By chance, I came across a YouTube video about a carnivorous mouse known as the grasshopper mouse, aka Onychomys leucogaster. While it is rare, it fortunately is not endangered. As their name implies, they eat grasshoppers and other arthropods; and they are common here in the grasslands of North America. They are formidable predators. They will take on poisonous scorpions and centipedes as well as other mice. They have even been known to be cannibalistic when food is scarce. Their most fascinating habit is that they howl at the moon prior to making a kill, which has given them the nickname of werewolf mouse.
Having learned about this garden ally, I was thrilled. While hundreds of grasshoppers moved into my garden, after the weeds in the neighboring yard had been cut, there seemed little that I could do about it. I was grateful that I had at least one toad to help control them and my cats found them to be a tasty snack. I have talked to other residents who have tried to convince the town to allow chickens; but the powers that be would not budge on their position. It is frustrating because I am less than a mile from the county, where chickens are allowed. There is a large feral cat population here so I am uncertain about the presence of the grasshopper mouse. One can only hope.
While the grasshoppers consumed my dill and tasted most of the plants in the garden, they were unable to cause severe damage to anything else. They hung out on my beans, munching the leaves; but they did not eat the beans themselves. I attribute this to the vast polyculture that I had planted. In addition to numerous herbs and vegetables, I had many flowering plants that I had included to attract the butterflies and hummingbirds. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and other pests, have only become a problem because we humans have planted vast expanses of monocultures; but this is not Nature’s way. When we mimic Mother Nature, rather than trying to control her, all species remain in balance.
