Large, colorful and just a wee bit clumsy, lubber grasshoppers are known as the clowns of the insect world. Our eastern lubbers were bred from captive stock and, due to their large size, are excellent visual aids when naturalists are teaching about insects. Their diet includes fresh greens, chopped vegetables and other plants, but they have a special fondness for dandelions. Sometimes considered pesty in their home range, lubbers actually eat far less by weight than other grasshoppers a third their size.
