[NormsRevenge]

As the cricket chirps

[NormsRevenge]

This IS very series, It could be HugH.

How are the FReepers in these areas doing?

Let us know. Seriously ;-)

[southernnorthcarolina]

They each have four wives, ride bicycles, and knock on your door at dinnertime.

[bedolido]

I live in Boise Idaho. We've had these (north of us about 40 miles) ever year for the past 5 or so. Driving up to McCall you actually have to slow down or you can lose control as you drive over previously smash millions, smashing thousands as you go.

great bate for fishing though...

[JennysCool]

I'm right in the heart of this. It's like being in a 1950s sci-fi movie.

[CCWoody]

"You drive down the street and they pop like bubble wrap."

[Norse]

WHERE is that DARN golden SEAGUL when you need it???

LOL...it's probably on planet Kolob trying to reach godhood..LOL!!!!

[StatesEnemy]

Two summers ago, I pedaled across Saskatchewan during one of the worst droughts/hopper infestation the region had seen in ages - and a thought came to me:

All these fat little eating machines (dozens in every square yard) represent a huge, easily collected source of proteins and fats.

Now I'm not suggesting we make cootie-burgers for human consumption, but couldn't this resource be sent off to rendering plants for animal feeds?

One plus... no worry about BSE.

[cruiserman]

They are cannibals, too. So far I saw more in the Boise foothills last year than this year, but Summer has only just begun . . .

[Alex Murphy]

Full-grown adult male

from Utah State University...

"...The Mormon cricket is not a true cricket. The insect resembles more a lifestyle of a grasshopper....Male and female Mormon crickets are large insects and can reach lengths of two and one-half inches during the adult stage. The female Mormon cricket is distinguished by the long ovipositor that also looks like a type of "stinger" located at the end of the abdomen. The male lacks this ovipositor. The Mormon cricket can be economically devastating..."

"...Young Mormon crickets are called nymphs. These nymphs develop during the spring months. They undergo seven stages of development called in-stars. It takes 60 to 90 days for the Mormon cricket to pass through these seven stages and obtain the adult stage...The Mormon cricket cannot fly, but is still an extremely mobile insect. When the crickets are young, they do not migrate long distances. After about the fourth in-star and during the adult stage the Mormon crickets become ravenous and start banding together. Once the crickets have banded together, they begin migrating. During their migrations they destroy everything in their path...

"...The most effective way to reduce Mormon cricket populations is to use carbaryl bait...The idea is to apply a barrier of bait around or in front of a band of migrating crickets. Once the first wave consumes the bait they will die within a few minutes. The crickets coming from behind will eat the dead crickets causing a chain reaction of crickets being killed by the bait. Mormon crickets do not fly so they will almost always hit the barrier of poisoned bait...It is best to apply the bait when the crickets are still young or in the developing stages..."

[Consort]

This can reach Biblical proportions.

[ko_kyi]

At least they all stay together.

If you get one by itself it drinks all your beer.

[TexasRepublic]

You haven't lived until you have walked across a SOLID carpet of crickets. A gooey crunch-crunch.

[thinking]

Send in the Seagulls....

[Stultis]

Figure 375 - Hordes of dead Mormon crickets cleaned from barrier traps, 1938.
Photo courtesy Colo. Dept. Agric.

[Porterville]

Must be the rich Mormon crickets that treat the poor Mormon-minority crickets like trash.