Gah!

[calliopes_pen]

Mom went outside to let the cat in, and discovered a giant green bug that hissed/clicked at her. I think it also has a hard shell covering it. Mom poked it with a stick, and it did a horrible clicking sound.

Does anyone know what this is? Mom can't kill it, because she couldn't stab it through the hard shell with a stick. I went out to look, and ran away when it made that sound. (Yes, I'm terrified of bugs.)

I'm keeping the cat in until we can figure out what it is.

(And oh, this icon is so appropriate...)

ETA: OK, according to Mom whenever it's touched or moved at all, it makes that sound. And the cat was trying to play with it because of the noise.

Comments

[calliopes_pen]

Thank you, that's good to know.

And Mom wants to know what they're good for. Because, and I quote "the hissing is just plain scary."

And when it made that sound, I did scream out that it might be a hissing cockroach. Apparently, I was half right if it's a relative of the cockroach.

[hopefulnebula]

What they're good for? Cat toys. That's about it. And the hissing is just plain scary because it's supposed to scare off predators. Doesn't stop some cats though. My first cat (Flash) used to toss them around in her mouth and loved it when they hissed.

[calliopes_pen]

Sounds a little like how my cat was around it. Apparently, she just slapped at it a lot so she could hear that hiss.

While Mom and I ran around with sticks and poked at it, she just rolled around in the grass. It didn't bother her at all.