Anybody Good At Identifying Bugs?

[Bonochick]

We have hundreds of these hanging out on the sides of our house! They hang out by the door too...and I am finding them in my hair after I go in the house. I think the neighbors are tired of hearing my high-pitched screams.

Does anybody know what they are??????

 

[meegannie]

It looks like a box elder bug:

http://www.cirrusimage.com/bugs_box_elder.htm

 

[U2Kitten]

We got a plague of yellow spotty things that look like half grasshopper half spider! My daughter screams and runs every time she sees one! What are they?

 

[meegannie]

Could it be a type of katydid? I think most are green, though. Maybe they're katydid nymphs?

 

[meegannie]

I just found this:

October 1. 2002 it looked like a grasshopper with way long legs like if a spider and a grasshopper mated or something and i think it might have been able to fly, im in the midwest, please tell me what this evil creature was that scared me nearly to death? jenny

Dear Jenny,
Was it green? It might be a species of katydid. Check out other letters on our site that go into details about the habits and life cycles of these relatives of the grasshoppers. It isn't really evil, and though they eat the leaves of plants, they are not known to occur in such large numbers to really be considered a pest. There are many romantic stories associated with katydids.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/katy.html

It sounds like the same thing you're describing. Too bad no one seems to know what it is without a picture!

 

[Bonochick]

It looks like a box elder bug:

http://www.cirrusimage.com/bugs_box_elder.htm

That's it!!!!!

A thank ya, meggie!!!!!!

 

[bsp77]

Box Elders are always everywhere in the early fall, at least they are in the midwest. They are harmless, but I think enough of them can damage trees. They especially like Maple trees.

 

[Laird/Bono]

I had a pet Scorpion and a pet Tarantula........

* (doesn't ...really....... apply to this......... I'll shut up now)

 

[Carek1230]

GROSS!

 

[BVS]

It's a onethatshouldbesmashedus.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Mix a little liquid dish soap - any brand will do - with water. Just a small amount of
soap is needed. Put this mixture in a spray bottle ( a good one with a stream setting
will help you reach bugs even on the second story) and just spray the little buggers
where they sit (outdoors, of course, you nut). Just enough to get them wet - and they die.
Boom. Kaput. Adios. Bye bye box elder bugs.

Insecticides are not effective, but soapy water is. Heck, send the kids out to do it
several times a day, they love it ! (Be sure to lecture them on the evils of genocide, lest their little Buddha Natures suffer).

That's terrible!

 

[Bonochick]

That's terrible!

Yeah, well...guess what I'm gonna be doing!

 

[GibsonGirl]

Yeah, well...guess what I'm gonna be doing!

Go get 'em!

Poor things. Kind of reminds me of how I used to purposefully ride over these disgusting black beetles on my bicycle when I was a child...I had an absolute ball doing it.

 

[Laird/Bono]

Cruel but needed....... So I guess we'll have to start grief counceling for all of the orphaned bugs, bugs who lost spouses, send rescue teams for the "not quite dead yet" bugs, set THEM up with free medical care and housing.... THEN we can start booking spots on Dr. Phil and Oprah for the purpose of plugging their new books...

... with names like LIFE ON THE BOTTOM OF A SHOE or RIDING THE DOG'S BUTT, WITHOUT GETTING BIT

 

[mdw3935]

^ ^ ^

I watched a praying mantis catch and eat a bee this morning while out in my flower bed.

It was very cool to watch...in a sick way I guess.

I felt sorry for the little bee, he had no chance.

The circle of Life!!!

 

[Bonochick]

I remember as a kid, my sister and I skimmed beetles out of the pool and kept them in an empty bucket. We thought we had saved them from drowning. Well, they were water beetles, so we actually killed them by depriving them of water.

 

[GibsonGirl]

^ ^ ^

I watched a praying mantis catch and eat a bee this morning while out in my flower bed.

It was very cool to watch...in a sick way I guess.

I felt sorry for the little bee, he had no chance.

The circle of Life!!!

IT'S THE CIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFE! AND IT MOOVES US ALLLLLLLL!

Your sig amuses me. Has this poor Bevan been asked if he worships the sun yet? Or if there are paved roads in South Africa?

 

[mdw3935]

Hmmm...don't know about that. I'm sure he was asked all sorts of questions by his classmates when he first moved here.
It is entertaining to listen to his parents cheer him on in Afrikaans during our kid's soccer games. I tease them, saying they are telling Bevan to take out the opposing players.

 

[Liesje]

I had a pet Scorpion and a pet Tarantula........

* (doesn't ...really....... apply to this......... I'll shut up now)

I had a stud madagascar hissing cockroach. He would hiss like mad if you flicked his back. And by stud I mean I actually loaned him to the science teacher every now and then so he could breed more for his classes.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Hmmm...don't know about that. I'm sure he was asked all sorts of questions by his classmates when he first moved here.
It is entertaining to listen to his parents cheer him on in Afrikaans during our kid's soccer games. I tease them, saying they are telling Bevan to take out the opposing players.

Chances are, he has been asked those questions. Including the ever popular "did you have lions in your garden?" Sadly, most children in Europe/North America have the perception that everyone lives in mud huts in South Africa - which is not their fault, of course, considering that the Discovery Channel never shows downtown Cape Town on a Monday morning.

@ the parents! If you hear them using the word "bliksem" it's time to get worried.

 

[Bonochick]

Holy crap, they are tough little bastards...I was actually getting more freaked out watching them crawl from what should have been the depths of their deaths.

I've got news for them though...this war isn't even close to being over!

 

[U2Girl1978]

I had a stud madagascar hissing cockroach. He would hiss like mad if you flicked his back. And by stud I mean I actually loaned him to the science teacher every now and then so he could breed more for his classes.

Ohhhh yikes!

 

[Laird/Bono]

...^^ a hissing cockroach..... cool

Those are the REAL BIG ones right?

 

[Liesje]

...^^ a hissing cockroach..... cool

Those are the REAL BIG ones right?

Yes! The kind they always have to eat on Fear Factor

 

[meegannie]

I used to have four Madagascar hissing cockroaches, but mine were all female, so no stud action for them.

I had a tarantula a few years ago and have always wanted a scorpian. Tarantulas have been one of my favourite animals since I was three and got to hold one at the zoo.

 

[mdw3935]

Chances are, he has been asked those questions. Including the ever popular "did you have lions in your garden?" Sadly, most children in Europe/North America have the perception that everyone lives in mud huts in South Africa - which is not their fault, of course, considering that the Discovery Channel never shows downtown Cape Town on a Monday morning.

@ the parents! If you hear them using the word "bliksem" it's time to get worried.

Hahaha, I'll try to remember to listen for that word this weekend at their soccer game.

As for the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, no thank you.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Holy crap, they are tough little bastards...I was actually getting more freaked out watching them crawl from what should have been the depths of their deaths.

I've got news for them though...this war isn't even close to being over!

It's cruel that I'm laughing, but still. (I hate bugs. Loathe them. DETEST THEM.) Nuke 'em well!

 

[Bonochick]

There was actually a thing on the news last night about these bugs. We were all excited to see other people sharing our anguish.

There also weren't nearly as many bugs on the house yesterday.

 

[MrBrau1]

You need to buy some garden snakes to take care of the bugs.

Then some hawks to take care of the snakes.

Then some apes to take care of the hawks.

Then you shoot the apes.

 

[Bonochick]

And then let bugs eat the dead apes?