What is this freaky bug?

Factual Questions
1

I found this sitting on my stovetop when I came home from work last night. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s like a bastardization of a cricket and a house centipede. It has a rounded, segmented body, like a potato bug; six bent legs and some enormous antennae.

My husband found it first, and left it there for hours because he knew I’d want to see it. I like bugs a lot, and this one was interesting to look at. But I’m going to come right out and admit that it made me feel a little nauseated. Something about it just doesn’t seem natural. Usually I leave them where I find them. This one was removed from my house as soon as I got the courage to approach it.

It is roughly the size of a small frog. In fact, it jumps like a frog, so that’s what I thought it was when I first saw it.
It’s clearly not a frog. (Warning: This may haunt your dreams for years to come.)

So what is it?

2

Cave Cricket(also called Camel Cricket).

They come inside this time of year seeking warmth, I think.

3

Holy gross! Well, not really gross, just really…weird.

I know what you mean about feeling nauseated. I’ve found odd looking bugs before and had the same feeling, even though I like bugs. It’s the unnatural aspect of it that does it.

4

Maybe it’s some subtropical thing moving north? I just read that they found kudzu in Southern Ontario.

5

Is it a camel cricket?

Edit: Too slow! Sailboat got in first. Cave crickets and camel crickets appear to both be species of Rhaphidophoridae, a word I’m glad I get to write out instead of having to pronounce.

6

Aww, now I feel kinda bad for throwing it outside into the cold.

Thanks Sailboat and Kelly. I am slightly less freaked out now that I know they are harmless. Looking at the YouTube video it definitely looks like a camel cricket.

7

You want to really be creeped out by a cricket, look up Jerusalem crickets.

8

Yup, camel cricket. completely harmless.

So are mole crickets, but… ewwwww.

They look like a cricket and a crawdad did something they should really be ashamed of.

9

Jerusalem Crickets are awesome! Look how big they are!

10

YouTube to the rescue. Video of a live Jerusalem Cricket on a woman’s hand. A woman who sounds very attractive, but maybe that’s just me. :wink:

11

I think you made a mistake while linking to that, due to coming from a google image search. My guess is that you meant to link to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7homz6DMMpk

Though the bug in the video in your link has some gigantic antennae. That thing must be catching TV broadcasts or something.

12

Yeah you’re right. I messed that up. That’s what I get for not checking my link. :smack:

No, it’s getting instructions from its home planet on how to handle this person prodding it.

The scary part is that the bug doesn’t run away. It holds its ground, almost defiantly.

13

That is one freaky picture.

The insect book I have at home includes Jerusalem crickets as well, but the photo in that book makes it look like a little wooden toy.

So I clicked on your link thinking, “Oh, cool, a new picture of that cute little wooden-toy-looking bugAAAAGH!”

14

That thing not only has freaky huge legs, it also seems to have toes
Now that ain’t right…

15

That’s a snowy tree cricket. I’ll bet my Flash # 123 on it.

16

Don’t worry too much about it. I’m sure he came back inside somewhere when you weren’t looking.

We used to have those at our old house- they’re creepy. We had a couple in the basement, and I suspected they were coming in from under the deck. We were selling the house and I wanted to keep them out of the place until we were gone, so one day I pull off a piece of the paneling at the bottom of the deck and belly-crawl under with a flashlight. I turned it on and pointed it at the exterior wall of the house, and it was like I was Ripley in Aliens and had snuck into their secret lair- there were about 500 of the little critters on the wall, all looking straight at me. It was like they were having a party and suddenly froze when the flashlight went on. I slowly crawled back out, armed myself with a canister of bug spray- the kind that attached to a water hose- as well as goggles and gloves, and crawled back in.

They were still there, looking at me. I turned on the hose and pointed it at the wall, spraying the hell out of them. They all started hopping about like mad, unable to get away from the stream of water. When I was out of spray, it looked like a battlefield- hundreds of little camel cricket corpses scattered about.

We moved out a week later.