The other day my husband I and took a drive out in the country. He stopped to take some pictures to try out a camera he bought on Ebay. I was in the car looking at the scenery. By the side of the road was a fencepost. I looked at it and something moved. Then as I looked closer, I saw it was covered with grasshoppers. I counted 20 grasshoppers on the three sides I could see! Then I looked further down the road and saw that every fence post was covered with grasshoppers!

Grasshoppers are of the insecta class and the orthoptera order. They have three stages of life: egg, nymph and adult. They eat a variety of plants, which make them a nuisance sometimes. Some species especially like corn. Some only eat grasses. They are preyed upon by birds, spiders, lizards and rodents.

As a kid, I used to catch grasshoppers. Did you ever get brown juice on your hands when you caught one? That's a defense mechanism--a brown juice that the grasshopper spits to protect himself.

In my research, I learned that rotational grazing can help deter grasshopper overpopulation. Check it out at this very thorough site:

http://www.sidney.ars.usda.gov/grasshopper/