Do tarantulas attract their prey somehow?

[Introvertebrate]

Are we talking about the same banded crickets? I was under the impression that Acheta domesticus was the noisy one. You know, the original feeder cricket?

From the Ghann's website:

"As most avid herpers know, the cricket industry in the USA was dramatically impacted by a species-specific cricket virus that hit in 2009 forcing about half the cricket producers in the country to either fold up completely or switch to other species of crickets. During this time, Ghann's Cricket Farm faced some significant challenges, and we made the decision to switch to the Banded Cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus), which is very similar to the Acheta domesticus, and has been a popular cricket in Europe and the UK for over a decade. Response to our Banded Cricket was overwhelmingly positive.

The Banded Cricket has a number of advantages over other crickets:
• Hearty - lives well
• Very active - provides lively feeding experience for animals
• Very digestible - even at its largest size (short wings, soft exoskeleton, less chitin)
• Minimal noise - only adult crickets chirp (rubbing their wings together - not legs as many people think), the Bandeds' short wings make minimal noise
• Less odor vs. other species - reported by MANY customers
• Not aggressive towards animals or humans"

URL:

New Crickets Are Here!

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Are we talking about the same banded crickets? I was under the impression that Acheta domesticus was the noisy one. You know, the original feeder cricket?

From the Ghann's website:

"As most avid herpers know, the cricket industry in the USA was dramatically impacted by a species-specific cricket virus that hit in 2009 forcing about half the cricket producers in the country to either fold up completely or switch to other species of crickets. During this time, Ghann's Cricket Farm faced some significant challenges, and we made the decision to switch to the Banded Cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus), which is very similar to the Acheta domesticus, and has been a popular cricket in Europe and the UK for over a decade. Response to our Banded Cricket was overwhelmingly positive.

The Banded Cricket has a number of advantages over other crickets:
• Hearty - lives well
• Very active - provides lively feeding experience for animals
• Very digestible - even at its largest size (short wings, soft exoskeleton, less chitin)
• Minimal noise - only adult crickets chirp (rubbing their wings together - not legs as many people think), the Bandeds' short wings make minimal noise
• Less odor vs. other species - reported by MANY customers
• Not aggressive towards animals or humans"

URL:

New Crickets Are Here!

Where I buy my crickets they are sold as banded crickets with no scientific name and they are noisy and smell awful. They are not long-lived either.

This is interesting though and I am going to try to pry the information from them next time I talk to them. I want the scientific name from who sells this place their crickets. They appear as banded crickets but now I want to know exactly.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

The ones I use are Gryllus assimilis there supposed to be silent crickets, well that's what it says on there tubs I buy them in but they definitely chirp

 

[Introvertebrate]

The ones I use are Gryllus assimilis there supposed to be silent crickets, well that's what it says on there tubs I buy them in but they definitely chirp

But, is it as bad as Acheta domesticus? If I had to be in a room with them for an extended period of time, I would move the bin into another room, with a heat pad underneath.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Where I buy my crickets they are sold as banded crickets with no scientific name and they are noisy and smell awful. They are not long-lived either.

This is interesting though and I am going to try to pry the information from them next time I talk to them. I want the scientific name from who sells this place their crickets. They appear as banded crickets but now I want to know exactly.

Do you get them from an online source? Do you have a link?

 

[Andrew Clayton]

But, is it as bad as Acheta domesticus? If I had to be in a room with them for an extended period of time, I would move the bin into another room, with a heat pad underneath.

Nah it's not bad, I like the chirping sound though.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Do you get them from an online source? Do you have a link?

No I get them from the only exotic store kind of close to me. I have online stores that I use but haven't bought crickets from them yet. I mainly use orange head E. posticus roaches for all my adults and mealworms for my slings. I only get crickets from that store like once or twice a year. That's to give my roach colony a break.

 

[Scoot]

On the rare occasions I have to use crickets, the little blighters seem to scuttle as far as is physically possible from the bloody spiders. I loathe them

If Ts should have this special ability to attract prey, mine must be severely faulty!

 

[TechnoGeek]

I doubt that, or more like I'm almost sure it's not the case. The cricket might head towards the spider by sheer luck or maybe in some cases cause the enclosure isn't too big and there are limited places to go, but the tarantula itself doesn't do anything to attract it. They really just sit there motionless, and wait for something to run into them and then they pounce. Almost exactly what a bullfrog does.