000 each... what do you mean 100,000


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## charmed girl (Jun 30, 2013)

Thanks for the tips and how to skip the singing on the way to the island, it drives me nuts!!


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## Divergent (Jun 30, 2013)

Just got 396,000 bells for a trip. This was with cutting down all the trees and bushes in the centre (although emperor butterflies still spawned. I caught them and released them so they'd disappear. I don't know if beetles still spawn when butterflies are there or not though so I did this just to make sure). 396,000 bells is good to say there was about 10 sharks that popped up yet I only managed to get 2  I also wasn't very good at catching golden stags/horned Hercules.


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## zblueboltz (Jun 30, 2013)

I hit my record time today! 19-20 minutes only counting the bug collectin!


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## Slickyrider (Jun 30, 2013)

@Divergent: Wonderful! Try for an even better record. Trust me, it isn't overwhelmingly difficult to score 400,000+ from a trip :3

@zblueboltz: Yeah, that's the one, outstanding variable about this process: the amount of time that it takes. You sort of just have to get lucky :X


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## Janna (Jun 30, 2013)

I catch Goliaths and still make about 400-450k per run with the wealthy ordinance. I also keep two trees in the center since Rainbow Stags spawn there and sell for a whopping 10k. No bushes/flowers in my island, either, and chasing off roaches is not at all hard. Great guide!


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## Slickyrider (Jun 30, 2013)

Janna said:


> I catch Goliaths and still make about 400-450k per run with the wealthy ordinance. I also keep two trees in the center since Rainbow Stags spawn there and sell for a whopping 10k. No bushes/flowers in my island, either, and chasing off roaches is not at all hard. Great guide!



This is another way of doing it. I'll be sure to work this into the OP, somehow.


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## Cottonball (Jun 30, 2013)

I would recommend cutting down and removing EVERYTHING from the center of the island because it makes the rarer beetles respawn more and quicker.  Also if you see sharks catch them the only thing you can pull up from a shark shadow that you dont want is the Ocean Sunfish. They give you like no bells. ^_^


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## zblueboltz (Jun 30, 2013)

Here's a neat tip/trick of cisumstance I found:

If you have your net up, but you want to stop using it (perhaps you started sneaking too early) BUT you're afraid of scaring a beetle away by letting o, press the menu button with the net still up.

This will perform a "net cancel"



Slickyrider said:


> @zblueboltz: Yeah, that's the one, outstanding variable about this process: the amount of time that it takes. You sort of just have to get lucky :X





It's not just luck. >:c I R good bugcatcher

Anotehr tip may be to go in and out the hut, since sometimes you can't find the bugs I guess. It'll have a good chance to spawn a beetle.


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## Virizon (Jul 1, 2013)

what a nice guide, made 1mil bells last night 
but i want to ask what's the purpose of the 4 trees in the middle? i did a splendid run last night without the 4 trees


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## slpnclass (Jul 3, 2013)

Great post op.


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## saccharine (Jul 3, 2013)

Dunno if anyone's found this out but, if you hold down the A button, your character goes into stalking/creeper mode.
It makes it easier to inch towards those really sensitive beetles. Though it doesn't mean you can move lots as they can still fly away.


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