# Here's a cricket you can feed your tarantula's to (yes, you read that right)



## SonsofArachne (Oct 24, 2018)

Sia ferox - Riokku (リオック, loanword from the Indonesian name) or Obakekorogisu (オバケコロギス, "Obake raspy cricket") in Japan. learn about this monster here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sia_ferox

and here:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-scariest-insect-you-have-ever-seen

Reactions: Agree 1


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## cold blood (Oct 24, 2018)

Yep, I read the title and thought...someone's got a raspy bulldog cricket.....theyre baaaaad crickets....these seem to be even more so.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## SonsofArachne (Oct 24, 2018)

cold blood said:


> Yep, I read the title and thought...someone's got a raspy bulldog cricket.....theyre baaaaad crickets.


LOL, now that I know about them, I do want one. Do you know if they're available (and legal) in the US?


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## cold blood (Oct 24, 2018)

SonsofArachne said:


> LOL, now that I know about them, I do want one. Do you know if they're available (and legal) in the US?


I've only seen videos of them...I haven't ever seen _or_ heard of any for sale...doesn't mean they aren't for sale somewhere though.


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## beetleman (Oct 24, 2018)

yeah,that's a tank alright,love to own these


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## REEFSPIDER (Oct 25, 2018)

I was expecting to see something like 'Deinacrida heteracantha'


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## SonsofArachne (Oct 25, 2018)

REEFSPIDER said:


> I was expecting to see something like 'Deinacrida heteracantha'


I've known about wetas for a long time, wish I could get some. I have seen some wetas offered for sale on occasion, but mostly in Europe.  
As far as Deinacrida species go, I believe they are mostly vegetarian, while Sia ferox definitely is not.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## REEFSPIDER (Oct 25, 2018)

SonsofArachne said:


> I've known about wetas for a long time, wish I could get some. I have seen some wetas offered for sale on occasion, but mostly in Europe.
> As far as Deinacrida species go, I believe they are mostly vegetarian, while Sia ferox definitely is not.


Yeah this cricket you posted is insane! I would like to own wetas and sia ferox

Reactions: Agree 1


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## pannaking22 (Oct 25, 2018)

Though I know it'll never happen, I'd love to get my hands on _Schizodactylus monstrosus_. Live or dead specimen. Preferably live because then once it dies I can still pin it lol. _Sia ferox _is a beauty too.

None of those are legal in the US unfortunately.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## SonsofArachne (Oct 25, 2018)

pannaking22 said:


> I'd love to get my hands on _Schizodactylus monstrosus_


These look awesome too!



pannaking22 said:


> None of those are legal in the US unfortunately.


Why am I not surprised? I really getting really sick of finding out I can't have some invert in Ohio because they might escape in Florida or whatever. I really think exotic pet owners need their own lobbyists (I say exotic pet owners because invert owners would not be enough on their own).

Reactions: Dislike 1 | Agree 2


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## The Snark (Oct 25, 2018)

Been seeing some cricks 1 1/2" - 1 3/4" long around here of late. Not making me too happy. Ecosystem seems to be doing a reshuffle.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Dennis Nedry (Oct 25, 2018)

Absolutely love the predatory crickets. There’s quite a few species over here but I think they’re closer to wetas than Sia ferox, Anostosoma australis is probably the biggest and it just looks like a weta with huge jaws

Reactions: Like 1


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## Chris LXXIX (Oct 25, 2018)

_A.geniculata_ would eat this cricket without issues

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1 | Lollipop 1


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## 8LeggedLair (Oct 25, 2018)

:wideyed:Wow that’s a gigantic cricket, I’m most certain my Monocentropus Balfouri or Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens would love to eat it  They are Monsters All M. Balfouri’s I’ve seen were scavengers and light hunters.. not mine she will not touch anything dead . My Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens sling is basically a small
Pig .


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## basin79 (Oct 25, 2018)

I'd love to have one of these. Of course a large tarantula would make a meal out of 1 of these just as easy as they'd make a meal out of a small tarantula. 

It'd be so different having a cricket that was a pet.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Dennis Nedry (Oct 25, 2018)

basin79 said:


> It'd be so different having a cricket that was a pet.


They’re not dissimilar to a fossorial spider in the sense you rarely actually see them

Reactions: Informative 1


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## SonsofArachne (Oct 26, 2018)

Chris LXXIX said:


> _A.geniculata_ would eat this cricket without issues





8LeggedLair said:


> I’m most certain my Monocentropus Balfouri or Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens would love to eat it





basin79 said:


> Of course a large tarantula would make a meal out of 1 of these just as easy as they'd make a meal out of a small tarantula.


Well,  I've done a Google search and I think you guys would end up with a lot dead T's. Now let it be said that I DON'T support or watch that Japanese bug fight show, but when I checked Google Image for "Sia ferox killing Tarantula" 2 videos came up and in the description for one a Sia ferox kills a Chilobrachys Andersoni of the same size and in the other a  Sia ferox fights a larger King Baboon to what appears to be a draw (I admit I did watch a little of of this one - from the little I saw the Sia ferox was doing the attacking and the KB was defending or trying to run away). Again I want to stress I don't support these videos, and I was really searching for nature photos of Sia ferox killing or eating T's, but unfortunately these videos were the only thing that came up. But they do show what I would think we should all understand - a large, armored, powerful jawed predator insect would be bad news for a soft-bodied spider.

Reactions: Sad 2 | Optimistic 1


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## Chris LXXIX (Oct 26, 2018)

SonsofArachne said:


> Well,  I've done a Google search and I think you guys would end up with a lot dead T's. Now let it be said that I DON'T support or watch that Japanese bug fight show, but when I checked Google Image for "Sia ferox killing Tarantula" 2 videos came up and in the description for one a Sia ferox kills a Chilobrachys Andersoni of the same size and in the other a  Sia ferox fights a larger King Baboon to what appears to be a draw (I admit I did watch a little of of this one - from the little I saw the Sia ferox was doing the attaching and the KB was defending or trying to run away). Again I want to stress I don't support these videos, and I was really searching for nature photos of Sia ferox killing or eating T's, but unfortunately these videos were the only thing that came up. But they do show what I would think we should all understand - a large, armored, powerful jawed predator insect would be bad news for a soft-bodied spider.


I was joking, actually. About _A.geniculata_ trash can-Slimer eating attitude

Reactions: Agree 1


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## basin79 (Oct 26, 2018)

SonsofArachne said:


> Well,  I've done a Google search and I think you guys would end up with a lot dead T's. Now let it be said that I DON'T support or watch that Japanese bug fight show, but when I checked Google Image for "Sia ferox killing Tarantula" 2 videos came up and in the description for one a Sia ferox kills a Chilobrachys Andersoni of the same size and in the other a  Sia ferox fights a larger King Baboon to what appears to be a draw (I admit I did watch a little of of this one - from the little I saw the Sia ferox was doing the attaching and the KB was defending or trying to run away). Again I want to stress I don't support these videos, and I was really searching for nature photos of Sia ferox killing or eating T's, but unfortunately these videos were the only thing that came up. But they do show what I would think we should all understand - a large, armored, powerful jawed predator insect would be bad news for a soft-bodied spider.


Absolutely hate videos like those. I'm the same as you and won't watch them. 

Tarantulas aren't made to hunt prey the same size as them in the majority of cases. Yes sometimes you'll see it but they're few and far between. An adult tarantula from a large species Theraphosa for example would make short work of a cricket that size. Just like the cricket apparently made short work of that tarantula in the video. 

If I was lucky enough to own one of these magnificent inverts I'd feed crickets, morios and maybe the occasional freshly killed locust.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## SonsofArachne (Oct 26, 2018)

Chris LXXIX said:


> I was joking, actually. About _A.geniculata_ trash can-Slimer eating attitude


Sorry, didn't catch that one.



basin79 said:


> If I was lucky enough to own one of these magnificent inverts I'd feed crickets, morios and maybe the occasional freshly killed locust


Let me be clear, I would never think of feeding a T to one of these (if I had one). But I will say the little I saw of the Sia ferox vs KB video convinced me that no T, no matter what the size, would want to mess with one of these. I think Sia ferox would win most of the time.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Dennis Nedry (Oct 26, 2018)

SonsofArachne said:


> Sorry, didn't catch that one.
> 
> 
> 
> Let me be clear, I would never think of feeding a T to one of these (if I had one). But I will say the little I saw of the Sia ferox vs KB video convinced me that no T, no matter what the size, would want to mess with one of these. I think Sia ferox would win most of the time.


Many of these large crickets are spider specialists. Penalva sp king crickets are known to hunt funnel webs for example. I don’t doubt that they are capable of hunting most tarantulas



basin79 said:


> Tarantulas aren't made to hunt prey the same size as them in the majority of cases. Yes sometimes you'll see it but they're few and far between. An adult tarantula from a large species Theraphosa for example would make short work of a cricket that size. Just like the cricket apparently made short work of that tarantula in the video.


The fact that they aren’t meant to hunt similarly sized animals is one of the reasons I hate those bug fights. Theraphosa would probably make short work of most other terrestrial arthropods given their size with the exception of spider specialists like large pepsis wasps, giant centipedes or something much bigger than it like some of those giant land crabs

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Bob Lee (Oct 28, 2018)

I feel like a fight where both sides have armor would be more fair.
*Have a sinister grin on my face while holding a dehaani


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## SonsofArachne (Oct 28, 2018)

Bob Lee said:


> Have a sinister grin on my face while holding a dehaani


That would interesting, but I think it would come down to whether or not the dehaani could manage to inject venom before the Sia ferox could chew it up. These crickets have massive jaws and I doubt a dehaani's armor would slow them down much. I own a couple of Jerusalem crickets and watching them eat mealworms is a sight to behold - like watching a tree branch being put into a wood chipper (without the chips flying out the back, fortunately).

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Mirandarachnid (Nov 1, 2018)

SonsofArachne said:


> (without the chips flying out the back, fortunately)


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## Bob Lee (Nov 1, 2018)

I was actually thinking about scorpions and beetles at first , but it felt like it would be unfair for the cricket.


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