CLOSED: Ok then, what the heck is this thing?

Speckledpig- First, I love your name! Second, I don't blame you. I used to run in the house every time I saw one!

Hey, it's weird. My daughter and I were eating breakfast this morning and a BIG (especially for Ct.) wasp came and landed on our screen door. She was about two inches long. She spent about 5 minutes trying to lay eggs in the screen then gave up and flew off. This is what she looked like:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/image_galleries/big_chill_jackie_photo_gallery.shtml?24

No, seriously, she looked just like a cicada killer! Long body with a yellow dot in the middle, and a half inch stinger.

http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/images/cicada_killer_wasp.jpeg

Sorry, I wasn't smart enough to get my camera, so this pic from the net will have to do.

My daughter was screaming at me to close the glass door the whole time, and I was just trying to decide what to do if she got in because we have a hole in our screen!

Now, did one of you send that cicada killer to Connecticut on purpose? Just to make me feel at home?

lmbo Ivy . . . that 1st photo scared me so bad . . . I'll be have'n nightmares about giant wasps for months :O

So ya missed out on a rare photo op huh?

Well it wasn't me that sent that rascal up there (insert evil grin here)

Maybe she will come back- eeeuuuuwww!

Got Bait? :D

Sure I do- I found some last year in my yard and freaked out.

I guess I should be happy with my cicada killer! The benefits of going organic.....

lol yeah . . . better to have something to hunt and kill them, than to have them sucking the sap outta all your trees huh?

My dogs LOVE to catch and play with them :D

Ivy, ROTFL!!! over the link!

Good caption GD! Our dog used to relish eating them! (Cocker Spaniel.)

I think one could eat my dog....

Oh my! How tiny is your dog?

lol...I was sitting here typing on DG yesterday...and a BIG cicada wasp bumped into my window about 4 times....It made a loud thwumpy noise...and I guess it knocked itself senseless, lol.....it sort of flew backwards after the 4th thwump, lol...and then a hummer shoo'd it away.... :D

ROTFL!!!

lol...tis true... :D

lmbo @ ya'll :))

Yeah my dogs are my "c'kader killerz" . . . They crack me up . .. which ever of the two catches one . . . the other of course wants it, so the one that has it takes off run'n across the yard with it in closed mouth - play'n 'keep away' from the other - the whole time the dang Cicada is do'n that BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ thang . . . so the dog appears to be make'n the noise . . . almost like an ambulance with it's siren go'n off or something . . . lmbo

I need to get that on video :D

TT- That was a brave hummer!

GD- You have got to send that video in! You might win 10,000 dollars! i would love to see those dogs buzzin' away!

My dog is, alas, a poodle named Tippy. I did not name him. He is a small miniature poodle or a large toy poodle. He isn't yappy, and he has a kind of tough personality. I think I would have called him Killer. He is a great squirrel chaser. I don't think he realizes that he is not much bigger than one! But I fear a cicada killer or a hawk could take him out, although he might take a bite out of one first. We have a black Lab next door (the nicest, gentlest dog ever), but my dog goes after him like he was the most evil thing on earth! I think he has a Napoleon complex, being small and called Tippy and all........

lol yeah . . . I bet you're right . . . sounds like ya needa rename him! ;)

Yeppers . . . I'm gonna have to keep the video cam handy and see if I can manage to get that one film :D

GD, that description made my day! Ambulance.... Video, definately! Or even a picture.

Ivy, that made my day too!! Being small and called Tippy and all... ROTFL!

lol yeah . . . I hope I can get that one film . . . wonder if I can post a video clip on here? MP3 file or WMP maybe?

I don't know. I do know people have hyperlinked tv videos.

I can barely post my garden pics, I would never be able to do a video or a montage....

Laugh! I hear you!

hmmmm well maybe if I'm luckey enough to get that moment on video, I'll just load it on my own personal site and post a link to it from here . . . wish me lick . . . errrr I mean luck! AwwwwwwwwwwwAwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww BuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZzzz

The family grand-dog, Bailey loves carrying around cicadas...meanwhile buzzin' away down the yard, all proud of himself, lol. They're so loud at my parent's house that I can barely hear my Mom on the phone each evening when I call her... :D

That is a locust. Haven't you been hearing them in the trees? Noisy buggers.

Ya think? . . . See there TxT . . . I tried to tell ya that!
(*raised eyebrow effect*)

lol.... *wagglin' eyebrows at GD* well....locusts are actually grasshoppers...but south texicans usually call cicadas a locust....I know I did as a child...."Look, TxT is shimmying up that tree to catch a locust!" :D

Hmmm . . . is TxT be'n noisy up in the trees again Lee?

This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 6:24 AM

An Iowa child, we called them locusts too. I didn't realize their real name till I was married!

We called them locusts in Okla. too. We used to find their empty shells on our bushes. I just googled it a couple days ago to find out whether they were locusts or cicadas, and I guess they are cicadas!

Yeah that's what I always heard them called as a kid too . . . maybe our parents never heard the word Cicada? lol

Note: If you are interested in seeing a new forum added for Art/Painting, please stop by the thread in Dave's Garden titled "Call for Artists - Caution Wet Paint - Painting Forum?" http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/634868/ - and voice your opinion.

I've got a *painting in progress* thread in the Wildlife section, but it may be better to have an actual "Painting" forum?

Weeelll I guess we need some of those cicadas killers we discussed earlier. Texas has some big bugs. Everything in Texas is big.

HUGE! Big plants too!

This message was edited Aug 6, 2006 9:51 AM

As it turns out . . . this is not a "Water Scorpion" but rather a Lethocerus americanus - Giant Water Bug

I'll add him to the BugFiles so others may see the photos and learn more about these guys.

Paalexan was right in the original ID.

Thanks :)
GD