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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
Tom, we could send Bill and Hillary  You remember, the ones that were in the Oral Office.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
Wow, we are having a very light year as it relates to moths. That's where they went!
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Crickets crickets everywhere
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.
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Crickets crickets everywhere
Actually Billy that oral office thing cracked me up. I had never heard it before.
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06-15-2003, 20:17 
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