STORM2K

I have yet another critter story to tell everyone about today. Instead of making a bunch more threads for future stories, I thought I would just make one for everyone.....

On to my story...
Seems like every day or every other day I am running into another animal now. Today that animal was a swarm of black and orange grasshoppers/crickets. I went outside a bit earlier and discovered there were 40-60 little ( half inch from head to end) black grasshoppers/crickets eating down a bunch of plants including our jades and a few of the snake plants and tulips. They didnt just put holes in things, they ate down the jades from a couple feet to about 3-5 inches!! Upon closer inspection I found that they had a very thin bright orange stripe right down the symmetry of their backs. Did some googling and found out that it was the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper nymph! The same exact thing later in life that becomes the HUGE grasshoppers that are like 6-8" long that we see that look nothing like this, seen in the second image. First time I have seen these little ones.





Nonetheless, my first thought that anything that is orange and black in Florida is usually poisonous or deadly, so I sprayed them with plant bug spray and water. Guess I shouldnt have judged a book by its cover!

Yep, every year about this time they show up by the hundreds. Surprised you have never noticed them before. Haven't seen them in my yard yet, but I know it will be any day now.

About the only bug besides roaches that give me the heebie jeebies are grasshoppers. We get those bright green ones that are a couple to several inches long. The ones that "thud" when they land. Oh i can't stand them and they scare me to death.

Otown: I see the grown up ones all the time (my cat likes to chase then since they are big and slow ). I just dont see the little ones.

CM: Yea, We see those little green ones all the time too, although they dont bother me. *thinks of a possible chat weapon * lol

We get the desert locusts from time to time and those are big critters.

Steve

The type we see in Barbados are either green or brown and grow to about 3" long. When they start rubbing their wings together (usually at night), they can be very noisy. The worst thing is to have a grasshopper trapped somewhere in your house at night. You ain't gonna get any sleep until you find it and get it out! The funny thing about the sound they make is that, loud as it is, it's often hard to tell where exactly it's coming from.

Btw, fact789, that 2nd photo's very beautiful!

I've seen those around every once in awhile. My cat thinks there funny.