Lawn Shrimp

Yard Shrimp
Thanks to your site, I have found that the bug that has been infesting a specific area of my utility room are lawn shrimp. And, as you said in the previous message, indeed we have been having rain here in North Central Florida ( Ocala ). They lay dead by the tens of dozens between my utility room outside door and the cat’s feeding dish. However, there is no sign of them in the food dish itself. I can find no sign of them outside the house or anywhere else in the house. There is no real concentrated pile of them to suggest they have a specific spot where they are staying in my house. I see no signs of them in daylight but just an hour or two after sunset they suddenly appear with many dead and a few dying. They indeed look like tiny rusty colored shrimp. They move slow and appear more black when alive than the rusty brown when dead. Dead or not, it’s not a nice site first thing in the morning. So, now that I have identified the pest thanks to your site, how can I keep them out of my utility room or kill them outside without making a toxic mess that my cat may get into?
Thanks,
Wesley J Burdine
Ocala , Florida

Hi Wesley,
Sorry we can’t help you with any erradication advice, but at least your problem now has a name and you can contact local experts. We couldn’t decide if we liked your backlit picture better than the flash photo, so we posted them both.

I actually found a friendly deterrent to the Lawn Shrimp. While trying to find the least toxic method to control them because of concern mostly for my cat, I first tried the powder that you sprinkle on your carpet to get rid of fleas. I sprinkled some around the doorway and also just off the edge of the concrete walkway. This has deterred the Lawn Shrimp without killing them in the yard.
Thanks much,
Wesley J Burdine