A 'cannibalistic' Mormon cricket infestation has left Nevada residents feeling 'imprisoned' indoors
Nevada residents are sharing videos of their cricket-infested houses.
They say that the massive crickets smell terrible and have forced them to stay indoors.
"Oh sweet baby lord Jesus, I'm a prisoner in my own home," one resident said.
Nevada residents are locking themselves inside their homes — but not by choice.
A recent infestation of Mormon crickets in Nevada has forced homeowners to stay indoors, as millions of these insects descended on their houses, lawns, and well, everything else.
One resident, Colette Reynolds, shared a video on TikTok showing hundreds of thousands of these locust-like creatures crawling all over her lawn — and the delivery packages that she's been waiting a week for.
Reynolds said that the crickets are not only carnivorous but cannibalistic — and that when she drives over these creatures on the street, she sees "the living ones turn back around to devour their friends that got ran over."
"Oh sweet baby lord Jesus, I'm a prisoner in my own home," Reynolds said, adding that the crickets are "foul," "disgusting," and have a terrible smell to them.
In another video, TikTok user @mikayla_x shared a video of her house completely swamped with crickets.
"I cried the ENTIRE way to my car which was also COVERED," she wrote.
@mikayla_x i cried the ENTIRE way to my car which was also COVERED 😭😭 #mormoncrickets #absolutelynot #fyp ♬ original sound - Krutika 🐥 - themermaidscales
Another Nevada resident, Kerstin Ann Morales, showed what it's like to drive on a road infested with crickets in a video posted on TikTok. The crickets were shown lining every inch of the road overlooking the mountains, turning the idyllic views into a surreal and apocalyptic sight.
In the video, a man wearing a short-sleeved shirt was shown riding a motorcycle on the road, trying to avoid driving over the insects.
"I feel like I hear crunching," Morales said in the video.
Morales told Insider that "the crickets smell kind of rotten and they sound like regular crickets with the high pitched cricket sound."
@kerstinannmorales #mormoncrickets #insects #infestation #elkocrickets #elkonevada #yucky #smelly ♬ Spider Sound - Paraforce
Mormon crickets last infested Nevada in 2019. These creatures are said to be active in the state for between four to six years before becoming dormant again.
They are native to several states in the northwestern US, including Nevada, and can grow up to two inches in length.
"Basically, these insects are one generation a year, so about July they start laying eggs, normally those eggs will develop in the winter and hatch in the spring," Jeff Knight, an entomologist with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, told local television station KSL-TV.
Reynolds and the Nevada Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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