Help Me Identify this Bug (Pest)!

[86 911]

I was helping my parents move into their new home today and my dad opened up a box that had been sitting in the garage of our old house to find this thing crawling out of it (see photo). It was a couple of inches long and looked like a morph of a bee/cricket/ant/spider (but had no wings). It probably crawled in when we were living in our old house (in Colusa, California - just a few miles north of Sacramento) so it was probably native to there. If not, then it might be native to the Eureka, California area (where my parents just moved). Both climates are considerably different - Colusa being hot and desert-like in the summer and Eureka being cool (50-70 degrees) year round. Anyways, enough background. Here is a photo of the freaky thing. What is it????

[look 171]

We have them here too. I think they are call potato bug. Again, I could be wrong. I see them when I dug under my foundation. Ugly suckers.

[M.D. Holloway]

hmmm. Looks like a nymph of a cricket...

[86 911]

Just googled "potato bug" and that sure looks like it. Thank you! So.. is fumigation/pest control necessary to prevent an outbreak of them or are they harmless to the home?

[look 171]

We use to have a service to keep bugs away from the house when my kids were born. After talking to the bug guy, he said you can do this yourself. Go to home depot and get the stuff and spray around the lower corners of your entire house. Do it every 3 months should keep most bugs away.

[slodave]

They are harmless and usually commit suicide by pool. They look like alien spawn, but are harmless. Kinda just freaky, especially if you are a kid and get surprised by a dead one in the pool.

[M.D. Holloway]

Jerusalem crickets, also called "potato bugs"

[slodave]

Dude! I may not be a little kid anymore, but they are still freaky!

[86 911]

Haha ok I will keep that in mind! And Lubemaster.. you are going to give me nightmares with that closeup! By the way.. how have you been? I saw that bottle of Lubemaster grease you gave me for my 911 a few years ago (back when I was a junior in high school - now I'm starting grad school lol) sitting on the shelf in the garage and just re-greased my wheel bearings with it. That is some good stuff! Thanks for sending it that one time.

[HardDrive]

My inner child just screamed like a little girl. Ugly buggers.

[chocolatelab]

those suckers can get huge too

[RWebb]

so do you cook them the same way you cook potatoes?

[GH85Carrera]

No, you put plastic ears and lips on them.

[looneybin]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

No, you put plastic ears and lips on them.

that's MISTER potato bug to you

[Laneco]

I HATE THOSE! They make my skin crawl.

edit - the potato bug, not Mr. Potatohead. He's oK.
angela

[jmaxwell]

'Nother name is Child of the Earth. And I concur with the swimming pool thing! I still remember finding one on the bottom of the pool, and with the water magnification, I wasn't long getting out! Of course I was just 9 or 10, but it sure was ugly!

[R K T]

Scared me when I was a little kid.....didn't know they were harmless.

Looks like they were here with the dinosaurs!

[Joe Bob]

Taterbug....no big whoop.....

[Normy]

Mole cricket. Also known as a chinch bug, they will DESTROY your lawn! I would advice putting down about 50 pounds of Bug-B-Gone!

N!

[slodave]

It's a potato bug, not a mole cricket and does no harm to lawns.