My new Jerusalem crickets!

[Stugy]

Hey! What do you feed jc's? I'm thinking of getting one in the future and I just came across this thread so I might as well ask.

 

[Hisserdude]

Hey! What do you feed jc's? I'm thinking of getting one in the future and I just came across this thread so I might as well ask.

Meat, lots of meat. These guys like live prey, though dog food has been the staple diet for my individuals. They will barely touch any veggies or fruits, the only thing they seem to like is protein.

 

[mmfh]

I can't wait till these breed for you. I want to see baby pics and find out if they are going to have cool markings like their parents

 

[Hisserdude]

I can't wait till these breed for you. I want to see baby pics and find out if they are going to have cool markings like their parents

Yeah, I'll be pretty psyched if they breed for me, and I'm sure some of the offspring will have that kind of segment deformation, it seems pretty common in Jerusalem crickets.

 

[Hisserdude]

Haha, turns out my male, (Jiminy), was not mature when I tried to mate him, he was only a subadult. He molted into an adult recently, as evidenced by the two small black hooks in between his cerci that are only present in mature male Jerusalem crickets.

Here's Jiminy:

Genital hooks:

I paired him up with Swirl, and I also paired Tiny up with Sam, both of which also matured recently. Fingers crossed they'll mate successfully and that the males won't get eaten, as I have some more females that are mature and in need of some lovin'.

 

[Hisserdude]

Well, a lot of stuff has happened, which I've described in more depth on my blog, but here I'll just try to condense it down to this; Swirl ate Jiminy, he did not mate with her, Tiny, (my second male), and Sam, (another female), did not harm each other after being in the same cage for a week and I separated them, it does not seem like he mated with her either.

I then tried mating Tiny with a different female, Gap, things didn't go so well and due to both mine and Tiny's stupidity Gap bit him on the back, drawing blood. However, Tiny recovered and I put him in with a different female, Ripper, which after a long and interesting mating ritual ended very successfully as you can see here:

About three days later, I put him in with Sam, who, like I said, he had been in with for about a week in a large enclosure previously, however no mating was ever seen. So, just to ensure that she would be fertile, I mated him with her, which also ended successfully, as you can see here:

I got a video of this last pairing showing most of the late mating process, however I shot the footage late at night so the lighting and video quality is not the best, just a a head's up:

Here's hoping I'll get some eggs from these girls!

 

[Stugy]

Well, a lot of stuff has happened, which I've described in more depth on my blog, but here I'll just try to condense it down to this; Swirl ate Jiminy, he did not mate with her, Tiny, (my second male), and Sam, (another female), did not harm each other after being in the same cage for a week and I separated them, it does not seem like he mated with her either.

I then tried mating Tiny with a different female, Gap, things didn't go so well and due to both mine and Tiny's stupidity Gap bit him on the back, drawing blood. However, Tiny recovered and I put him in with a different female, Ripper, which after a long and interesting mating ritual ended very successfully as you can see here:

About three days later, I put him in with Sam, who, like I said, he had been in with for about a week in a large enclosure previously, however no mating was ever seen. So, just to ensure that she would be fertile, I mated him with her, which also ended successfully, as you can see here:

I got a video of this last pairing showing most of the late mating process, however I shot the footage late at night so the lighting and video quality is not the best, just a a head's up:

Here's hoping I'll get some eggs from these girls!

That's awesome man. I don't know much about J Crickets but they look so cool

 

[Hisserdude]

That's awesome man. I don't know much about J Crickets but they look so cool

Thanks, it sure is! They are pretty cool insects, and are reasonably easy to keep, they take a pretty long time to mature though and don't live very long as adults, but are still worth keeping IMO. My hope is to breed these and spread them around in the hobby, would be nice for a captive bred population to be established in culture.

 

[Hisserdude]

Unfortunately, my male Jerusalem cricket, Jiminy, has died. He was only able to mate with two females successfully, I tried mating him with another recently but he was unable to deposit a spermatophore after he almost aligned his genital hooks four times, he seemed to be tired so I let separated them and let him rest, sure enough he died less than a week later.

I assume that getting bit on the back did cause some damage to him, and it probably severely shortened his lifespan. Hopefully I'll be able to get the two females he mated with to lay some eggs.

 

[Tfisher]

How many offspring do JC's usually yield?

 

[Ratmosphere]

RIP Jiminy!

 

[Hisserdude]

How many offspring do JC's usually yield?

Very little is known about the life cycle of JCs, especially about their eggs, I don't think there is any info on how many eggs are usually laid per clutch, all I know is that they supposedly "lay them in masses" underground. :wideyed: Hopefully I'll soon find out how many eggs they typically lay per clutch...

RIP Jiminy!

Yeah, RIP.

 

[UltimateDracoMeteor]

Got three immatures, thanks DETHCHEEZ! Hopefully I can rear them to adulthood and then maybe breed them. Here are some pics of the largest one.

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Aren't they so cute

I just love their big heads! It's too bad that they bite, though.

 

[Hisserdude]

I just love their big heads! It's too bad that they bite, though.

Yeah, the males especially have large head when they mature. Haha yeah I've been bit by a subadult male and let me tell you it is not pleasant, he didn't draw blood but he bit down with a ton of pressure and would not let go, when I finally got him off me the little area he had his jaws clamped down on had turned purple from lack of blood circulation.

 

[Hisserdude]

Success, I found 12 eggs in Ripper's enclosure and one in Sam's enclosure, though more should follow! Fingers crossed they end up hatching!

Here are some pictures of Ripper's eggs:

 

[arizonablue]

Congrats, that's so cool! Keep us updated on how they do!

 

[Hisserdude]

Congrats, that's so cool! Keep us updated on how they do!

Thanks, will do!

 

[BobBarley]

@Hisserdude what has become of these??

 

[Calopteryx]

I'd also like to know if you've had success with the eggs, that would be awesome.

Btw, is cannibalism among nymphs a thing with these or can you keep them in groups?
Would love to keep some of them in the future.

 

[RTTB]

Many many years ago when I was out bug hunting as a kid, I hit the mother lode and found 2 of them under a log. Threw them in a pickle jar and excitedly rode my bike home. When I got home there was only one very fat one and dismembered bits of the other. Learned the hard way that they will dine on each other. A nickname for them I heard growing up was oddly 'Mother of the Earth" or Madre Xama and there was all sorts of interesting myths about their ability to chew through plastic jaw strength venom etc. The stuff of legend and as kids, finding one was the equivalent of finding a pot of gold.