Blackened Feeder Cricket-uuuuuuh, what's going on?

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

Hi, all

I was spraying Dragon (my vinnie)'s enclosure, and I noticed something. I thought it was just blackened soil, dampened by the moisture, but I was a little worried-the shape was strangely insect-like. I lifted the hidey-hole (after being maced angrily by Dragon upon finding her hideout had become airborne) and found a blackened, dead insect. I lifted it up and...it was a feeder cricket. It's shell was noticeably softer too, probably justd dampened by the moisture though.

Here's a little background-I purchased feeder crickets, and I put 3 of them in Dragon's enclosure. One of the three was minus one of its jumping legs (probably wounded in a fight with another cricket), so I figured it was easy prey for Dragon. Ironically, it managed to evade capture, while the other two were mashed to a pulp (while we're at it, I fed some to Scolopendra too. I didn't see him eat myself, but I did find the scattered remains of his dinner/ Yuck, 'pedes have awful table manners). So, the legless cricket finally went missing-ripped asunder by Dragon, I assumed-until today, which brings me back to the original point of this message.

The cricket wasn't black before, so what exactly happened? Anyone have this kind of experience? Was the cricket just rotting away? Was there some kind of disease going on? Did the moisture just dampen the shell and collapse it? For clarification I snapped two photos of the blackened cricket before disposing of it and promptly washing my hands.

 

[cold blood]

Its called decomposition. It happens when any living thing dies and often results in blackening or discoloration.

 

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

Its called decomposition. It happens when any living thing dies and often results in blackening or discoloration.

I figured lmao

 

[Dave Jay]

Its called decomposition. It happens when any living thing dies and often results in blackening or discoloration.

I agree, but I want to add that in my experience high humidity makes crickets darken before they die, why I don't know, but I've seen it many times. Sometimes it happens when I store crickets without adequate ventilation, and it often happens with uneaten crickets in high humidity scorpion tanks where I have restricted ventilation.
Of course what cold blood said is correct, but I would put money on crickets going dark before dying if kept in humid conditions long enough.

 

[cold blood]

I agree, but I want to add that in my experience high humidity makes crickets darken before they die, why I don't know, but I've seen it many times. Sometimes it happens when I store crickets without adequate ventilation, and it often happens with uneaten crickets in high humidity scorpion tanks where I have restricted ventilation.
Of course what cold blood said is correct, but I would put money on crickets going dark before dying if kept in humid conditions long enough.

I've literally never seen that before....thanks for your observation

 

[Dave Jay]

I've literally never seen that before....thanks for your observation

We buy crickets by the tub, and I always need different sizes so I usually have plenty on hand but have to buy more because they've grown too much. I keep them in these containers that I used to house my centipedes in, but I had to add extra ventilation because the moisture would build up and the crickets would go dark then die . It happens in moist enclosures too where I just add crickets each week or two blindly. This is not enough ventilation, they go dark and die within a week. This is good, these crickets are still light brown and they'll live until needed, easily a month or more . This is not quite enough ventilation, these are small crickets but they're going dark, I need to move them and add more ventilation to that tub. As you see, I usually have plenty on hand, and plenty of those tubs, I can see the difference in colour depending on the ventilation. I've sort of been experimenting, I don't want maximum ventilation in all of them because they will dry out too quickly if I need them for scorpions or centipedes again.

 

[cold blood]

Curious if you know the species of crickets you get.

 

[Dave Jay]

Curious if you know the species of crickets you get.

Acheta domesticus is mentioned on one forum as the species Pisces Enterprises sell, I think that is the common species sold worldwide. It's hard to get information directly from pisces, now I don't have a business number they don't even answer my emails.

Edit - Interesting , on Wikipedia (which is always right ) it says that cricket paralysis virus wiped out all of Europe's stock in 2002 and spread to North America in 2010 so they are no longer available commercially, so maybe they are a different species from the ones you use. It didn't used to be the case, but perhaps now it is, which means I may be giving out-dated information unless you live in Australia. Not good! Jamaican field crickets replaced them apparently.
Still, I live by the saying "Any day you learn something is a good day."