Grasshoppers Invade South Florida

MIAMI - You may think Florida is under a locust invasion if you've seen some of the several thousand Florida Lubber grasshoppers that are popping up around the area. But Metro Zoo's Ron Magill says residents have nothing to fear -- the large insects are harmless.

The Story In Pictures: Grasshopper Invasion

"The Florida Lubber is an interesting grasshopper," Magill said. "People look at it and say, 'God, it's a big monster of an insect.' Quite frankly, a lot of people are very frightened of them."

Magill says this is the time of year when the grasshoppers are most prominent.

"As the rain starts coming, they will start coming out of the ground," he said.

The Lubbers reach their peak between June and July and Magill says you could see thousands of them.

"There have been occasions in the middle part of the state of Florida where so many of them have been crossing the roads that cars run them over and the remains cause a slick in the road," Magill said. "That's how numerous they can be."

The Lubber's eggs hatch in February. When they hatch, the grasshoppers are small and solid black, according to Magill.

"Then they shed the skin over several periods of time until they reach the adult size where they are yellow with red streaks and black streaks on them," he said.

An adult size Lubber is usually 3 to 5 inches in length.

"They have a bad reputation because a lot of times you will see them in sci-fi movies and they are big and people put them like this (on their face) and they scream," Magill said. "But they are not dangerous, not going to bite you. They cannot fly."

But Magill said the grasshoppers do contain toxic substances.

"You don't want to put one in your mouth or have another animal put it in its mouth," he said. "In many parts of the world grasshoppers are edible, but not this type of grasshopper."

Magill said the grasshoppers usually eat weeds and the day lily is its favorite flower.

The Florida lubber makes the Sunshine State its home until the end of the summer.

Photojournalist Felix Castro provided video and pictures for this report.

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