Surviving Brood X

March 1, 2021 11:32 AM

Apparently in a few months my area will be flooded with cicadas. How can I survive this? Is there any place I can escape to (plus pandemic safety)?

In DC. I just learned about Brood X cicadas emerging this May and June. While I completely understand they are harmless, the sheer number of them is making me feel absolutely terrified.

Any advice? Will they get into my house? Best way to walk my dog? With the pandemic, I’ve been needing to be outside more. I’m assuming exercising outside is just not going to happen?

Also, can I escape this by going somewhere close? One map seems to show Ocean City or parts of Delaware as safe. Are they?

posted by inevitability to Home & Garden (29 answers total)

Not sure where you're getting your cicada terror from — they mainly stay in trees. We've had the "17 year" cicada thing in my area (more than twice in 17 years), and the only thing you'll need to escape from is the noise because they're super goddamn loud.
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:38 AM on March 1, 2021 [21 favorites]

I have a huge bug phobia and was terrified last time Brood X emerged...and it was a complete non-issue. I didn't see a single cicada in New York City, though I heard a few. It does vary a lot not just regionally but also block to block, and there are many fewer in cities than in suburbs and countryside I think.
posted by LeeLanded at 11:44 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

I lived in a cicada area for one of the cycles. A couple of them came down the chimney but that was it - there were no clouds of them in the air. I walked around and did normal stuff outside with no issues. The only thing was, they shed their carapaces and there are drifts of those on the sidewalk.

Honestly, they were less scary than I thought, partly because they're big enough that they don't seem as insectile/creepy. I was very worried about it but it wasn't particularly bad.
posted by Frowner at 11:49 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]

Practice "LEAVE IT" with your dog right now, every day, multiple times per day. Get very good at #1 ignoring interesting items around you and #2 failsafe: DROPPING exciting things that are already in your mouth.

Last brood we had in Chicago was before I had a dog, but the carapaces littered the sidewalks (crunchy walks, ueghhghth) and nearly every dog I passed out walking was VERY INTERESTED.

Our 2007 brood was pretty bad for me, a person who grew up in a place with zero cicadas. But it wasn't plagues of Egypt swarming bugs bad, it was just gross (crunchy walks, like I said) and LOUD.
posted by phunniemee at 11:52 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

Yeah, it's not that bad. You'll see 'em on your window screens, and for sure hear them, but even that isn't a new sound - you hear it every summer - just this time, longer and louder. If one lands on you (probably won't happen), just brush it away. Don't worry, they don't bite, or sting.
posted by Rash at 12:08 PM on March 1, 2021

Response by poster: Ok, that’s helpful, thanks. Colleagues who live in DC, MD, and VA have been terrifying me with tales of what it was like 17 years ago when Brood X came. It sounded really bad.
posted by inevitability at 12:15 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I don't want to be dismissive, but the primary nuisance is the noise, which is much more intense than the annual bug racket. I've never had to deal with them indoors (nor were they an indoor problem in when I grew up in Oklahoma). The carapaces do seem to be on every sidewalk, but it's not like DC doesn't have its other sidewalk messes like Gingkos and however much bird poop. The red eyes can be creepy if you look closely, but my solution for that is just not to go looking for them.

They never landed on me during the last emergence, but I guess I'm spending more time outdoors now than I was then, so it could be a possibility this year. DC's had a restaurant boom over the past decade, and outdoor dining seemed a lot more popular than it had been in 2004 even before Covid changed everything. I guess outdoor dining this summer could involve reports of cicadas landing on tables, if not food.
posted by fedward at 12:22 PM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]

Know what was really bad? Biking through a swarm of mormon crickets on highway 50 (the loneliest road) for a few days. They hop. I was riding a recumbent and they hopped to juuuust below leg height. There was no getting away from them, not even to pee. We just had to pitch our tent on top of their masses at night. They ate the bodies of their dead, so they flocked to the line of tread marks where they were run over by the occasional car. And then that batch would die when the next car came, and those ones would get eaten. And so on. And so forth. For several days. The roads were slick with them. Then finally they thinned and were gone.

If your swarm is anything like that, just stay indoors and you'll be fine. I don't remember having any problems while inside the tent (other than the tent being surrounded on all sides). If you have to go outdoors, tuck your pant legs into your socks for the emotional benefit of it. And remember it will be over soon.
posted by aniola at 12:25 PM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

I guess outdoor dining this summer could involve reports of cicadas landing on tables

Doubtful. The insects which make outdoor DC dining problematic are the flies and yellowjackets, not the cicadas.
posted by Rash at 12:39 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

Colleagues who live in DC, MD, and VA have been terrifying me with tales of what it was like 17 years ago when Brood X came.

I lived in southern MD, about 20 miles SE of DC (think "Andrews Air Force Base / Joint Base Andrews" area), during the 1987 and 2004 emergences. Your colleagues are gassing you up. You'll hear a lot of noise, you'll probably see a lot of molted shells on the ground, you and your dog might find a few live ones.
posted by hanov3r at 12:56 PM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]

It's incredibly dependent on exactly where you are and how much undisturbed grass and trees there are around you. In 1987, in my leafy residential neighborhood in upper NW DC, it was incredible how many cicadas there were, littering the sidewalks and covering the trees. In 2004, in my downtown neighborhood, not so much. But up in the country, north of Frederick, in the woods? So loud...
posted by jindc at 1:11 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]

Try not to let your dog eat too many of them. A few years ago my friend's dog ate so many he got sick (he ate a LOT of cicadas), but it's not because they are poisonous, it was indigestion.

Cicadas are very loud and walks are crunchy, which is gross. I had one fly up my skirt, but that was the extent of my bad experiences. You can exercise outside and live your normal life with them. It was more interesting than anything else--I was kind of sad to see them go. If you have a severe bug phobia, it might be worth temporarily relocating, but if not, I think you will be fine.
posted by zoetrope at 1:14 PM on March 1, 2021

FWIW I look forward to these years. The sound of cicadas reminds me of childhood bug-catching, the smell of sweet dry grass, the netting of grasshoppers and the occasional praying mantis, the hunt for the elusive walking stick. This isn't a plague of locusts. Cicada noises are a reassurance that we haven't killed everything off yet.
posted by jon1270 at 1:16 PM on March 1, 2021 [14 favorites]

I was in Southern Ohio last time Brood X was due to emerge 17 years ago and I was crapping myself, as it was Ground Zero for the hatching. We saw one - ONE - cicada. It was a total non-event. There'd been a lot of rain in the weeks beforehand and this apparently affected the hatching. If there's been extreme weather where you live, you might find it's not as bad as you thought.
posted by essexjan at 1:26 PM on March 1, 2021

Agree with the consensus, and will just add that it will be the most intense in the countryside - so, likely not the best time to plan a camping trip (though I did once go camping in West Virginia during a Brood X, and personally found it fascinating, but that's me)
posted by coffeecat at 1:28 PM on March 1, 2021

Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of dead ones on the sidewalks and such, which was kind of gross, but honestly, I also remember it being vaguely fun in a novel sort of way. They're big but they're harmless and while they fly, they rarely fly into people. I'm pretty bug-adverse but I wasn't bothered by it. It really didn't affect my everyday life in the least.

They are loud but I also thought that was pretty cool, too.
posted by edencosmic at 1:32 PM on March 1, 2021

I have lived in virginia most of my life, and was here 17 years ago, and love bugs and actively seek cicadas out, and I have never had one land on me. They really don't move a lot, not nearly as much as flies or bees, they just kinda hang out on the side of anything vertical. It can be a little gross when one falls out of the tree and there's a duntch sound when they hit the pavement.
posted by FirstMateKate at 1:40 PM on March 1, 2021

It should be fun to watch. They are usually stationary, except when they want to fly somewhere, then they slowly (for a bug) travel in a perfectly straight line toward their destination and then rest. Plan on capturing some video and audio.

We had really good fireflies the next year, and also lots of millipedes, so I'm not sure if their arrival upset the local food web somehow.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:41 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I was in DC the last time this happened. It was NOISY and there were a lot of bugs loosely around, especially on and in trees, but they weren't flapping at you like The Birds or anything. Agree that the most important part of this will be keeping your dog from eating them. The bugs are grippy but they do not bite or sting, so while I understand they can still be alarming, a little pep talk to yourself about how they are not at all dangerous might be helpful.
posted by jessamyn at 1:48 PM on March 1, 2021

It really, really depends on when the last time your area was developed. The older areas will get more activity. The newer developments will have disturbed the larvae, or killed them, so it won't be as bad. And they need trees. So if there are lots of trees where you are, you'll see more of them.
posted by cooker girl at 1:56 PM on March 1, 2021

I was here in 2004, in a newly developed neighborhood in Fredericksburg, and it was kind of a non-event in our neighborhood. Saw a few around, but honestly I was kind of disappointed. We have two camping trips to the mountains planned during the hatch window - could be fun!
posted by COD at 2:57 PM on March 1, 2021

And just looked at a map and looks like brood X doesn't actually get that far South into VA so probably won't add to my camping trips in May and June. Oh well...
posted by COD at 2:59 PM on March 1, 2021

I was going to college in Baltimore during the last one, and while they were an unmistakable presence, my experience was that they kept to the trees and wouldn't linger over or near concrete, which made them easy to avoid for the most part. We had one fly in through the car window on the expressway going past Druid Hill Park, which gave the driver a fright, but that was the only encounter of any note that I can recall.
posted by wreckingball at 3:05 PM on March 1, 2021

In 1986 in D.C., they were incredible -- super loud and gutters (not unpleasant, to me) were full of them. After that, 2004 was pretty anticlimactic.
posted by jgirl at 3:38 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

In 1986 in D.C., they were incredible

Yes! I was 5 at the time. I am terrified of some bugs, but was so completely fine with these guys that I caught them and put them in my dollhouse. IIRC from that incredible time, is that they’re weirdly not... too bug-like. Even today, cicadas don’t freak me out at all.
posted by functionequalsform at 5:57 PM on March 1, 2021

It's not likely to be nearly the big deal people are apparently trying to convince you it will be, if you're inside the Beltway. DC has been built up and paved over . . . kind of a lot in the intervening years. Unfortunately for the cicadas.

The insects which make outdoor DC dining problematic are the flies and yellowjackets, not the cicadas.
Uh, and roaches.

Cicadas don't spread disease and are actually pretty cool-looking. Dunno if this helps with the phobia or makes it worse, but they're also pretty tasty, if it comes down to it. I'm sorry they're causing you anxiety, and welcome you to come chill in Takoma with a refreshing beverage and some toasted arthropods, if the swarm becomes overbearing.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:51 PM on March 1, 2021

Blerghhhh, well, thanks for the warning. I'm pretty terrified of bugs and still pretty new to homeownership so now a new fun thing to dread about my yard!

For real though, the worst thing in 2004 was the dead bugs EVERYWHERE (crunchy sidewalks crunchy sidewalks oh god) and one time, one got in my HAIR and I didn't notice until I had gotten in my car and it chirped right near my ear. I didn't die but obviously I still remember screaming and flinging myself out of the (parked) car.

I plan to manage by not going outside, and maybe I'll pre-schedule the gutter people to make some extra visits. Eurgh.

Still better than cave crickets sneaking into my house.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 5:07 AM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

super loud and gutters (not unpleasant, to me)

I meant the loudness was not unpleasant! The gutters were gross!
posted by jgirl at 7:10 AM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

The 1986 cycle is the only time I experienced anything close to something that would induce terror, and even then, it was only one weekend, in Southern Ohio in a very rural area. At that point, they were actually dropping from trees and crunching everywhere and they seemed like they were screaming to then-10-year-old-me. Subsequent years I've barely even noticed them, other than my dog thinks they are an incredible plaything/snack.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 12:39 PM on March 2, 2021