# Hatched some Cave Crickets!!



## Kimix (Oct 24, 2009)

Here is one of the adult females


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## Exo (Oct 24, 2009)

Nice! I tried to breed some camel crickets, which are similar, but I think I kept them too warm.


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## Kimix (Oct 24, 2009)

Camel Cricket/Cave Cricket/Spider Cricket all the same thing just different common names. 

I keep mine at room temp, no extra heat.


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## Vulgaris (Oct 24, 2009)

where do these guys lay their eggs?


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## Kimix (Oct 24, 2009)

They lay the eggs in soil. I keep a small cup of damp dirt in their enclosure, and every other day or so I dump the soil and eggs into a deli cup and give them fresh dirt to lay more in


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## Endagr8 (Oct 24, 2009)

Are you raising them as feeders?

Are they any hardier than LPS crickets?


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## KJE (Oct 24, 2009)

I hate those things.  We have them in the basement of our church, which is our fellowship hall and kitchen.


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## Kimix (Oct 24, 2009)

I'm just raising them for fun, if they start to produce enough to actully feed off I would, but thats a long while off.  Literature suggests these take a long time to mature. So I think overall they will be to slow of breeders and to slow to grow to be useful as a regular food item.



Also I took a new pic of an adult


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## texasroach (Oct 25, 2009)

You should look up the book Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs by Sue Hubbell. In it she talks about her experiences raising camel/cave crickets.


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## pouchedrat (Oct 25, 2009)

OH god those scare me.. I had one I found once so I gave it to an adult praying mantis I was keeping, and the cave cricket ATE the mantis!!!!!!!!  FULL GROWN adult!


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## bugmankeith (Oct 25, 2009)

Kimix said:


> It it normal for a nymph to be red, its nice looking!


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## saltyscissors (Oct 25, 2009)

pouchedrat said:


> OH god those scare me.. I had one I found once so I gave it to an adult praying mantis I was keeping, and the cave cricket ATE the mantis!!!!!!!!  FULL GROWN adult!


that's... awesome? I hate to say it but that's pretty cool how that spindly cricket could take on a _mantis_, and win. I think there's a video of a camel spider being eaten by a weta too; it grabs the camel spider with its front legs and chews it's chelicerae. Crickets are amazing insects, all Orthoptera are in general.


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## dtknow (Oct 25, 2009)

have been a Mormon cricket/Jerusalem cricket? I can't imagine a camel cricket eating a mantid...

Great job! These would make neat food for tailess whips and lots of other creatures.(they are particularly soft bodied) They also don't chirp.

I bet growth has a lot to do with limited food supply.


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## ZergFront (Oct 25, 2009)

Kimix said:


> I'm just raising them for fun, if they start to produce enough to actully feed off I would, but thats a long while off.  Literature suggests these take a long time to mature. So I think overall they will be to slow of breeders and to slow to grow to be useful as a regular food item.



 Bummer. Thought I found a nice cricket fix. Hehehe! Pinheads die of dehydration too fast..


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## seanbond (Oct 29, 2009)

saltyscissors said:


> that's... awesome? I hate to say it but that's pretty cool how that spindly cricket could take on a _mantis_, and win. I think there's a video of a camel spider being eaten by a weta too; it grabs the camel spider with its front legs and chews it's chelicerae. Crickets are amazing insects, all Orthoptera are in general.


jus saw it on youtube, those people are sick and id like to throw them into a firey pit.
sorry people, happening in nature is one thing but human made fights, uhhh.


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## seanbond (Oct 29, 2009)

pouchedrat said:


> OH god those scare me.. I had one I found once so I gave it to an adult praying mantis I was keeping, and the cave cricket ATE the mantis!!!!!!!!  FULL GROWN adult!


must have been a wimpy prayer.


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## pwilfort (Oct 29, 2009)

Nice ones, what do you feed them? I was told yellow corn meal is this true?


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## Kimix (Oct 29, 2009)

Whats interesting about the color is I havn't seen any of them white, like when they are freshly molted and white. Odds are of course just bad timing that I havn't seen one, but its strange.

The nymphs are so far very very hardy, I still only have a dozen but havn't lost any. 

I'm feeding them fish food, apples, oranges, cucumber, lettuce, crested gecko diet ect. I'm sure they would eat yellow corn meal as well, along with any of the standard cricket diets.


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## pwilfort (Oct 30, 2009)

Thanks! What kind of fish food? Would gold fish food be alright?
Thanks


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## skips (Oct 30, 2009)

Are these the cave crickets that will eat their own back leg if food is scarce, even before eating another cave cricket's leg?  I assume alot of things are called cave crickets.


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## Kimix (Oct 30, 2009)

They will eat any fish food, I give tropical fish flakes to all my roaches & crickets

I believe there are like over 150 species in the Family Rhaphidophoridae (Cave Cricket family).  I've seen mention online of them eating each other legs, but its hard to say which species(s) that is about. 

Mine still have their legs, although they are well fed.


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## pouchedrat (Oct 30, 2009)

seanbond said:


> must have been a wimpy prayer.


I'm not the only one that's had this happen to them, I've heard of it before, as well.  They're crazy


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## seanbond (Nov 1, 2009)

pouchedrat said:


> I'm not the only one that's had this happen to them, I've heard of it before, as well.  They're crazy


that weta would be baby food for my schmidti!


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## Fyreflye (Nov 5, 2009)

skips said:


> Are these the cave crickets that will eat their own back leg if food is scarce, even before eating another cave cricket's leg?  I assume alot of things are called cave crickets.


This was also my first question after reading the starting post- i recall seeing a show several months ago on Discovery that briefly went over this.


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## It_Glows (Nov 13, 2009)

saltyscissors said:


> that's... awesome? I hate to say it but that's pretty cool how that spindly cricket could take on a _mantis_, and win. I think there's a video of a camel spider being eaten by a weta too; it grabs the camel spider with its front legs and chews it's chelicerae. Crickets are amazing insects, all Orthoptera are in general.


pfft, lets see one take on a REAL hunter, try feeding it to a scorpion or tarantula


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## saltyscissors (Nov 13, 2009)

It_Glows said:


> pfft, lets see one take on a REAL hunter, try feeding it to a scorpion or tarantula


....
.....
.......
..........
AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAhahaahah
is all I have to say.


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## It_Glows (Nov 13, 2009)

saltyscissors said:


> ....
> .....
> .......
> ..........
> ...


i was talking about the cave crickets, Weta's are scary stuff if they can take down a CAMEL spider


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