Is there such a thing as one lubber?

Pea - I think you may be setting yourself up for heartbreak; they will reward your kindness by reproducing hundreds of offspring.

I only get one or two a year so there must be natural preditors that are keeping their numbers down. What eats a lubber? that is such an ugly name for such a pretty insect.

Nothing eats lubbers. As typical in the animal world bright coloration indicates bad taste or poisonous. Lubber nymphs are shiny black with bright orange /yellow stripes. There is a reason for this. At that small stage they are the most likely to be eaten with their soft exoskeleton by a greater amount of animals from birds to reptiles. The vivid colors are a valid warning to leave them alone. I remember thinking I had a great food source for my panther chameleons. Opps, I could have killed my valuable lizards. They tried to eat them but all that did spit them out violently and I got the picture quickly when I actually looked at the color of the lubber nymphs.

The 100 or so nymphs emerge from the soil and are at there fastest movement. Large numbers are born and allow for some to escape and scatter. As they mature they turn green and then at sexual maturity they have orange/yellow once again mixed in their coloration. Currently they are at sexual maturity and if you find them you best squash them any way possible. They are slow and sluggish but they blend in very well with the surroundings.

There are never 1 or 2, like rats you may see only 1 or 2 and they will be scattered however they are breeding and if they are mature (size of a mouse) you can be guaranteed they ate a lot of vegetation. Sometimes its hard to notice because they just don't cut holes in stems and leaves, they devour the entire leaf, stem so you might not even notice because there is nothing there to remember.

Moving them is a bad idea. Any animal that is hungry with working legs/wings will move back to where the food is. They will not stay off the plants you move them from, that is simply illogical to believe.s

In the late afternoon/evening is the best time to find them. They like to rest in pines or similar plants with pointy easy to grab narrow leaves off the ground. After a heavy rain check out the crowns of plants such as ponytail palms, coonties or other cycads, small palm fronds. To flush them out where you see damage or just entire plants missing you can use a garden hose and wet the area down. Slowly they will move into sight climbing up the plants. They do not like water no matter if young or mature. There is no effective pesticide for killing them.

I've treated my lubbers the same as i always have for over a decade but have yet to see this explosion in their numbers nor defoliated plants. And i would notice if my plumeria was suddenly defoliated...which was the last plant i moved one from and tossed him onto the ground orchids which don't seem hurt by his munching.

several pesticides can be used on the young ones...two bricks for the adults! hehe