Cicada Insect
September 22nd, 2009
17-Year-Locust Molted Shed Skin Specimen
I went out for a walk this morning. Picked up a crushed Wendy’s soft drink cup (with lid and straw). Found an old Corona bottle, with about 1/4 inch of beer at the bottom. Oh, yeah, and there was a baby’s sock. Just one. Got that, too.
Time to sign in to my eBay account and start getting rich. Well, y’know, rich in post-economic meltdown terms, where a guy with a cicada shell for sale is one step ahead of a guy without a cicada shell for sale.
How odd. I saw my first cicada shell at Wendy’s when I worked there…
I used to collect these when I was about 3 years old. If only I’d have known they could be sold on ebay, I’d have kept them and would be rich now. Because not only would I have cornered the market on cicada shells, but I’d also have antique cicada shells.
um. yuck. and, why?
“An eBay member wants to show you this item.”
I’ll show you MY item. It is a baseball bat with a hole drilled in the end, and melted lead poured into the hole. Now go away before I hit you with it.
I really hope nobody actually clicked on that…
bwaaahhaaa, Kit. if you whack somebody that stupid will their smart come back? you sure cant make em any more stupid.
At $6.95 per shell, I could quit my job and live off what I find on the ground under the tree in my front yard.
I looked it up. It is Item number: 230363543414. There are very few details:
One naturally molted skin from a cicada
1 inch long
I’d like to know how they came up with the age (was the cicada 17 years old, or have they kept the molted shell in their sock drawer for 17 years?!) and how they came up with the price? Is there a market for these sort of things?
Well, cicadas aren’t locusts, so technically this fits as not what was described, since it would have to be some sort of cicada-locust hybrid.
@S.: It was 17 years old. Wikipedia, y’all.
I like the top part, where it reads “there are more than three of these, i’ll try to find the other.” Three shed Cicada exoskeletons, one for sale, one more somewhere else. Someone failed math.
The best part is, they had to pay listing fees to do that.
Thing is if you find a Corona bottle, you can never be sure if the 1/4 left of liquid is Corona… or piss.
:/
@Casey — “17-year-locust” is a common, if not technically correct, for several species of periodic cicada.
There are 17-yr cicadas (several groups, can’t recall what a group is called), also, I believe, 12-yr cicadas and 7-yr cicadas, and maybe 3-yr (smaller groups). There’s one Big Daddy 17-yr group that is THE 17-yr cicada. They hide underground all those yrs, then all emerge at once for a few weeks. The noise is almost deafening, and you can’t take a step without crunching a bunch. Then they’re gone akk of a suddden, some leaves have been stripped but I’ve heard from plant experts that they don’t do serious damage. And you’re awash in THESE DAMN THINGS this guy thinks someone will pay $$ for. It’s like paying for dust bunnies.
only not NEARLY as cute!
I would like to announce the grand opening of my “No more vacancy roach motel” Shop. Yes, think of the thrill your children will have opening the roach motel and getting their desiccated cockroaches. They can start their education as armature entomologists. Then after hours of mind stimulating education, the fun can begin. Imagine the glee in you children’s faces as they put on a desiccated cockroach puppet show. Or let their dried little corpses ride on hot wheels and enjoy an invitation to the tea party Barbie will be holding in their honor. When playtime is over, the motel serves as an attractive, handy carrying case.
Order your today!
i’m waiting for examples of the other 9 plagues.
I found a cute blog post in which a mother mentions that her son wanted to set up a ‘lemonade stand’ at the side of the road… to sell cicada shells for $1 each.
Thanks for the clarification on cicada ages: we don’t have them in these here parts.
I’ve got a little box somewhere full of cicada skins that I collected as a boy. They’re the yearly type of cicadas but the skins are probably close to 17 years old, if not older. That makes them antiques in insect years, so I figure I’ll be able to retire soon.
Yes but did it sell? I need to know so I can start planning my financial future.
These things ARE extremely cool-looking, if not terribly rare or valuable.
@ann
and you don’t have to feed them dust carrots, which this guy probably also sells on ebay. One stop shopping, you know – we aims to pleez.
“Uh, will you provide me super glue so I can put the legs back on when I get it delivered to my house?”