What on earth is this little creature?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What on earth is this little creature?

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:15:11 AM EDT

Was going down in the basement to empty the de-humidifier.. and I ran across this little "gem". He was already dead when I came upon it.. but damn, I uttered a long "Wtf?".

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:15:59 AM EDT

[#1]

MANBEARPIG?

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:16:31 AM EDT

[#2]

Moon cricket.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:17:00 AM EDT

[#3]

Something from Starship Troopers. A baby one.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:17:29 AM EDT

[#4]

Camel Cricket I believe.......Yep sure is.....

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:17:53 AM EDT

[#5]

Well since you live in NJ I'm going to say... something radioactive.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:18:51 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Camel Cricket I believe.......Yep sure is.....
www.caves.org/conservancy/ikc/slideshow/images/slide20a.jpg

Ahhh.. thanks.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:20:41 AM EDT

[#7]

my place has camel crickets like that, I friggin hate them, they love the humidity, the thing to do is try to make your place as dry as possible

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:21:23 AM EDT

[#8]

We call em spider crickets.

They like damp areas like basements and can grow quite large. Thier bite hurts like hell and they can jump a solid 15-20 feet to gitcha if they are so inclined.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:21:40 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Camel Cricket I believe.......Yep sure is.....
www.caves.org/conservancy/ikc/slideshow/images/slide20a.jpg

+1

They are the roaches of the cricket world. They will eats glues, carpet, clothes, and crumbs.

-Foxxz

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:26:10 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
We call em spider crickets.

They like damp areas like basements and can grow quite large. Thier bite hurts like hell and they can jump a solid 15-20 feet to gitcha if they are so inclined.

Whaaa?

Gotta get gasoline for the flamethrower.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:29:30 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Quoted:
We call em spider crickets.

They like damp areas like basements and can grow quite large. Thier bite hurts like hell and they can jump a solid 15-20 feet to gitcha if they are so inclined.

Whaaa?

Gotta get gasoline for the flamethrower.

Kill it with fire!

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:33:40 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Moon cricket.

Posted: 8/20/2006 8:47:35 AM EDT

[#13]

They're common up here in the North East. The basement in my old place was infested with them! They enjoy dark, humid environments so keep that de-humidifier running!

Posted: 8/20/2006 9:05:12 AM EDT

[#14]

When I was a kid we used to call them "cave crickets."

Posted: 8/20/2006 9:12:13 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:
We call em spider crickets.

They like damp areas like basements and can grow quite large. Thier bite hurts like hell and they can jump a solid 15-20 feet to gitcha if they are so inclined.

Whaaa?

Gotta get gasoline for the flamethrower.

Dude, don't listen to him.

Camel crickets can't bite. Other than being goulish, disturbing figures, they are pretty harmless. Source here.

Posted: 8/20/2006 9:31:29 AM EDT

[#16]

I had a crickets that looked similar to that at my old house. Had one noisey lil bastard that wouldn't stop chirping. Every time I turned on the light he would go into a crack in the cement floor. Finally had to draw down on him with a can of compressed air that you use on computers.

I held the can upside down and it shot freezing gas out of the nozzle into the hole. Turned the lights out and went back to bed. No more chirping all you could hear was a tiny little voice going BRRRRRRRRR. Okay that last part isn't exactly true.....

Posted: 8/20/2006 9:37:41 AM EDT

[#17]

We've always called them "katy-dids" here in west Texas. I think that it is a longhorned grasshopper.

Posted: 8/20/2006 9:43:51 AM EDT

[#18]

cave cricket or a camel cricket. We had 'em at the last place we lived. They don't bite or eat your food, but they get even bigger than that (I've seen 'em about 3x what you found) and they're territorial.

They like it dark, cool, and moist. If you have any leaks in the basement, that'll happen.

Oh yea, and they're resilient and play dead. I've smacked a few that came back to life and jumped at my face on their way to the trashcan.

Ugliest fucking things.. The future Mrs. Smith has nightmares about 'em.

Posted: 8/20/2006 9:49:15 AM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
I had a crickets that looked similar to that at my old house. Had one noisey lil bastard that wouldn't stop chirping. Every time I turned on the light he would go into a crack in the cement floor. Finally had to draw down on him with a can of compressed air that you use on computers.

I held the can upside down and it shot freezing gas out of the nozzle into the hole. Turned the lights out and went back to bed. No more chirping all you could hear was a tiny little voice going BRRRRRRRRR. Okay that last part isn't exactly true.....

Posted: 8/20/2006 10:05:15 AM EDT

[#20]

Mold/Camel crickets, we have hundreds stuck in the basement.

Posted: 8/20/2006 10:09:55 AM EDT

[#21]

Insectoid

Posted: 8/20/2006 10:10:15 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
I had a crickets that looked similar to that at my old house. Had one noisey lil bastard that wouldn't stop chirping. Every time I turned on the light he would go into a crack in the cement floor. Finally had to draw down on him with a can of compressed air that you use on computers.

I held the can upside down and it shot freezing gas out of the nozzle into the hole. Turned the lights out and went back to bed. No more chirping all you could hear was a tiny little voice going BRRRRRRRRR. Okay that last part isn't exactly true.....

Posted: 8/20/2006 10:27:55 AM EDT

[#23]

I had never seen one of those before 3 or 4 years ago, now they are everywhere, so they have moved into my area only recently. At least the camel/cave crickets are silent, the racket from the regular crickets can drive you batty!

Posted: 8/20/2006 10:30:47 AM EDT

[#24]

If there's one, there's more.

Nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Posted: 8/20/2006 2:29:50 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
We've always called them "katy-dids" here in west Texas. I think that it is a longhorned grasshopper.

That's a big assed cricket. This is a katydid.....

Never found indoors. Some have what looks like a green, upturned horn coming out their ass.

Completely different bug.

Posted: 8/20/2006 3:00:36 PM EDT

[#26]

Oh dear god!

My moms basement has those things on occasion. My brother and I refer to them as "fucking freak bugs". They can jump several feet, and the ones I have seen have an ovipositor that looks like a huge stinger. Kill it with fire, or draw down before it is too late!

Honestly, they are probably pretty harmless, but damn they look freaky!

-GG

Posted: 8/20/2006 3:08:03 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Moon cricket.

Thats fucked up. (rest of this reply kept to myself)

Posted: 8/20/2006 3:18:06 PM EDT

[#28]

By the way, I actually did kill one with fire, and it made this loud picthed whine, like all of the oxygen was being sucked out of it's body. Very weird.

Posted: 8/20/2006 3:32:59 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
By the way, I actually did kill one with fire, and it made this loud picthed whine, like all of the oxygen was being sucked out of it's body. Very weird.

I'm thinking "reactive targets"

Posted: 8/20/2006 4:45:45 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:

Quoted:
By the way, I actually did kill one with fire, and it made this loud picthed whine, like all of the oxygen was being sucked out of it's body. Very weird.

I'm thinking "reactive targets"

They're good targets for pellet guns, they're full of goo. If you smack one down and it doesn't leak, it's just faking it.

Oh yea, they don't seem to like boric acid much. We used it in the cracks and around the basement door. A pesticide grenade down in the basement cut down on their numbers and put a dent in the population, but it wasn't the tac nuke I was hoping for.

Posted: 8/20/2006 4:54:10 PM EDT

[#31]

oh yeah- i'veen big into smacking palmetto bugs/any other bug with airsoft for quite a while now- tremendously amusing

Posted: 8/20/2006 4:59:27 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
Moon cricket.

Mole Cricket.

Posted: 8/20/2006 5:10:21 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
cave cricket or a camel cricket. We had 'em at the last place we lived. They don't bite or eat your food, but they get even bigger than that (I've seen 'em about 3x what you found) and they're territorial.
They like it dark, cool, and moist. If you have any leaks in the basement, that'll happen.

Oh yea, and they're resilient and play dead. I've smacked a few that came back to life and jumped at my face on their way to the trashcan.

Ugliest fucking things.. The future Mrs. Smith has nightmares about 'em.

Seriously!! I have seen 'em in my moms basement, swear to god, almost 1-1/2 - 2 inches in body length. When they jump, literally you can hear the "thud" when they land again. I was about ready to grab some .30-06 when I first saw those bastards!

Posted: 8/20/2006 6:47:51 PM EDT

[#34]

watch out for the dark-green/dark-blue ooze that comes out of them after you smash em.... it's a highly concentrated acid that will melt thru 3 levels of.... j/k

but seriously watch out for the ooze... i think it can stain carpets/floors.

Posted: 8/20/2006 6:48:59 PM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Moon cricket.

Posted: 8/21/2006 9:41:13 AM EDT

[#36]

They'll also eat other bug carcasses. I found one munching on a roach in my folk's basement. He'd done a good job. it looked like a friggen taco salad bowl when I found him. He'd eaten everything except for the bottom layer(the roach carcass was upside down).