Even the Devastator Has Been Devasted

Sadly, the Devastator Grasshopper (Melanoplus devastator) we caught on 6/26 has perished just like the Pallid-wings (Trimerotropis pallidipennis).

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When we caught the the Devastator Grasshoppers on 6/26 at Canyon Trail Park, El Cerrito, it was yet again triggered by the "act first think later" mentality. We had never reared them before, had never even seen them before that date, and generally have failed miserably to rear other grasshoppers in the past such as the Pallid-wing Grasshopper that died on 6/22. And still, we decided to catch them for some nice photo shoots and deal with keeping them alive later.

All the way up until a few days ago since we caught it, our single Devastator Grasshopper (the other ones escaped while taking photos) seemed pretty comfortable in the new home we made it (described here). Everyday it would hop around and take a bite of the dead grass we gave it and generally seemed fine with the way we were treating it. It seemed to love picking off the little seeds on the grass and eating them like a squirrel (yes, it holds its food to its mouth using its front two legs as hands). At the time, it really didn't seem much harder than keeping katydids (Scudderia mexicana and Phaneroptera nana) which we have never had any mysterious deaths with. 

But a few days ago, it seemed to be getting weak, the same vague symptom we saw in our Pallid-wing a few days before it died. By yesterday, it's fate seemed almost sealed -- it wasn't hopping around at all and wasn't eating. At first glance, it might've seemed like these were symptoms of a nearing molt. But it clearly wasn't because by today it was dead with no injuries or any sign of a molting whatsoever, let alone a mismolt. It was just sitting at the bottom of the container, completely limp and lifeless. 

We really don't know what to say about this rather mysterious and abrupt death. Never have we ever been able to keep grasshoppers alive for long despite our roaring success with katydids. Their needs are simply too diverse and what applies to one group of Orthoptera simply doesn't apply to another, even if they are native to the exact same region. We will certainly have to learn from our mistakes and figure this out if we ever wish to include a grasshopper section to our Orthoptera Rearing Guide. 

- Brian