DEAR JOAN: This is the first year I have seen a lot of grasshoppers in my front and back yards. I do not have grass; just bare ground right now, with a few plants around in the ground and in pots.
I’m not sure what they would be eating, or why so many of them are in my yard. Any ideas?
Deborah, Livermore
DEAR DEBORAH: California is home to about 200 species of grasshoppers, some of which migrate through, and there do seem to be a lot of grasshoppers out and about. Without seeing it, I can’t give you an identification, but the most likely one would be the pallid-winged grasshopper (Trimerotropis pallidipennis).
In late July, Las Vegas had a huge number of pallid-winged grasshoppers migrating through in a mass so large, the National Weather Service radar picked them up.
Pallid-winged grasshoppers prefer grasslands and deserts, and while they can be found at elevations of 8,500 feet, they prefer the lowlands and are common in weedy lots in developed areas. One description of them says they aren’t picky and can turn up all over the place.
We’re most likely to see the pallid-winged grasshoppers in June through October. They feed on grasses and forbs, which are herbaceous plants with soft, green stems.
As to what they were doing in your spartan yard, entomologists theorize that dry conditions in open space have drawn many to our irrigated landscapes. They might also be laying eggs, which will spend the winter in the ground and hatch when the soil warms, unless other insects and creatures find and eat them.
That doesn’t mean you’ll have a plague of grasshoppers next spring, because the nymphs will quickly move to locations with plenty of food, and that likely will be in the open space and foothills.
Grasshopper populations vary year to year, with mass infestations occurring every eight to 10 years. However, it depends a lot on the weather. A warm, wet spring that produces a lot of food in the foothills can encourage outbreaks.
DEAR JOAN: What do I feed a wild lizard?
A.H., Bay Area
DEAR A.H.: You don’t have to feed a wild lizard anything, presuming it’s still in the wild. If you’ve captured one as a pet, please release it as they don’t do well in captivity.
Our most common lizards — the Western fence lizard, also known as a blue belly, and the alligator lizard — both eat insects and slugs, and the alligator also will eat snails.
They prefer hunting and eating live creatures, and you can help in that regard by keeping your yard as pesticide free as you can. The more bugs you have in your yard, the happier the lizards will be.
You can set out small dishes of water and build some lizard habitat, picking a sunny, out-of-the-way spot in your yard and stacking some small rocks or broken pottery to create hiding places for them. Lizards often are the favorite meals of birds and other creatures, so having good hiding spots for them is important.
You’ll likely be seeing fewer lizards around as they tend to nap through the colder months.
