[jasonb]

This little guy has been camping out next to my front door for a couple of days. What is he? Is the a sign of the comming apoclipse? Will it infect my family with the T virus? Should I kill it with fire?

 

[10Gauge]

that appears to be the empty shell...cast off skin.. of a cicada.

non-life form. disregard

 

[jimcola]

secata, I think. No good to kill it now, probably just an empty shell by now.

 

[jimcola]

10guauge beat me to it. At least now I know how to spell cicada.

 

[jasonb]

Damn, you guys are fast. Thanks!

 

[PhilRazz]

See the little slit down her back is where she crawled out of the shell.

 

[AZ_BuickGuy]

That's the before pic. Here's the after:

BTW, don't shake a tree full of them. They'll piss all over you when they flee in fear. Not kidding.

:lol:

 

[10Gauge]

That's the before pic. Here's the after:

BTW, don't shake a tree full of them. They'll piss all over you when they flee in fear. Not kidding.

:lol:

I've never seen a cicada piss on anyone...but they do make quite the splash when they hit your car...I've bumped into a tree full of em and they make an offended sounding buzz as they fly away.

I miss em already... they're neat. They're pleasant to listen to and they're the only bug that I know of that cant hurt you in any way.

 

[snakebite]

never experienced the cicada golden shower but those little buggers are pretty common here.

 

[Tint]

Down here in S. Texas it just ain't summer without the buzz of the Cicada.

 

[davehal9000]

They're harmless. Childhood isn't the same without getting to watch them shed their skin and sprout wings.

 

[Tint]

LOL! Just had a flashback to high school. Buddy of mine caught one and tied about 20 feet of string to it and let it go. Watching him fly that thing like a kite was too damn funny!!

 

[WarDawg]

I realize they are Cicadas .But I grew up and still call them Locust . They was a challenge to ketch and fun to hold. They got some good little claws on them. And when they buzz in your hands it will scare you if your not ready for it. I can fall to sleep hearing them sing in the evening. Gods music...... WarDawg

 

[USMCE4retired]

dinosaur bugs

The neat thing about them is that they stay in the ground for something like 17 years before they come out to shed their shells.

Up here in Ohio they seem to come out just a little while before school starts. Signaling kids to cram as much fun into the remainder of summer as they can.

That's what I remember as a kid. Now that I am MUCH older and have tintinitis I hear they year round.
Must be a physical-to-spiritual parallel in there somewhere.

 

[thirtycal]

Growing up in Wichita in the 70's, I'd watch the locusts in the trees. When they start making noise, you can see them. I'd take a long pole and poke it up into the trees - and inch by inch I'd sneak up until I could smash then with the end of the pole. They'd fall down and I'd pick them up and take them over to my box turtle cage. I'd hold them by the wings and in one quick bite, the turtles would chomp them up. Very cool as a kid.

The locusts are still there, but unfortunately the box turtles are not - their native habitats have been wiped out by development. As a kid I could find them roaming around everywhere - now they are an endangered species. It makes me sad knowing that for thousands of years, the native Kansas Ornate box turtle was living happily all throughout southeast Kansas... and now within just the course of a few decades, they have all but disappeared.

It upsets me knowing that my kids will not have the kind of fun I had growing up.

-Thirtycal

 

[lotsagas4u]

When I was much younger, I would shoot them out of the area willow trees with my pellet rifle, the neighborhood cats would gather under the trees and catch the fallout. My wife won't let me feed our cat any locust, she said it gives them the shits. :roll:

 

[GreatWarAZ]

I occasionally hear them here in Arizona...don't think I've -seen- one recently, though. Now, back in Illinois that was something else!

-GreatWarAZ

 

[phreakmode]

Should I kill it with fire?

gents, that is how you cut right to the chase!

 

[Lumpy]

In Ohio, when I was in middle school (mid '70s), there was a plauge of them one summer. They were everywhere. You could pick them off chain link fence by the dozens.



Lump

 

[squeky]

Re: dinosaur bugs

The neat thing about them is that they stay in the ground for something like 17 years before they come out to shed their shells.

We had our 17 year cycle a couple years ago. It was deafening and they were EVERYWHERE. One big orgy.