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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / May 2004AAARRGH! THE GIANT BUGZ IS COMING!
Hagerstown, Maryland -- When millions of cicadas emerge across the eastern United States for a rare mating season, they will appear as tasty morsels to pets who could get sick from eating the insects, officials warned. The insects are protein-rich but their hard outer shells can cause vomiting and constipation in cats and dogs, said Randall Lockwood, vice president for the Humane Society of the United States. "Imagine a yard full of chicken nuggets, that's sort of what it's going to be like for dogs and cats." Millions of the large, red-eyed insects will soon emerge from the ground for a once-every-17-years mating dance lasting well into June. The insects will climb into trees and shed their shells to reveal their wings. Males will attract mates through a loud buzzing sound. The 1&1/2-inch-long bugs "combine all the stuff that particularly dogs like to chase," Lockwood said. "They're kind of flying pet toys: They are loud, slow-moving, often low-flying." The Humane Society advises keeping pets indoors, securing screens and holding tight to dog leashes outdoors. [If it was 17 years since *I'd* had sex, I'd be looking for small animals to kill, too. Oh wait... Nevermind.]  SignatureThe One-and-only Holy MosesT >Hagerstown, Maryland -- When millions of cicadas emerge across the >eastern United States for a rare mating season, they will appear as [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >[If it was 17 years since *I'd* had sex, I'd be looking for small >animals to kill, too. Oh wait... Nevermind.] I have never seen a cat try to eat a cicada. Follow them around, yes. Reach out and swat them with a paw, yes. But not eat them, possibly because they don't smell appealing. Dogs, however, being generally less picky about what they eat, might be more prone to eating cicadas. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria ROFL. I've always thought it would be nice to live near Hagerstown, MD. because there is a notable dragstrip there where many finals are held by NHRA, one of our entertainment sources. But since your report about the hordes of flying grasshoppers w/hardshell armor, am holding that thought....... : -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- : Hash: SHA1 [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] : =TP+T : -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- >ROFL. I've always thought it would be nice to live near Hagerstown, >MD. because there is a notable dragstrip there where many finals are >held by NHRA, one of our entertainment sources. But since your >report about the hordes of flying grasshoppers w/hardshell armor, am >holding that >thought....... Fortunately for farmers, we are about to have a plague of cicadas, not true locusts. Cicadas are large, ugly, and noisy, but they don't damage anything except tree bark. They are popularly called locusts, but strictly speaking that refers to certain types of grasshoppers, which can eat every plant in sight when they swarm. As far as I know, we never have true locusts in the USA. There is a web page describing cicadas at http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/In dex.html. The nymphs (immature cicadas) live underground, sucking fluids from roots. There are 4 species with 13-year life cycles, and three with 17-year life cycles. At the end of the cycle, the cicadas emerge from the ground and molt into adults. The adults do minor damage to tree bark, but aren't otherwise dangerous. The above web site states that there are sometimes as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre, with tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands per acre more common. Speaking from first-hand experience, the bugs are annoyingly loud, and are attracted by loud noises. I once went to an outdoor, night-time rock concert in a cicada-swarm year, and found that cicadas like bright lights as well as loud noises. At times, they drowned out the P/A system. One swarm year came while I was in college. I was eating my lunch at an outdoor table, and talking with a friend, a young woman from Iran. A bird flew into a nearby tree, and cicadas exploded outwards in all directions. The Iranian student literally dove out of her chair and hit the ground. It turned out that someone had misinformed her that cicadas drank blood. Given that each cicada is about the size of the last joint of your thumb, this would be a scary idea indeed. I told her the truth, much to her relief. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria "Hopitus2" <Hopitus2@att.net> dumped this in news:n7hlc.23920$Xj6.402945 @bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net on 02 May 2004: > ROFL. I've always thought it would be nice to live near Hagerstown, MD. > because there is a notable dragstrip there where many finals are held by > NHRA, one of our entertainment sources. But since your report about the > hordes of flying grasshoppers w/hardshell armor, am holding that > thought....... I'm in Maryland and one of my co-workers has never seen a cicada swarm of the magnitude that the 17 year variety brings here, so me and another co- worker really freaked her out with stories of how it is going to be in a couple of weeks. rotfl! Empty exoskeleton husks everywhere, no sleep because they're just so flippin' loud at night, swarming in such numbers that they can get stuck in your hair, cicadas smashing against the windshield while your driving (must stock up on windshield wiper fluid!), and if you live anywhere near the woods, forget it. They will be just EVERYWHERE. lol She was ready to move. SignatureCheryl > "Hopitus2" <Hopitus2@att.net> dumped this in news:n7hlc.23920$Xj6.402945 > @bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net on 02 May 2004: [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > and if you live anywhere near the woods, forget it. They will be just > EVERYWHERE. lol She was ready to move. You left out the ones that are suicide bombers - I nearly had my heid ta'en off by one whilst tootling along at appx 70MPH on my motorcycle. SignatureThe One-and-only Holy Moses? > >Hagerstown, Maryland -- When millions of cicadas emerge across the > >eastern United States for a rare mating season, they will appear as > >tasty morsels to pets who could get sick from eating the insects, > >officials warned. > I have never seen a cat try to eat a cicada. Follow them around, > yes. Reach out and swat them with a paw, yes. But not eat them, > possibly because they don't smell appealing. Dogs, however, being > generally less picky about what they eat, might be more prone to > eating cicadas. Heh. You never met Cricket, the red Abyssinian we had - if she could catch it, she'd sample it. SignatureThe One-and-only Holy MosesT >Hagerstown, Maryland -- When millions of cicadas emerge across the eastern >United States for a rare mating season, they will appear as tasty morsels to [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >[If it was 17 years since *I'd* had sex, I'd be looking for small animals to >kill, too. Oh wait... Nevermind.] I remember as a child in northern Texas in the 1950's, we had cicadas, usually the three-year variety. But one year we had the 17-year variety. Our cats would cacth them and eat them. Us kids would catch them, too. <G> -- CATherine >(snip) > >I remember as a child in northern Texas in the 1950's, we had cicadas, >usually the three-year variety. But one year we had the 17-year >variety. Our cats would cacth them and eat them. Us kids would catch >them, too. <G> And . . . ? Theresa alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/ Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful. (Aldous Huxley) > >(snip) > > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > And . . . ? Batter-dipped, deep-fried. SignatureThe One-and-only Holy MosesT >> >(snip) >> > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Batter-dipped, deep-fried. ROFL!! My brothers were mean little buggers and would pull the legs and/or wings off them. My sister and I would try to get them to whistle while we were holding them by the wings. We tried every hold we could think of. Finally, one day my sister got just the right hold and the bug let its whistler rip! Imagine a very loud P.E. whistle blown right in your ear! My sister was so startled she fell over backwards and let go the cicada. It, of course, flew off whistling for its lady love! <G> -- CATherine >>> >(snip) >>> > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >backwards and let go the cicada. It, of course, flew off whistling for >its lady love! <G> The NY Times article said "17 years under ground, and ready for luuurrv." Theresa alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/ Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful. (Aldous Huxley) Whereabouts in northern Texas? I was born in Savoy in '41, grew up in Sherman in the 50's, and went to school in Ft. Worth in the 60's. I still remember those cicadas; they must have come out in staggered hatches, because it seems to me they were there every year in the thousands. > I remember as a child in northern Texas in the 1950's, we had cicadas, > usually the three-year variety. But one year we had the 17-year [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > -- > CATherine SignatureÐÏࡱá A little town called Petersburg, near Lubbock. >Whereabouts in northern Texas? I was born in Savoy in '41, grew up in >Sherman in the 50's, and went to school in Ft. Worth in the 60's. I [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >> -- >> CATherine -- CATherine |
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