Eastern lubber grasshoppers are very interesting because in the early part of their lifecycle when they are nymphs, their colors are black with a red or yellow stripe, whereas adults are yellow with patterns of red and black. They can do significant damage to citrus, vegetable crops, and landscape plants, feeding on the tips or edges of leaves. The lubber grasshopper is native to Florida and the Southeastern United States. Most birds do not eat the adult lubbers because of their toxins, except the loggerhead shrike, which impales the grasshopper on a thorny bush or fence to denature the toxins before eating it.
Gardeners have a choice of how to manage them in their home landscapes. They are native and many people choose to let them coexist in the landscape. Lots of critters eat the baby lubber grasshoppers while they are still in the nymph stage including birds such as the cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds, swallow-tail kites, and barred owls. Mammals that have been documented to eat lubber grasshopper nymphs include Eastern gray squirrels, fox squirrels, raccoons, and opossums. Other natural predators include box turtles, leopard frogs, certain wasps, spiders, and wheel bugs. Lubber nymphs take approximately two to three months to grow from hatchlings into adults, and change color from black to yellow.
Others wage war on the lubber grasshoppers, killing them by hand squishing, insecticidal sprays or cutting them with scissors. If you’re going to use a spray to manage them, spray early in their lifecycle when the grasshoppers are still immature for best results.
As the grasshoppers grow into adults they are more difficult to kill with chemicals. Look for insecticides containing the following active ingredients carbaryl, bifenthrin, cyhalothrin, permethrin, esfenvalerate, and Spinosad for lubber grasshopper control and apply as specified in the label.
For more information, see the EDIS publication on Lubber Grasshopper (Romalea microptera)
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN132
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