Grasshoppers are eaten by a wide range of predators, from birds and lizards to spiders, flies, and fungi. As primary consumers that feed on plants, grasshoppers sit at the second trophic level in a food chain, making them a critical link between plants and the meat-eating animals above them. Their bodies are roughly 69% protein on a dry-weight basis with 97% digestibility, which helps explain why so many species rely on them as fuel.
Where Grasshoppers Fit in the Food Chain
Grasshoppers eat plants, which makes them primary consumers. Plants capture energy from sunlight, grasshoppers harvest that energy by chewing leaves and stems, and then secondary consumers (the animals that eat grasshoppers) pass that energy up another level. In a simple food chain it looks like this: grass → grasshopper → frog → snake → hawk. Every predator that eats a grasshopper is acting as a secondary consumer in that particular chain.
Because grasshoppers are abundant, reproduce quickly, and live in open habitats like grasslands and cropfields, they support a huge number of predator species. The list stretches across nearly every major animal group.
Birds
Birds are among the most visible grasshopper predators. Hawks, kestrels, meadowlarks, shrikes, quail, and wild turkeys all feed on grasshoppers regularly. Smaller songbirds like sparrows and swallows take nymphs (young grasshoppers), while larger raptors swallow adults whole. In rangeland ecosystems, birds are considered one of the primary checks on grasshopper numbers, especially during summer months when grasshopper populations peak and nesting birds need high-protein food for their chicks.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Lizards, frogs, and toads are consistent grasshopper predators, particularly in warm climates where both groups overlap. Fence lizards and horned lizards snap up grasshoppers on the ground, while tree frogs catch them in vegetation. Toads are especially effective because they forage at dawn and dusk when grasshoppers are sluggish and easier to catch. Some snakes eat grasshoppers as well, though they tend to be smaller species that hunt in grass rather than the large constrictors or vipers people picture first.
Spiders
Spiders are probably the least studied grasshopper predators, but at least nine species have been documented eating them, and the real number is certainly much higher. Three hunting strategies show up in the research. Sit-and-wait spiders stay motionless and pounce only when a grasshopper wanders within striking distance. Sit-and-pursue spiders hold position until prey comes close, then sprint after it. Active hunters stalk grasshoppers through the vegetation canopy and leap onto them.
Wolf spiders and jumping spiders are common on rangeland and take various grasshopper species. Black widow spiders also prey on grasshoppers in states like Wyoming and Idaho, trapping them in webs strong enough to hold a struggling adult.
Predatory Insects
Some of the most effective grasshopper killers are other insects. Robber flies are aggressive aerial hunters that intercept grasshoppers in flight, and under the right conditions they can reduce a local grasshopper population by 11% to 15%. Praying mantises ambush grasshoppers from foliage, and ground beetles eat grasshopper eggs buried in the soil, destroying roughly 3% of egg pods in a given area.
Blister beetle larvae are another major egg predator, consuming about 9% of grasshopper egg pods. Bee fly larvae destroy around 6%. These egg-stage predators matter because a single grasshopper egg pod can contain dozens of eggs, so even modest destruction rates remove large numbers of future grasshoppers before they ever hatch.
Parasitic Flies and Wasps
Parasites occupy an unusual place in the food chain. They don’t eat grasshoppers the way a bird does, but they use grasshoppers as living nurseries, which kills them just as effectively. Several groups of flies lay eggs on or inside grasshoppers. The larvae grow inside the host, feeding on its tissues until the grasshopper dies.
Tangleveined flies can parasitize 30% to 95% of a grasshopper population. Flesh flies hit 1% to 50%, depending on conditions. Certain tachinid flies reach parasitism rates of 16% to 65%. Tiny scelionid wasps take a different approach: they parasitize grasshopper eggs directly, destroying 5% to 15% of egg pods. Together, these parasites can remove a significant share of a grasshopper population each generation.
Fungi and Disease
A fungal pathogen called Entomophaga grylli infects grasshoppers through spores that land on their bodies, penetrate the outer shell, and consume the insect from the inside. Field research on one grasshopper species found that the fungus is most lethal to young nymphs in their early developmental stages, when it causes deaths that add to other causes of mortality rather than simply replacing them. At low population densities, when food is plentiful and starvation is rare, the fungus can meaningfully shrink grasshopper numbers. At high densities, grasshoppers are already dying from competition for food, so the fungus tends to kill individuals that would have died anyway. Disease accounted for only about 24% of total adult deaths in high-density conditions.
Small Mammals
Mice, shrews, and other small mammals eat grasshoppers opportunistically. Grasshopper mice, named for exactly this reason, are active hunters in North American prairies that chase down and consume grasshoppers as a dietary staple. Skunks, raccoons, and opossums also eat grasshoppers when they encounter them, though insects are a smaller part of their overall diet.
How Grasshoppers Defend Themselves
With so many things trying to eat them, grasshoppers have evolved a suite of defenses. The most basic is camouflage. Many species match the color of their habitat, whether green for leafy vegetation or gray-brown for rocky ground. Some African grasshoppers can shift from light gray to black within days of moving onto dark, burned soil. Certain species mimic the shape of leaves, complete with spots that look like plant disease.
Slender grasshoppers that live in grassy habitats press themselves lengthwise against stems and stay motionless, making them nearly invisible. A few desert species in the American Southwest and Africa practice “self-burial,” rocking back and forth until they sink below the sand surface and cover their bodies completely. And of course, powerful hind legs let grasshoppers launch themselves several feet in a fraction of a second, often deploying wings mid-jump to cover even more distance. That combination of camouflage, hiding behavior, and explosive escape is what keeps grasshopper populations viable despite the enormous number of predators lined up to eat them.