Will Eating 17-Year Cicadas Make NoVA, DC Pets Sick?

WASHINGTON, DC — The 17-year periodical Brood X cicadas have begun to emerge in northern Virginia and the District, and many cats and dogs will pounce on the insects like they’re catnip or a treat slathered with peanut butter — and, in all likelihood, promptly hack them up.

But should you worry? Not really.

Cicadas are edible, for humans and other mammals. Snakes snack on cicadas, too. Think about it: For 17 years, the periodical cicadas have been underground, feeding on tree roots. They’re loaded with protein and low in fat. Fido and Fluffy could do a lot worse with off-diet treats.

The biggest problem is the exoskeletons may be a tad hard for pets to digest, so they may have upset tummies, according to the Pet Poison Helpline. Or, they may simply overindulge on cicadas, Elizabeth Barnes, an exotic forest pest educator at Purdue University, told The Indianapolis Star.

Virginia is among 15 states and the District of Columbia where billions and billions of cicadas from Brood X, known as the Great Eastern Brood, began pushing their way through the ground in May and June. Others are Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

In the DC region, the cicadas are expected to emerge in large numbers this week and next as temperatures heat up.

"This run of moderately warm days with unusually chilly nights seems to have taken an unusual toll on cicadas," Dr. Michael Raupp, known for his Bug Guy blog and a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Maryland, said May 17. "Many nymphs emerging from the earth near dusk with temperatures in the upper 60s, hit a developmental brick wall as temperatures rapidly dropped to the low 50s and 40s during the night. Failure to complete the process of shedding their nymphal skin seems to be accounting for unusually high levels of molting failure and death in these early risers."

Conditions will change for Brood X in the mid-Atlantic this week with a forecast of daytime highs in the upper 80s Thursday and Friday, and into the 90s this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

"Get ready for teenagers rockin’ in the treetops by this time next week," Raupp said.

Related:

• Cicadas Emerge In VA, DC; Billions Of Brood X Swarm To Come
• You Can Eat 17-Year Cicadas Emerging In Virginia
• Billions of 17-Year Cicadas Will Emerge In Virginia in 2021
• Cicadas Swarm And Copperheads Snack: It's A Thing In Virginia, DC

Researchers have said that in our state, cicadas will be plentiful in Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Centreville, Chantilly, Del Ray, Fairfax, Falls Church, Franconia, Herndon, Lorton, Manassas, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, Sterling and Vienna.

But back to your pet. The cicadas don’t sting or bite (in fact, they don’t have the mouthparts for biting), so that won’t be a problem.

Some pets may have an allergy to cicadas, “but as far as poisonous or sting or a bite, or just being sick from any kind of venom or anything, your pets are perfectly safe," Dr. Vernard Hodges, a Warner Robins, Georgia, veterinarian told news station WMAZ.

If they gobble too many up at one time, the cicadas can be a choking hazard. And smaller animals may have greater problems than large ones.

“You could possibly have some GI issues if the exoskeleton goes through,” Hodges told the news station. “If it's a smaller dog and the smaller intestines can't quite pass it through, or if they eat it whole, that can be a problem.”

While cicadas emerged in some parts of the Washington, D.C., region in the last week, it wasn't the full-blown avalanche of critters that is to come. Cool overnight temperatures in the 40s and low 50s made it hard for cicada nymphs to shed their exoskeleton skins, and made them vulnerable to be a quick meal for birds and squirrels, as well as family pets, the Washington Post reported.

The emergence of the swarm of Magicicada cassinii — the scientific name for the insects — is one of the true marvels of nature in a still-being-written lesson in periodical cicada science.

The species with an extraordinarily long life cycle — the longest of any insect on the planet — remains somewhat of an evolutionary puzzle. They spend more than a decade underground feeding on tree roots before their synchronized emergence as young adults.

The males sing, raising quite a ruckus with their mating call. There's some urgency to it: The males live three, maybe four, weeks after mating.

The females don't sing but wait quietly to do their job perpetuating the species — to lay as many eggs as possible, up to 600 — before they die. They split the bark on living tree trunks, branches and twigs, burrow in, and lay between 24 and 48 eggs at a time.

To track the cicada emergence, Gene Kritsky, the dean of Behavioral and Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati and the author of "Periodical Cicadas: The Brood X Edition," developed the Cicada Safari app.

Have you seen any cicadas? Tell us in the comments and share your pics on Patch!

Patch Editor Elizabeth Janney contributed to this story.