Here are the facts about Orthoptera.
Where they live.
Field crickets, the familiar black or brownish crickets are often
abundant in meadows and fields. Also in dwellings or in small clusters in
the ground. Tree Crickets are more often heard then seen. Usually
colored green these slender crickets live in shrubs and trees. Mole Crickets
can burrow rapidly through moist soil. They also can live in caves, hollow
logs, beneath stones, and other dark moist places. Grasshoppers are also
part of this group. They often become very abundant, and migrate in
tremendous swarms. Destroying nearly all plants in their path. They like
to live in wet grassy areas. Locust also contribute to Orthoptera. Locust
plagues have been recorded since the beginning of history and are still one
of the worlds major insect problems. Cockroaches are in this group too.
Their are an estimated 3,000 cockroach species in the world.
About 55 live
in the U.S., and only 4 species ar common household pets. German
cockroaches or Croton bugs, are common in the U.S. especially in the
northern states. They commonly enter the house in bags or boxes from
grocery stores. They tend to cluster in warm moist places around hot
water pipes. They stay hidden when they are not eating.
Eat
Crickets will eat holes in paper or in garments especially those soiled
with persperation. They also eat young roots and seedlings, peanuts,
garden crops, grain, clothing, and sometimes other insects and even each
other. Grasshoppers are a different story. They eat crops and destroy
millions of dollars a year in them. Cockroaches are just a pest and they eat
almost any thing. Cockroaches feed on a great variety of foods, meats,
cheeses, sweets, and starches(like the starch in clothing or in the glue like
that in book...