I hate it when this happens

Some sneaky, evil critter is eating my hibiscus buds at night.

For us here that would be a grasshopper. They've already started here. A few years back the hoppers were so bad that they would eat the entire bud before it bloomed. They especially liked the red ones.

Oh NO Alice, did that bug eat the top off it? I was thinking what a neat picture and how great you could see the reproductive parts............. then I read your words.

It's time to set up a blind, dress entirely in black, strap on the night vision goggles and wait patiently with .45 caliber in hand.
That'll larn them critters...

Yep, zap those little buggers!! Hungry grasshoppers are bad news, we get them here too :-(

I wonder if it could be earwigs. They work at night. It's too bad we have so many pests to fight to keep our flowers pretty.

I would LOVE some of those night vision goggles; wouldn't they be fun. LOL

Start saving your milk and cookie money!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Night-Vision-Goggles-Seben-Commando-Infrared-New_W0QQitemZ260129650448QQihZ016QQcategoryZ40970QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Good Grief (but anything for my Hibiscus) LOL

Ardesia,
I'm right there with you. The buggers are on my plants yesterday. Caught them is action, in mid daylight!!!
Have pics too.
Thank goodness they decided they like my red garden variety and not my exotics!
Oh, and the worst part? One of them was staring right at me, while I took his/her picture!

here's 2 of them together. (yes, only 2 visible on all plants)

They were smiling really big too. They said "Hibiscus" as you snapped the pic. lol

Oh my goodness Cat, your first picture is hysterical. Too cute to squish that bugger. Did you? I would feel too guilty if he looked at me like that. LOL

Oh my Commando Goggles, they would know you meant business Alice. LOL

Something was eating my lillies which are next to a wall. I suspect that the wall is a convenient seat for the squirrels. I got a package of gauze netting used for canning and covered it up. No problem since. Only thing is I have to cut holes in it to see the flowers that have opened since.

I haven't seen any more damage, I think they just did that to keep me on my toes.

Like I said above, a few years ago we had a drought (just remember be careful what you ask for) and the grasshoppers were terrible. They stripped the bark off of our Rose of Sharon. I didn't get any hibiscus blooms because the hoppers ate them as they budded. They stripped some of them of leaves and bark. They were huge green and black. My daughter swore that they bit. I don't know I didn't stand still long enough around them to find out. There was nothing that we could do. We lived out in the country on 5 acres and we were far, far outnumbered. I've never seen it so bad before or since thankfully.

Didn't squish the buggers....couldn't. Not with them looking at me!
Checked tonight....Didn't see any.
Hopefully they got bored and decided to go to the next yard, lol!

When we lived in South Florida we used to get huge grasshoppers.They were at least 6-8 inches and their markings made them look as if they were starring at you.No poison could kill them in their adult stage.If you didn't want to loose your whole garden you had to hunt them and kill them.Luckily they were pretty sluggish so if wasn't hard to cut them up with pruners.We had to get them thrown immediately away because a female could have thousands of babies.

I have never seen these monsters any where else.Luckily we didn't have them every year.