What Do Grasshoppers Eat?

Grasshoppers are herbivores — they eat grasses, leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, and crops. A single grasshopper can eat roughly half its body weight in plants every day, which is why large populations do so much damage to gardens and farmland.

Their main diet:

• Grasses — their staple and the source of their name.
• Leaves and green foliage from a wide range of plants.
• Crops — corn, wheat, barley, alfalfa, cotton, clover, soybeans, and rye are favourites.
• Garden vegetables — lettuce, beans, carrots, onions, squash, and leafy greens.
• Flowers, seeds, and young shoots.

Do grasshoppers eat grass? Yes — grass is the core of their diet. Different species specialise: some feed almost entirely on grasses, while others prefer broadleaf plants, and many are generalists that eat whatever is abundant.

Do grasshoppers eat ants or other insects? Very rarely. They're not predators. However, some grasshoppers will scavenge dead insects or nibble on animal matter when plant food is scarce or when they need extra protein, and in extreme crowding a few species have been observed eating weaker or dead grasshoppers. Live ants are not part of a normal diet.

How they eat: Grasshoppers have strong mandibles that chew side to side, stripping leaves. They also produce a brown liquid — commonly called "tobacco juice" — when handled, which is a defensive regurgitation of partly digested plant matter. It's harmless.

Do grasshoppers bite? They can nip if you hold one and it feels threatened, but it's rare and not dangerous — they aren't venomous and their mouthparts are built for plants, not skin. At most you'd feel a pinch. The "tobacco juice" is the more common reaction to being handled.

Can grasshoppers fly? Yes. Most adult grasshoppers have two pairs of wings and can fly, though they typically jump first and use flight for longer distances. Their powerful hind legs let them leap around 20 times their body length. Nymphs (juveniles) have no functional wings and can only hop.

What eats grasshoppers? They're a major food source across ecosystems:

• Birds — a huge predator group, including sparrows, crows, hawks, and chickens.
• Reptiles and amphibians — lizards, snakes, frogs, and toads.
• Mammals — mice, shrews, skunks, foxes, raccoons, cats, and bats.
• Insects and spiders — praying mantises, robber flies, beetles, and spiders.
• Parasites — parasitic wasps and flies lay eggs on or in grasshoppers, and horsehair worms parasitise them.
• Humans — grasshoppers and locusts are eaten in many cuisines around the world.

How long do grasshoppers live? About one year in total, including the egg stage. Adults typically live only a few months, and most die off with the first hard frost.

Keeping them out of a garden: cover vulnerable plants with row covers or fine mesh, keep grassy and weedy areas trimmed back (that's where they breed), encourage birds with feeders and baths, and till the soil in autumn to expose overwintering egg pods. For serious infestations, Nosema locustae bait is a biological control that targets grasshoppers specifically without harming other wildlife.

Feeding a pet grasshopper: fresh grass, lettuce, clover, and leafy greens work well — rinse them and make sure they're free of pesticides, which are lethal to insects even in trace amounts. Add a shallow water source or mist the enclosure lightly.