Identifying insect in Florida

[Denise_uk]

I'm on holiday in Florida and have just found the scariest insect on the pool deck. It looked just like a cockroach (body length of about an inch) but had back legs that were much bigger and were jointed and shaped like a frogs, and the thing could jump - quite high too - and could run around normally as well! It didn't seem particularly afraid of me the way cockroaches scuttle away if you go near them, and the roach spray did absolutely nothing to it! It eventually sat still long enough for me to whack it with my shoe! What the hell was it??? Thanks guys!

[Noweia]

Was it a cricket? Or grasshopper or locust? (Not sure which ones they have n the States).

Cricket:
http://www.blitzworld.com/insects/imagesinsect s/cricketwebG243X.JPG

[gen2]

That reminds me of a story I once came across.

Some local teenagers were hanging out in the local playpark and came across a cute little kitten not much more than eight weeks old. It had a fluffy coat and big bright eyes and jumped around playing with a leaf blowing in the wind. One of the teenagers then sprayed it with a graffiti can. It didn't have much effect on the defenceless creature apart from turning it green. They kicked it across to where the see-saw was and eventually it lay still while the largest of the teenagers clambered onto the see-saw and brought the end down on its fragile body. CRUNCH.

[Denise_uk]

No Noweia, it definitely wasn't a cricket, grasshopper or locust. If I thought they existed I'd have sworn it was literally a huge jumping cockroach. I've since found out that something very similar does exist and it was probably a Palmetto bug, which is basically an enormous flying cockroach (yuk!). We've had frogs, lizards, stick insects and the odd cricket that have somehow found their way onto the pool deck and these have all just been assisted back outside the pool screen onto the grass. Gen2; I hardly think that your comparison between a cockroach type insect and that rather sickening story about animal cruelty is either fair or relevant.

[gen2]

You don't see the comparison?

On the one hand we have something considered cute which is sprayed and crushed to death.

On the other hand we have something you considered scary and then it was sprayed and crushed to death.

So why does your personal perception of the animal make it cruel in the first case but OK in the second?

[Cetti]

A lovely photo for you Denise, showing a few Palmetto Bugs (American Cockroach). Ugh!!
Everything is larger in Florida, isn't it - have you encountered one of their dragonflies yet??

http://tinyurl.com/6nhxh7

[Denise_uk]

Hi Cetti. We've seen all manner of wierd and wonderful beasts and bugs over here, including dragonflies, which are about 6 inches long! I'm very wary of most Floridian insects though, as I'm unsure on the ability to sting / bite of most of them. I live in fear of coming across a brown recluse spider (I'm terrified of spiders anyway but one that has the ability to necrotise tissue if it bites is enough to send me over the edge!!!) To address gen2's last comment, no; I'm sorry but I don't see a comparison at all between the two scenarios. As far as I'm aware most civilized countries have laws against ANIMAL cruelty but I have yet to come across one which frowns upon or imposes any penalty for INSECT extermination. I would also challenge your suggestion that it is my own personal perception of the creature concerned (ie 'cute' or 'scary') that makes one situation cruel and the other not - I doubt you'd find many people at all who would consider killing a large flying cockroach as cruel, and likewise I would think that most people would find your story about the kitten to be sickening, so I doubt I'm the only one struggling to understand your comparison!