Grasshopper Study

Back in September of 2006 we decided to really study nature up close and personal.  But then we had a nasty surprise!  Since that time we haven’t kept anything in our terrarium until a few weeks ago.

Grasshoppers are found aplenty in our yard right now so we caught about 6 and placed them in our terrarium.  Pet Bugs by Sally Kneidel gives instructions on how to keep crickets and so I followed those for our grasshoppers.

1.  We filled our terrarium with 1" of sand.

2.  We placed a toilet paper tube inside.

3.  We filled a jar lid with water for them to drink.

4.  We cut a small piece of apple for them to eat.

The kids each drew one of the grasshoppers in their Nature Journals and now we have just been observing them these few weeks.

Remember I’ve started my own Nature Journal?  Here’s one of my pages.  I’m no artist and I struggle with how to get what I see on paper, but I’m enjoying keeping a journal all the same.

Some things we’ve learned are:

What an ovipositor is

Females lay their eggs by means of their ovipositors (they take this part of their body and make a deep hole in the sand where they deposit their eggs)

They can make holes to lay their eggs in decaying wood

After laying their eggs they cover them with a gummy substance to keep them safe from predators

Their eggs look like small worms but when the grasshopper hatches they are a smaller version of the adult with a large head and fan-shaped wings.

What a grasshopper dropping looks like.  My son saw the grasshopper lay this and he then scooped it up with a leaf. 

We even saw the grasshopper laying eggs one day.  I read that they will lay 15-120 eggs in one pod (hole).

This morning when I looked there were probably 12 holes in the sand.  They’re supposed to hatch in the Spring but I don’t know if I want to wait that long and besides what would I do with all those grasshoppers?!  I hear they have lots of protein.  I suppose I could fry them.  Seventeen years ago, while in China we were served fried grasshoppers, our first night there.  Quite a unsuspecting surprise they were!  (I didn’t have the nerve to try them though.)

If I do decide to fry them I have this quite nasty sounding yummy recipe I found on the Internet.  If you try it, let me know what you think.

Recipe for Fried Grasshoppers

First, catch a bunch of grasshoppers and leave them in a jar overnight to purge (if you’re finicky). Then boil them for ten minutes, after which you can easily remove the large legs, and wings, too, if they are also large.

Next, in a bowl, beat one or more eggs, depending on how many grasshoppers you have, to which you add the little critters after removing the legs and wings. Then put the beaten-egg-covered "hoppers" in a paper sack or plastic bag which contains some yellow or white cornmeal and shake. Next, place the egg and cornmeal-covered grasshoppers one by-one into a small frying pan with an inch (2.54 cm) of hot cooking oil and fry until golden brown. After cooking, remove the hoppers from the skillet and place them on paper towels – to soak up any excess oil.