Bugsnax guide: How to catch Shishkabugs and Bungers

After Bugsnax’s Wambus gives you the Sauce Slinger in Garden Grove, you’ll learn how to lure Bungers with ketchup sauce you find on nearby plants. The farmer teaches you that Bungers will both follow the scent of ketchup on the floor and attack anything covered in ketchup, too. This is the first time in the game that you learn how to not only manipulate the behavior of Bugsnax, but also how certain critters interact with one another.

In this Bugsnax guide, we’ll show how to catch Shishkabugs and Bungers and change behavior using ketchup.

How to catch Shishkabugs

Image: Young Horses via Polygon

If you scan a Shishkabug, you'll learn that the path these Bugsnax travel is fairly small, making it hard to place traps nearby without frightening them. Get too close, and it’ll run to a nearby bush in a straight line. It won’t come out no matter what you do, so in the meantime, place your trap somewhere along the path it ran.

To catch a Shishkabug, you’ll need your Sauce Slinger, some ketchup, and a nearby Bunger. Equip your Sauce Slinger, select your ketchup, and shoot the bush that the Shishkabug is hiding in. Doing this should lure a nearby Bunger to the bush.

If that doesn’t lure a nearby Bunger, shoot some more ketchup near the bush until the Bunger catches the scent. Eventually the ketchup will lead the Bunger over, which will cause it to ram the bush, knocking the Shishkabug out of the foliage and back along the path where you placed your trap. Once the bug lands next to your trap, you can capture it.

Keep in mind that, during this interaction, the Bunger may be standing in the range of your trap when the Shishkabug pops out. If that’s the case, the highlighted area around your trap will be red, meaning you cannot capture either of the Bugsnax. If this happens, shoot some ketchup away from the bush once the Bunger forces out the Shishkabug.

How to catch Bungers

Image: Young Horses via Polygon

Catching Bungers also requires ketchup. The trick with these critters is to force them to ram into something, which makes them vulnerable. Your first instinct might be to shoot some ketchup at a tree or the nearby cave walls, but that won’t work. The only thing that can make Bunger susceptible to capture is another Bunger.

That’s because when a Bunger rams another creature, the creature receiving the blow will be stunned for a few seconds, allowing you to capture them by hand and without the need of your Snak Trap. So to stun a Bunger, it has to ram another Bunger.

To catch a Bunger, coat your target Bunger in ketchup using your Sauce Slinger. Then lure another Bunger over by shooting ketchup along the floor toward the creature you’re looking to capture. Once both Bungers are in range, the non-saucy Bunger will ram the other, knocking the ketchup-covered creature over and allowing you to capture it.