The Washington Post ran an article today on these guys, some particularly “sketchy” insects known as camel crickets:
I had the bad luck to be rudely awakened by one of these guys in my bed on my first night sleeping in my previous apartment. The article captures their weirdness well. They don’t just look ugly; their tendency to jump far and erratically adds a whole new level of creepiness to these buggers, especially when they’re invading your bedroom.
Fortunately I only saw one other indoors for the rest of the year I spent in that apartment, but they were numerous outside it. One of them caught me by surprise making its home beneath my bike seat. As if I needed another reason to be glad to have moved, the Post story on how the drought is sending these crickets into houses in search of moisture has neatly provided it.
Even so, I think camel crickets pale in comparison to the weird centipedes I’ve often come across in Virginia. When will the paper cover that menace?
[Photo from the Flickr stream of AlbinoFlea.]
Our basement usually got one or two a week when I lived in Virginia. I became an expert at catching them. Still weren’t as bad as gypsy moth caterpillars, which got so bad in the summer of ‘89 that we had to burn trees in the neighborhood.
Comment by Mike — October 17, 2007 @ 10:00 am
UGH - so THAT’S what we keep finding in our house! My god they can jump a mile and they are just hideous to look at. It’s been keeping me up at night!
Comment by Michelle Frost — May 6, 2008 @ 12:09 am
I had them in my house when I lived in Arkansas in 1999-2000. They are huge, ugly and I swear they can’t be killed. I would stomp them with my ex-husbands workboots and them for him to scoop up but they would be gone when he got home. I know it sounds crazy.
Comment by Tammy — July 11, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
oh my goodness! They are so scary and disgusting! What makes them worse for me is that they look spider-ish and but jump so far and fast! Even the baby ones are hard to kill. I have come across one that was literally the size of my palm! And yes…I too have had them somehow disappear on me after i thought i just smashed it. I looked everywhere in the bathroom and i couldnt find it. I started checking my hair and the back of my shirt haha.
Comment by Jasmine — July 16, 2008 @ 11:18 am
i did not know what those where i thought it was a mix breed btween spiders and crickets cause they are in my basement and i called them spider crickets
Comment by Latiffany — July 22, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
I live in TN and they are all in our house but you can never tell where they actually come from one second and you look over and its in the middle of the floor I hate them they scare me!
Comment by Amber — July 25, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
I found the best way to kill them is with wasp killer spray. I use the foam type. Shoots 10 feet.They will die within a few minutes after shooting them with the spray. Works great.
Comment by bob — August 3, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
omg!! i hate these things!!!i just moved to virginia and i freaked out whenever i first saw them! they look like a cross between a spider n grasshoper. they are n the bathroom n laundry room.well im glad i found out what they were so i can tell my husband!
Comment by abbie — August 8, 2008 @ 12:59 am
i nicknamed them SPIDERMONKEYS! theyre sooo annoying and i feel that i can never get rid of them no matter how many i kill one night, then next night there are two more~ =(
Comment by Jennifer — August 13, 2008 @ 12:34 am
Come on! Though they have an unsettling appearance, these buggers don’t do any real harm. They don’t sting or bite. Everyone needs to relax and go after mosquitoes, fleas or ticks.
Comment by TP — August 14, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
OMG!! I have bee searching to find out what these are! We had 2 in our bedroom (month ago) .. which i sucked up in the vacuum!
then last night my dog was playing with something as i shut the lights out.. I turned them back on and there were 2 not as big as the ones last time.. but it freaked me out!.. got out the vacuum again.
So this morning i tore apart our bedroom and out 1 jumped from underneath the bed… i could find it.. i continued to vacuum and clean.. nothing.. so now i’m so freaked out to sleep tonight.. i feel like i things crawling on me!!! yuck
Comment by kris — August 18, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
I recently moved to Maryland for my job and the first time i saw one it jumped off the stairs and landed directly at my feet, needless to say i freaked out cause it looked like a spider but the more i looked at it from a distance and it sat there i kept thinking but it only has 6 legs not 8 it cant be a spider from everything i learned back in school. So i too chased it around with the vacuum. And i have also had one that could easly wrestle my hand it was so big. I just keep woundering how they are getting in the house.
Comment by Melissa — August 26, 2008 @ 8:47 am
These are the nastiest things I’ve seen! Found them at work in a grooming salon. They look like a giant flea-cricket to me! I hope I never find another one!
Comment by Paige — September 5, 2008 @ 2:17 pm