Jerusalem Cricket ate through deli.

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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Stenopelmatus sp ate through his temporary deli container. Anyone have any idea what species this is? Found in Atascosa Mts. a few miles north of the Mexican border in southern AZ. USA.
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chanda

Arachnoking
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Wow! Never had one do that before! I've usually kept them in the large, clear plastic deli-cup-type containers with no issues.
 

Hisserdude

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Haha yeah you have to house them in thick plastic containers or glass to prevent this from happening, had one almost chew it's way out of the container I had it in, I caught it red handed. :p

I have no idea what species this one is, there are very few, distinctive looking JCs, the rest usually represent undescribed species, of which there may be 60+. Luckily David Weissman, the world Jerusalem cricket expert, is working on revising the genus Stenopelmatus, so hopefully we'll be able to identify JCs much easier in the future! :)

I can tell you it's a male though, if that's of any help!
 

keks

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Cool cricket! What size is it?
The last picture is great: "DAMN!! I'm caught!!" :rofl:
 

Hisserdude

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BTW, it would probably greatly appreciate a more loose substrate like coconut fiber for digging into, gravel may be too coarse. Pure sand is also bad for anything but psammophiles, so don't use that either.
 

Smokehound714

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This is the TRUE Stenopelmatus fuscus. Appears to be a sub-adult male, they mature in fall and winter.

if you want them to be really happy, give them stable substrate to burrow in
 

DubiaW

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This is the TRUE Stenopelmatus fuscus. Appears to be a sub-adult male, they mature in fall and winter.

if you want them to be really happy, give them stable substrate to burrow in
He's in a larger container with a mix of granite sand and deep coco fiber. He dug in like a cartoon gopher as soon as I put him in there. I feed him veggies, crickets, and dog food. He's doing good
.
 

Smokehound714

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I had a massive mature male mahogany jerusalem cricket break out of a 16oz deli cup, their bite force is insane. Their bites are extremely painful!
 

VolkswagenBug

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Stenopelmatus sp ate through his temporary deli container. Anyone have any idea what species this is? Found in Atascosa Mts. a few miles north of the Mexican border in southern AZ. USA.
View attachment 251965

View attachment 251966
Cute little guy! Mine lives in this Kritter Keeper style cage and I haven't had any problems, although I had the substrate too high once and it started to use the ventilation slats as monkey bars. Thankfully, it didn't hurt its feet doing that. Sometimes they scratch the walls at night and it gets loud and annoying, though, so if you don't have a separate bug room and just keep it in your room like I do, it can be annoying.
 

VolkswagenBug

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Haha yeah you have to house them in thick plastic containers or glass to prevent this from happening, had one almost chew it's way out of the container I had it in, I caught it red handed. :p

I have no idea what species this one is, there are very few, distinctive looking JCs, the rest usually represent undescribed species, of which there may be 60+. Luckily David Weissman, the world Jerusalem cricket expert, is working on revising the genus Stenopelmatus, so hopefully we'll be able to identify JCs much easier in the future! :)

I can tell you it's a male though, if that's of any help!
How do you sex them?
 

Hisserdude

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How do you sex them?
Males are skinnier and have larger heads, and the "knobbly" things (I'm blanking on the technical term) in between the cerci are also much more pronounced in males as you can see here. When mature, they also have small black hooks next to each cerci.

Females usually have smaller heads, are a lot fatter, and have small ovipositors. And the "knobbly" things are less pronounced.
 

DubiaW

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Cool cricket! What size is it?
The last picture is great: "DAMN!! I'm caught!!" :rofl:
He is an inch or more. It actually scares me a little even though it isn't venomous. To defend itself from being picked up it either kicks with its spurs or rolls over on its back and tries to bite. That's what it was doing when I took that picture. I was trying to move it back to the center of the setup and it it rolled over and tried to bite me. It stayed like that and watched me while the picture was taken. If you look up images of Stenopelmatus there are a lot of pictures of them in that defensive posture.

My little monster has already consumed both live and dead crickets. This is the first one that I have kept in captivity and I'm already attached to it. They make really great pets. They are also supposed to eat raw meat too. That's going to be on the menu for sure.
 

DubiaW

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Males are skinnier and have larger heads, and the "knobbly" things (I'm blanking on the technical term) in between the cerci are also much more pronounced in males as you can see here. When mature, they also have small black hooks next to each cerci.

Females usually have smaller heads, are a lot fatter, and have small ovipositors. And the "knobbly" things are less pronounced.
Do you know anyone that has bred them?
 

Hisserdude

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Do you know anyone that has bred them?
I made a major attempt on breeding some a little while back, had a couple seemingly successful pairings, and even got my females to lay a TON of eggs, unfortunately none of them ever hatched, I think they were infertile, due to my females wiping off their spermatophores shortly after mating for some reason. :/

@Smokehound714 apparently got fertile eggs from one of his WC females, one of which hatched, but I believe he said he accidentally let the enclosure dry out, so all of the eggs and the single nymph died. Or something along those lines.
 

VolkswagenBug

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Males are skinnier and have larger heads, and the "knobbly" things (I'm blanking on the technical term) in between the cerci are also much more pronounced in males as you can see here. When mature, they also have small black hooks next to each cerci.

Females usually have smaller heads, are a lot fatter, and have small ovipositors. And the "knobbly" things are less pronounced.
Thank you. Does this apply only to adults or to juveniles as well?
 

VolkswagenBug

Arachnobaron
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Messages
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He is an inch or more. It actually scares me a little even though it isn't venomous. To defend itself from being picked up it either kicks with its spurs or rolls over on its back and tries to bite. That's what it was doing when I took that picture. I was trying to move it back to the center of the setup and it it rolled over and tried to bite me. It stayed like that and watched me while the picture was taken. If you look up images of Stenopelmatus there are a lot of pictures of them in that defensive posture.

My little monster has already consumed both live and dead crickets. This is the first one that I have kept in captivity and I'm already attached to it. They make really great pets. They are also supposed to eat raw meat too. That's going to be on the menu for sure.
Oh yeah, they make terrific pets. I think they need more attention in the invert hobby; they're so big and interesting! It's a wonder they're not more popular.
 

keks

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I never saw them before, but they are very interesting crickets. And apparently not available here. But I keep my eyes open. I wanted to get these giant crickets Anostostomatidae or Rhaphidophoridae too, but they are hard to find too.
In the past it was easier, there were Expos in an easy driving distance :(.

I was scared by a unbelievable big Tettigonia viridissima. It turned the head and wanted to bite me when I picked it from the wall. I never thaught that it could turn the head in that way. And it hat nice mandibles ... :eek:.
 

DubiaW

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There is a dark banded species in a sky island near me. I'll collect some and list them on the board. It's almost cool enough to start shipping.
 
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