# Giant fighting cricket



## JohnxII (Jul 15, 2004)

*Giant fighting cricket + pinhead incubation trick*

I located a couple of sources. I believe they are unwanted 2nd grade fighting crickets, and the price for 3 is about the same as the price for 1 fuzzy/pinkie - about US$1. But equally juicy, not as fatty, and doesn't smell. Only that they are quite aggressive and have sharp teeth.

The size is about twice as long as your regular feeder house cricket, i.e. about 8 times in volume. What's more, they are already stuffed with some kinda paste-like gut-load. I've fed a couple to my biggest T, and that makes the T plump up as easily as feeding pinkies!

Oh, BTW, the chirping is off the decibel scale - 1 of these guys is louder than my colony of about a 100 house crickets, half of which being males.


----------



## mantis332003 (Jul 15, 2004)

where do you get these crickets?


----------



## Melmoth (Jul 15, 2004)

Are fights actually staged with these crickets? You say they are 2nd grade.Does this mean that the 1st grade are like pro boxers,and these 2nd grade are like amateurs?


----------



## Stardust (Jul 15, 2004)

Wow...  
over at my country we also got large ones...


----------



## vespa_bicolor (Jul 15, 2004)

Oh...great feeders for king baboons. A couple of my king baboons actually refused the regular crickets, and for a time only took mice. But they loved these. See less of them nowadays though. Tried breeding them but failed.

Melmoth >> Haven't really seen cricket fighting as a game. But I guess yes, you're right!! Or in martial arts terms, these do point sparring, while the first grade ones go full contact!   

Stardust >> Do those get as big as these??


----------



## Stardust (Jul 17, 2004)

hmm.maybe slightly smaller then this one lor...   coz this is for combat rite ? lolx


----------



## Navaros (Jul 17, 2004)

Hmm, pretty cool cricket. Cricket fighting is so interesting, especially in China. I can definately see how they would make a good feeder as long as they don't bite first.


----------



## Cooper (Jul 19, 2004)

People buy those things to fight with for like 500 bucks a shot. It is a big thing in some places.


----------



## JohnxII (Oct 20, 2004)

*Time to resurrect this thread for Bloodletting's project!*

Just found out these are most probably local wild-caught field crickets of the genus _Gryllulus_ possibly _testaceus_ sp.? (Emma Field Cricket) Here is a link to a japanese page with pictures.



			
				Navaros said:
			
		

> ... I can definately see how they would make a good feeder as long as they don't bite first.


I put them into the freezer for half an hour to slow them down. Yes 30 minutes! Usually 15 minutes in the freezer would kill your regular feeder house crickets (_Acheta domesticus_)...



			
				vespa_bicolor said:
			
		

> ... Tried breeding them but failed...


Inspired by this commercial cricket breeding kit, I bought some burlap cloth to make my own version of egg incubator, and was a huge success. Eggs laid by 2 wild caught females (I never mated them) yielded about a thousand nymphs!

Here is what I did:
1. Cleaned up a plastic bottle cap, which is about 2" in diameter and 1" in depth (which is ideal as the ovipositors are usually 1" in length). I got it from a chocolate milk drink bottle.

2. Cut out two pieces of 2"x2" burlap cloth, just enough to cover the bottle cap.

3. Topped up the bottle cap with moistened coconut fibre. How moist? Quite moist but when you squeeze it, no dripping. (*I think this is essential, with a few trials I figured too moist would yield less nymphs and too dry would produce nothing*) You might wanna replace the coconut fibre with peatmoss (which supposedly deters mold/mites), but you'll have to figure out the right degree of moistening yourself.

4. Angled the two pieces of burlap cloth so that an octagonal star is formed. i.e. 1 piece horizontally/vertically oriented, another diagonally. Place it on top of the bottle cap, and tuck the "corners" between the side of the cap and the substrate.

5. Left the incubator in breeding tank for 2-3 days and let them do the deed. This way, *no substrate gets dug out/kicked around, and no eggs gets exposed and prone to be eaten/dried off*.

6. After 2-3 days, removed incubator. Placed in a highly ventilated container (wire mesh etc.) and misted lightly but directly on the incubator unit twice a week. Oh I also placed the container in a well-ventilated and shaded place. The ambience relative humidity was around 50-60%, and temperate was around 80'F, give and take 5' for day/night differences.

7. And pinheads started to emerge in 10-14 days. I only had 2 females doing the egg laying that time, yet I yielded just below a thousand nymphs (see pix below).

8. Don't forget the pinheads can easily die due to dehydration. I found the best thing to do is to leave a piece of fresh carrot/potato or apple/pear peel. No more drownings and no filthy cotton buds.

There ya go! Give it a try and let us know how you score!


----------



## Bloodletting (Oct 21, 2004)

*thanks*

Thank you, I appreciate the info. I finally had the time to check it out. I will difinitely try it. Where do you buy coconut fiber? Pet stores? I will let you know how things go and will get some pics of my own together.

Thanks,

Scott


----------



## Wade (Oct 21, 2004)

Coconut fiber is the stuff sold at pet stores as "bed-a-beast", "T-Rex Forrest Bed", "Zoo Med Eco Earth" and a few other brand names. It's also sold at some garden stores a substitute for peat moss.

Wade


----------



## barking frog (Oct 27, 2004)

I'm new to this, but what do you do with a thousand crickets? How many of them do you use for feeding? How many die before maturity or due to old age?


----------



## Wade (Oct 27, 2004)

It depends on how big your collection is. I go through about 1,000 every two weeks.

Wade


----------



## Randolph XX() (Feb 26, 2005)

S0rry to dug this out
but i know soome ppl back home in Taiwan breed those for generations to fight, but those are definately raised in a colony
there are comp held every year in my city, Tainan for crix fighting, and the Champion can get the CAR, ya the real Car....i've seen a few games in championships..
i used to do that while i was a lill kid, try to collect them in the field and they do give terrible bite(to kids)
Gryllus bimaculatus, there are two color morph in Tw, the black one and the cooper red one, some said the cooper red one occurs only if they lack of dietry fibers(sorry my English is still prety poor, not sure about this word term)


----------

