This is Spike.

Spike was found crawling around our courtyard.  Actually, she was crawling up the glass door, getting away from our cats.

After a bit of research, it turns out that Spike is a pretty neat grasshopper. She is a Red-Eyed Devil, fairly common for this area. Thank you to Dr. Chris Sansone with Texas A&M Entomology for identification and links.

Here are a couple more shots to see her coloring a bit better, and get an idea of size.  The hand is my 10 year old daughter’s.

You can actually see her breathing!

About 5" from head to tip of ovipositor.

Anyhow, the best part, and most unique thing about this grasshopper?  She’s carnivorous!

Nom nom nom..

Tasty

Delicious!