cricket SEX!!!

kosh

Arachnobaron
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Sep 10, 2002
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bought a few crickets friday and when i went to feed my slings yesterday i caught two of them having what i think might be cricket SEX!!!!!
how can you tell the sex of a cricket??
i notice all of them have those two little spikes sticking out on either side of their rears....but some of them have another spike in the middle.....which one is male and which one is female??
the two i saw were like on top of each other and the smaller one on bottom did this little rubbing motion up against the bigger one on top (i think the big one on top had the middle spike and the smaller one on bottom had no middle spike).....was this sex??
i wonder if i should pull the female out and try to start me a cricket farm!?!?!
will they breed and thrive if i put them in a bucket outside with some vermiculite and didnt try to protect them from the temperatures??
i dont want those nasty stinky things inside!!
 

MrT

Arachnoking
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Was there any cuddleing done after the sex, or did he just get off, so to speak, and leave? :D ;) :D

Ernie
 

JacenBeers

Arachnoprince
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The ones with the third large spike out of their rears are teh females. The long spike is an ovipositor. If she has been fertilized you will see them sticking their ovipoitor into wet substrate to lay eggs.
 

Exodus

Arachnoknight
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Jacen is correct,I have had the oppertunity to watch the egg laying and the mating,it's really cool,I think i even posted a topic about a cricket sticking it's butt in the ground.Such glorius memories...
 

kosh

Arachnobaron
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well the cricks are just in my wire mesh fishing cricket container......no substrate.....i guess if she lives long enough she will lay them on the plastic.....which brings me back to my other question....if i put some vermiculite in the bottom of a bucket and put bucket outside with a lid on it.....will they breed, hatch and mature...or will the temperature get them??
it would be nice to get my own pinheads going....
but i dont want the stink bombs in the house.....
 

MrT

Arachnoking
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Yes, its easy to hatch them cricket eggs.
In fact you only have to keep the substrate moist and they'll hatch.
I have had many hatchings in one of my T's cages, H gigas. its alway kind of moist in there. The pinheads always get in the water bowl and drown.:D :D

E

PS: I dont know about the temps. they need to grow.
I've been to some cricket sites, but dont remember what they said about raiseing them.
 

Jobe

Arachnoknight
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Oct 9, 2002
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Lucky me!

Thank goodness crix here are sold really cheap, about 20 or so for RM1(about USD$ 0.25).

But I notice their storage tank gets a little 'funky' after awhile, and note that id rather buy them than breed them for now, so if i see any of my stock start doing the wild thing ... bang into the giant snakehead's tank they go :D
 

MrT

Arachnoking
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I'm with you Jobe,
I'd never breed nasty, stinking crixs. Its bad enough just keeping them around for feeding. :(

E.T
 

veronyka

Arachnoknight
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Jul 20, 2002
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Dang! I tried to mate some crickets before so I wouldn't have to keep going out and buying them! I put a few crickets together in a nice moist environment with food and all that.. and gave them a few days. No luck! Maybe next time I'll have to try a little candlelight and some Marvin Gaye on the radio :D
 

JacenBeers

Arachnoprince
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I got thirty crickets for a quarter yesterday. best deal ever. All of them are in a better place now. Didnt have anytime to hump cause my spiders mopped them all up.
 

The_Phantom

Scarlet O' Hairy
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Ive had crix mate and lay eggs. Ive had the babies, and watched them molt. Ive raised pinheads into adults. Its cool. I was happy.:D
 

kosh

Arachnobaron
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Sep 10, 2002
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i had one cricket that seemed "too fat" when i got it home so i didnt feed it to the spider right away......sure enough it started laying eggs in the container i had the crickets in.....
another time i had a bunch of crickets hatch out in my spider's tank...some died in the water dish and i guess the rest died and were lost in the vermiculite....
 
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