Go BottomCrickets crickets everywhere
 | Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4297 Southwest MiddleTennessee 
 Pics
|
2003-06-15 57721
What in the world is going on out there in Northern Nevada and Idaho with all of those Mormon Crickets?????? Those things are taking over by the zillions! Hope this is not a trend. I can't imagine the aggrivation and mess those things are causing.
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
|
2003-06-16 57739
Bug plagues and country living just seems to go together. With any luck something that eats them will show up and there won't be so many next year.
We traced two local plagues to release programs by our natural resources people. Stable flys were released because they are supposed to pray on tent caterpillar. They also are fast, bite everything in sight and make late summer miserable--especially for dogs who get their ears bitten bloody.
Asian ladybugs were released because they eat soybean aphids down south. They migrate here in the fall by the millions if not billions. They stink and bite and get everywhere; nothing eats them either. According to folk tales, I should have inherited enough bad luck for 10,000 lifetimes since I was vacuuming them up in 10-gallon lots with a shop vac--and those were only the ones in the house and outbuildings.
Last fall didn't bring the lady bug plagues of the past few years. I'm guessing the natural resources politicians started sensing more than a little hostility about the release programs, or maybe the weather just changed. Having both nature and government bureaucrats sure makes country living a challenge. Maybe a plague of sea gulls will cure the cricket problem. I'm not sure what kind a plague would cure our bureaucrat problem--a new species of politician maybe.
....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999 Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma 
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57742
Tom, we could send Bill and Hillary ;) You remember, the ones that were in the Oral Office. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57748
Fortunately I am just outside cricketville. It is an every summer thing, some years worse than others. These are the same critters that nearly drove the Mormons out 150 years ago.
But I do live in the Miller Moth path. Last year was one of the worst on record. They seek shady shelter during the day and if you are not sealed up and screened in tight you can easily get 500 in the house. One of my outbuildings had several thousand critters in it last year. As Tom described, you get the biggest shop vac you can find and start sucking.
I have seen films from Iceland or Norway where a town was overrun by several million mice. Given a choice, I would rather have moths.
Some of it is in the eye of the beholder, 3 million mice in one place is called a plague. 3 million fish in one place is called a salmon run. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57757
We are being overrun by the Miller Moths in New Mexico.
I don't know how they keep getting into the house. I guess that I am going to have to start checking the bathroom vent fans to see if the flapper valves are closing when they are turned off. I found one door that needed weatherstripping, and that has been taken care of, but they still come in.
Watching the bug zapper in the back yard is better than the TV reruns. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57768
I have spent some time observing their behavior. They land on a surface and begin to crab-walk sideways trying to wedge themselves into any sort of crevasse they can find.
I was amazed at how little clearance they need to make entry. A slightly loose fitting window screen will admit a hundred moths. Ditto for doors without weather stripping. They also seem to want to land on grey/tan/brown surfaces that will provide some camouflage protection.
I use railroad ties for fence posts and I find dozens of them packed into the cracks and crevasses.
Thankfully there is only about three weeks a year that they are a big problem.
Try duct tape on suspect screens or some sort of packing material around the edges to wedge them tightly in place.
In their larvae stage they appear as a cutworm. Cold winters kill off large portions of the larvae. Warmer winters usually result in the plague type infestations. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57780
They say that they are not native here and were blown in on the wind. I do not know if they are laying eggs or are just off course. I am also not sure if they can survive here. They have been a problem for over a month.
I picked up a piece of wood and there were dozens of moths that were parked on the under side. I have seen them do the wedging behavior that you describe. I have started shaking the doors before fully opening them to scare off any moths in the corners that might fly in when the door is opened.
I have what looks like a small tennis racket that has a bug zapper power supply built in. You press a little button and it charges up. If you get a good solid hit on a moth you get a satisfying electical snap and the dazed moth hits the floor. That does not kill them, but it sure stuns them and you can dispose of the body. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57781
Wow, we are having a very light year as it relates to moths. That's where they went! ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999 Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57783
Since no one liked my joke, I'll reply to insects.
Here we have what they call a 7 year locust. Don't know how or why but every 7 years we are over run with them.
Then there's the fire ants, you really don't want them. When they come, they come to stay. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57786
Actually Billy that oral office thing cracked me up. I had never heard it before. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | Misenplace
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 875 Michigan
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57788
Wow, I thought theese lady bugs were a problem. Maybe you guys could package them and sell them to one of those reality TV shows. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57802
What are the Mormon Crickets? I don't think I have seen them unless they wear white shirts and ride bicyles. Can we export some of these to Tom also?
A little honey on the tires, a few miles of riding through the bear infested woods and our infestation may dissappear. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
 | cutter
Join Date: Feb 2000 Posts: 1307 The South Shore of Lake Ontario, New York 
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57803
I'll reply to it Billy. If you want something to suck up the bugs you need Monica. Bill and Hillary only want to suck up you wallet. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| Misenplace
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 875 Michigan
Pics
|
2003-06-16 57806
Based on the evidence Monica wont work. She apparantly spits them bugs back out, well at least when wearing a blue dress. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
Pics
|
2003-06-17 57835
It looks like the moths may have subsided somewhat. We have a central vacuum in the house which is like a shop vac with the plumbing in the walls. We have been sucking up moths and every week or so I need to empty out the canister. About half of them are still alive.
On Sunday we got our first centipede in the house. They can also squeeze through about any crack and can force their way under weatherstripping. This one was about four inches long, and they do have a nasty bite. I sucked that guy up in the central vac also.
I think that centipedes eat other bugs, so this guy should have a feast in the canister with all those moths. I just hope that it is not the size of a king snake when I empty it out this weekend. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-17 57845
The only critters I have seen that can survive the E-ticket ride though the vacuum hose and the sudden stop at the other end are lizards. They even survive the negative pressure in the cannister when the hose is plugged.
You would think their little eyeballs would bulge out or something. Instead they wait patiently, sometimes for weeks, to be let out. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| Misenplace
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 875 Michigan
Pics
|
2003-06-18 57909
How about PITA members and anti-gunners ? ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
Pics
|
2003-06-18 57944
The central vac is like a whole house shop vac, so the critters don't go through the motor/blower. I am sure that the moths get banged up a bit during the trip, but they can still move. Centipedes on the other hand are tough sons-a-guns. I lay down those sticky traps for mice, centipedes and other vermen. I have seen centipedes get caught on these and drag them around with the legs that are still able to grab the floor.
I have a long set of medical forceps to grab them and they will attack the metal, so I know they would do the same thing to your hand.
As far as the vacuum is concerned, most shop vacs and this central vac are going to be able to sustain a vacuum of less than 1/2 atm. That is equivalent to 15,000 ft in altitude or less, so the vacuum "event" should be survivable for most animals. The 40 MPH right angle turns and abrupt stops are another thing, but I will bet that the centipede is still alive. I guess that I am going to have to empty the canister tonight just to see.
I do know for a fact that centipedes are not very durable in the average garbage disposal unit. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| JFarms
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 17 Sloughhouse, California 
|
2003-06-20 58046
We don't get many insect plagues here. Sounds like the chickens must be feasting. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
Pics
|
2003-06-20 58051
We have a lot of wild birds that fly up next to the house and pick the bugs off of the stucco. Perhaps the moths think that they are hidden, but they stand out like sore thumbs on the tan stucco.
The moth plague seems to have ended. We have started to have some small rains. I don't know if that did it, but they are thankfully gone for this year.
Some parts of NM have had crickets and grasshoppers, but not directly where I live. I drove into work one day, and there were grasshoppers/locusts in about every square foot of the parking lot at work. They parted in a wave like water when you drove or walked through the area. Thankfully that was a one day event and they have not returned.
....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-20 58052
JFarms, I think you are just over the hill from me. How do you like your 4100? Do you have an HST or Gear? ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| JFarms
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 17 Sloughhouse, California
|
2003-06-21 58073
Mark, the 4100 was my first tractor so I opted for an HST, feeling safer with less to concentrate on while working. Now I sure a gear would have been fine. I can't imagine a better tractor for my 2 acres. Not too big but plenty of power and the work gets done quickly. I absolutely love it. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add PhotoCrickets crickets everywhere
| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
Pics
|
2003-06-21 58079
Mine is a Gear model, now two years old. I really like the power of the FEL. ....
Reply to |
Quote Reply |
Add Photo
Go Top
Share This