jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Jul 10, 2013 11:34:30 GMT -5
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Post by helens on Jul 10, 2013 11:50:37 GMT -5
The top ones are locusts... you should see when they swarm.
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herchenx
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Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jul 10, 2013 12:39:15 GMT -5
Oh man I still have the stench of millipedes burned into my memory from being a kid in Georgia. My cousin gets giant hoppers like that at the ranch in Nebraska too.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 13:32:01 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 13:35:35 GMT -5
Oh man I still have the stench of millipedes burned into my memory from being a kid in Georgia. My cousin gets giant hoppers like that at the ranch in Nebraska too. Colorado has Lubber's too bugguide.net/node/view/571326 |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 10, 2013 13:45:05 GMT -5
Yeah, I remember those tootsie-rolls with legs (millipedes) from when I was a kid. They definitely do stink and stain!
The grasshopper is an Eastern Lubber (Romalea microptera), this one is a female. See the ovipositor - egglaying tube - at the arse end? Glad they are over on the east coast, and not here! We have a different kind out here. Have never seen them swarm (if it's just one grasshopper, it's a grasshopper. If there is a swarm, then you call them locusts), but just one adult can strip a plant in no time. They seem to really like lilac leaves. I've always just stomped them whenever I saw them, but have heard that they will release a pheromone when you do that, that attracts more. They say that Dawn dishsoap in a pitcher of water doused over them will klll them in a matter of minutes, without hurting your plants. It probably suffocates them.
James' grasshopper photo reminded me of the year I spent in Alabama when I was younger. I had a neighbor that told me that the only thing those big hoppers were good for was to chew off warts on your fingers/hands. (This is the same person that showed me how to "fiddle" for worms - yes, it works!) One day, I found a frog or toad, and was showing it to him. He said to get it away from him, those things will give you warts! I said, well, then you could just take one of the grasshoppers and let it eat the wart off. He replied. "Yes, but it hurts!" Jean
I see Scott beat me to it. WTG, Scott!
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 10, 2013 13:53:00 GMT -5
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bjurney
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
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Post by bjurney on Jul 10, 2013 14:48:02 GMT -5
Reminds me of something we have around here called mormon crickets. They get about that big but are an ugly black color. I haven't seen them in town yet, but they can be found in droves out by the Dugway geode beds every few years. Nasty little critters.
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Post by helens on Jul 10, 2013 15:08:34 GMT -5
We had them swarm in the summer all over my old yard, and that's what the neighbors here called them for generations.
Whether they are taxonomically locusts or not, that's what they behave like. Now I've read that you could eat grasshoppers... if people around here were willing to eat them (I'm not), they'd provide a lot of food during a pretty tough time for crops (high heat of summer).
Now I live in a subdivision, and we hardly ever see them, but when I lived on the river, every summer they were like the biblical plague... they were EVERYWHERE.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 10, 2013 15:26:16 GMT -5
Reminds me of something we have around here called mormon crickets. They get about that big but are an ugly black color. I haven't seen them in town yet, but they can be found in droves out by the Dugway geode beds every few years. Nasty little critters. Have you ever heard of the "Miracle of the gulls"? There is actually a monument to gulls in Salt Lake City, in honor of them (gulls) for saving the first harvest of the Mormon pioneers when they settled there (1848) from these critters. I saw this on TV, probably on PBS or Discovery, several years ago. They are actually a type of katydid, but were named "Mormon" crickets after this incident. Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_gulls. A true story! Yeah, those give me the creeps, too! Jean |
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 10, 2013 15:28:52 GMT -5
Beautiful Lubber! We have some pretty ones in our area too. The Carolina Locust seems to be one of our commonest locust species here but grasshoppers in that family abound here. Matter of fact,when I take my daily hike, there are so many hoppers now that it looks like a wave of them boogers flying up in front of me *L*......Mel
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jul 10, 2013 15:30:47 GMT -5
Oh man I still have the stench of millipedes burned into my memory from being a kid in Georgia. My cousin gets giant hoppers like that at the ranch in Nebraska too. Colorado has Lubber's too bugguide.net/node/view/571326Yeah that is the same thing we see on the ranch in NE, figured they are probably over most of the grasslands out here. I got hit by one that jumped off something once and thought my buddy was throwing rocks at me. I've seen them as big as 1" across the widest part of their abdomen. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 15:41:40 GMT -5
That is why riding motorcycles east of the rockies is a crazee proposition!
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Post by Pat on Jul 10, 2013 15:58:33 GMT -5
A friend from Ohio told me he used to ride his motorcycle a lot --- without a helmut. I asked if that wouldn't result in a lot of bugs getting into his teeth. He didn't want to talk about it. I can see why!
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bjurney
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 25
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Post by bjurney on Jul 10, 2013 16:03:41 GMT -5
Reminds me of something we have around here called mormon crickets. They get about that big but are an ugly black color. I haven't seen them in town yet, but they can be found in droves out by the Dugway geode beds every few years. Nasty little critters. Have you ever heard of the "Miracle of the gulls"? There is actually a monument to gulls in Salt Lake City, in honor of them (gulls) for saving the first harvest of the Mormon pioneers when they settled there (1848) from these critters. I saw this on TV, probably on PBS or Discovery, several years ago. They are actually a type of katydid, but were named "Mormon" crickets after this incident. Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_gulls. A true story! Yeah, those give me the creeps, too! Jean Of course! Growing up in Utah, the schools teach this pretty much every year. I didn't know they were katydid's though. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 10, 2013 16:55:58 GMT -5
You're a smart cookie, bjurney! But I'll bet non-Utahns didn't know about it. I know I certainly didn't until I saw that show. Jean
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 10, 2013 17:17:24 GMT -5
A friend from Ohio told me he used to ride his motorcycle a lot --- without a helmut. I asked if that wouldn't result in a lot of bugs getting into his teeth. He didn't want to talk about it. I can see why! An old joke my dad used to tell- Q - How can you tell a happy biker? A - By the bugs in his teeth! |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 10, 2013 17:28:18 GMT -5
I think that grasshopper is a beautiful creature. However, centipedes creep me the hell out- seriously creep me out. My skin is crawling just thinking about them.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 17:50:40 GMT -5
South central Montana, working in the oil patch. It was practically a desert where only sheep and crickets could live. A couple of times when I was driving to a location there would be quite a few crickets on the road (two wheel tracks). When I returned later the tracks would be solid swarming black crickets. They are cannibals and when I killed quite a few of them on the first pass every other cricket in the area was there eating their brothers. It was crazy how those things turned the ground black. I could hear crunching like when you drive on pea gravel I can not imagine what it would have been like if I had made a third pass.
Jim
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jul 10, 2013 18:51:45 GMT -5
Look at the stains that the millipede juice created. Soap, bleach, scrubbing, digging, nothing will get these to come off  |
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Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
