Cicadas Return Will Attract My Personal Nightmare Fuel – Snakes

This is the moment I start having nightmares about the Spring of 2021. There's almost nothing I fear more than snakes, except for deadly poisonous ones.

After a seventeen-year-long snooze, the Brood X cicadas will be returning to Illinois in late April to early May. What these cicadas do for the next near two months is swift and with immense purpose.

Their first order of business is to find something in your yard to latch their claws onto, so they can shed that only underground skin. You'll find the on your fence, your house, a tree, just about anything they can latch onto. The males will then start making all kinds of noise trying to attract a female for mating. They lay their eggs and then four-six weeks later, it's back underground for another seventeen years.

The next part of the story is what triggers nightmares for me. When someone shared with me that snakes love to feed on cicadas, I immediately performed the most uncomfortable Google search ever.

Cicadas aren't a delicious treat to just an ordinary snake... they're a preferred treat for Copperhead snakes. Yes, very poisonous COPPERHEAD SNAKES.

My personal nightmare fuel!

Of course they don't come looking to eat during the day, they come out at night. And, they bring friends, according to Back Roads Living. This would make me light y whole yard on fire. Sorry kids, no more backyard... I will not live next to a Copperhead snake/Cicada buffet.

While this may not come as great news for everyone, for those that live in the northern half of Illinois, the good news is that Copperhead snakes are not indigenous. They are very common in southern Illinois. Things migrate, so either way, I'm wearing big boots at night in my yard at night.

[H/T WKDQ]

Steve Shannon is host of The Steve Shannon Show on 97ZOK. On the air weekday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m. and a special 'Rewind' show, featuring favorite moments from previous shows, on Saturday mornings from 5 to 7 a.m.. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and like his page on Facebook.