Curious about cicadas...

Since finding a carcass of one up in Oklahoma, these amazing insects have me intrigued. Has anyone bothered keeping these in captivity? And is there info on how to catch an adult or discover some nymphs? Anything on captive care as well?
Call me a wuss, but do they bite? (I'm a little jumpy around invertebrates- I'm more-so a herp guy...)

They're usually high up in trees, but I do find them on the front porch in the morning every now and then. If they're still cool, they're sluggish, and you can sneak up on them. I never bothered to keep one. I don't know if they bite. I hold them by the wings so they don't get a chance to.

I think there are two problems you will face. I know a decent amount about cicadas because of the "plague" of Magicicada (the 13- and 17-year locusts, one species of which took over my yard and many other places in Missouri last summer and cooperatively produced a chorus louder than a running lawn mower). Cicadas hang out most of their lives below-ground as nymphs, where they feed on plant roots. Once they emerge as adults, they are driven to mate and lay eggs before they die. The adults use their odd mouthparts to pierce plants and tree bark and drink the sap. This is what can lead to "bites" - they will often mistake you for a tree and attempt to push their little sap-sucking mouthpart, which looks somewhat like a straw, into you. When a cicada did that to my leg last year, it hurt, and although it didn't break the skin I know that they have the potential to (although it's not a very serious wound).

So knowing all this, here are the two problems.
1.) Unless you keep nymphs and can provide them with the proper diet, you will face a dilemma similiar to owning mature male tarantulas. Adult cicadas just don't last that long. They're just looking for a mate and in females a place to deposit their eggs, they don't stick around past that because the coming Winter's cold temperatures would wipe them out anyway.
2.) Collecting tree sap and presenting it in a way that the cicadas could essentially "pierce into the bark" and drink it would be tricky at best.

As for catching adults, I see them sometimes when I wander my area looking for photographic subjects. A few days ago one was sitting on a tarp, still alive, and I scooped him up in a deli cup for awhile to get a better look - he didn't mind! It's mostly luck, because a lot of them are up in trees or will fly away (loudly!) when you approach, but sometimes you'll find a calmer one near the ground. Personally, I find a TON of cicada molts out in my backyard on our pine trees, and I absolutely adore taking photographs of them. Just a few days ago I also found two cicadas that had died in the middle of mating. You never know what you'll find outdoors!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

Cicada bite is in first chapter.

Around here they come out of the ground like every 13-14 years. Little holes all over the ground. I am talking tens of thousands of them to. They are so loud at night. When they shed there shells are stuck to everything. Houses, trees, porches, decks, ect... There are so many empty shells around the bases of the trees in my yard you can actually scoop up a shovel full at a time. Big winged colorful bugs after a shed. They dont live long after they shed though. No I have never had one bite me for I use to pick them up all the time. It is incredible to see all them.

stingray said:

Around here they come out of the ground like every 13-14 years. Little holes all over the ground. I am talking tens of thousands of them to. They are so loud at night. When they shed there shells are stuck to everything. Houses, trees, porches, decks, ect... There are so many empty shells around the bases of the trees in my yard you can actually scoop up a shovel full at a time. Big winged colorful bugs after a shed. They dont live long after they shed though. No I have never had one bite me for I use to pick them up all the time. It is incredible to see all them.

Click to expand...

I'm currently in St. Louis, MO this summer, and have lived here most of my life. We do have the "13-year" cicada species, as I mentioned in my above post, and they came out last year and invaded many areas! However, there are also other species of cicada that are a yearly occurence, commonly called the "dog-day cicadas" because they come out in the end of summer. Right now you can find them, as well as their molts and carcasses, all over because it's breeding season. They're of the genus Tibicen, various species. Both these and the 13-year/17-year species CAN bite with their specialized mouthparts, but this is simply them mistaking you for a tree and trying to drink sap from you. This happened to my leg last summer, I actually have a photo somewhere of it!

I was just telling my wife about the similar displays in Long Island when I was a kid. The shells were everywhere and the sky was almost never without a few flying around making tons of noise...and getting eaten by large birds.But yes awesome beautiful bugs.

I'm more-so interested in the simple annual species. I'm thinking of going out and finding nymphs and keeping those until they molt into adults, then breeding those adults for the next generation. Kind of like the dynastes beetle cycles... Adults for a year, nymphs for two or three.
I would think having a deli cup of some sort of nectar solution with a thin sheet of plastic over the top would suffice when feeding adults. All they would need to do is pierce the sheet and absorb the solution, and just replace the food every day or every other day. I'm not quite sure how one would feed nymphs though.

As far as finding them, I hear them every year but I never saw one until I found that carcass about a week ago.

Perhaps if you find out which smaller plants they would be able to feed on the roots of, you could keep a few in a planted vivarium? I have no idea if they would damage the plants severely and if this setup would work in the long-term, but that's the only way I could think of, unless the nymphs could be converted to a more practical diet. I love cicadas, but I've never given a thought to keeping them in captivity because of the issues with feeding as well as the loud noises they make!

---------- Post added 08-12-2012 at 05:32 PM ----------

I thought you might enjoy this, on the subject of cicadas. This guy is of the "13-year" species that overtook St. Louis and a lot of the Midwest last summer. If you look at his mouthparts, you can see a little straw-like part sticking out. A few seconds later I was startled by a sharp pain as he tried to drink sap from my leg!

Down here in Mississippi these suckers are everywhere. We have the annuals, seven year, and thirteen years. Were in the annual phase right now, you can find their shed skins on all the tree trunks and porch columns. I accidentally dig up the nymphs all the time when I work in the yard. I've personally never been bit, but the nymphs little front "digger" claws are sharp and can give you a pinch when they grab you. If you wanted to try an annual I find the nymphs almost always buried at the base of hardwood trees like oaks, cedars, and the occasional pine. Maybe you could get them eating on buried carrots or beets or something. If I were gonna attempt this I would keep them in deep loose soil, bury a variety of roots and vegetables in it, and provide a rough surface for them to climb out of to molt into their imago form. Then I would let it go to breed like butterfree.

I'm pretty sure females pierce tree bark to deposit eggs, the nymphs hatch, drop to the ground, and burrow. I've never seen it but that's what I've read. Around here they favor pine trees, probably because of all the sap. I always wondered if a mix of maple syrup would feed them, if they like it. I do see them on maple trees here too. If you had a greenhouse that would let them live long.

I never saw the 17 year emergence, my area of Long Island never gets them for some reason it sucks because that would be a dream to see!

Found this guy outside after reading this post