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EAGLE MOUNTAIN -- Residents of a neighborhood in Eagle Mountain are getting freaked out by a swarm of bugs that moved in at the beginning of the week.
Jody Hancey lives on the southern edge of the Ranches in Eagle Mountain and hasn't enjoyed going out in her yard since Sunday evening -- thanks to a large amount of unwanted little black bugs.
It looks like the ground is actually moving when you stand there, there are so many bugs.
–Jody Hancey
"We are talking hundreds of thousands," said Hancey. "Luckily they are mostly on the outside. A few do get in."
No one's sure where the bugs came from, but residents say it's kind of creepy when they all come out at once.
"It looks like the ground is actually moving when you stand there, there are so many bugs," said Hancey. "They started crawling up the walls on the outside of our house and the windows, which is kind of unnerving when you are inside the house and you see bugs crawling up the windows as you look out."
The Utah State University extension office in Provo identified the insects as leaf-footed bugs after studying pictures sent to them by KSL.
Julia Tuck at the office says the bugs aren't harmful to humans.
"They are not dangerous," Tuck said. "They will not bite you. They will not hurt humans."
Tuck says the bugs could have arrived in Eagle Mountain after a farmer cut his field, or may have even been brought in by the wind.
"They're kind of cyclical. Some years we have a lot of them; other years you don't see any or hardly notice them at all," she said.
Tuck says sprays are effective in killing off the bugs and work best while they are still young, like the ones showing up in Eagle Mountain.
She also noted they have also been contacted about the bugs swarming in other parts of the county as well.
It's possible the bugs could disperse on their own in about a week, but Hancey hopes they'll be gone soon.
"As we have people come and visit us here in the doorway they'll drop down on top of their heads too, so that's always fun," said Hancey. "My husband has sprayed a couple of times, and we've got a bunch of carnage here in front of our house where he sprayed and they died. So luckily, we are seeing some results from that."
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Story compiled with contributions from Randall Jeppesen and Alex Cabrero.
