Large Insect eating my crickets!

maidarkins

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 2, 2021
Messages
1
I just got my first pet, a curly haired tarantula, around 3 weeks ago. I'm new to the hobby and I just now bought a cricket pen and have put my crickets in there. I noticed there was one very large (cricket?) that is black and much larger than the small pale crickets in the pack. I thought that this was strange but I put all the crickets in the pen.
This afternoon I have discovered that it was eating a cricket 🥲🥲🥲
I'm very unsure what this bug is or why it's eating one of the crickets but I need some help!! Thank you!
 

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JackHearth

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
1
Crickets cannabalize all the time, just looks like a regular black cricket to me (although that silvery band is a little weird, never bought black crickets because of the singing so I'm not that familiar). Adult male going off the butt spike and if I remember rightly. It probably got in the tub at the petshop from another box given the other looks like a brown cricket (so not technically canabalism, but you know). It's much larger than the others, probably hungry and thirsty and doing what crickets do.
If you're worried then either kill it or seperate it (if you're a softy like me). Could prioritise feeding it to something, but if it's not specifically what you bought I wouldn't incase it's wild and has come in touch with pesticides, but I'm paranoid.
 

DomGom TheFather

Arachnoprince
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Apr 26, 2020
Messages
1,975
Looks like you got a field cricket in there.
They're from the streets and keep it real.
Just toss it.
 

RoachCoach

Arachnodemon
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
Messages
703
@DomGom TheFather May sound silly but yes, that thing is a wild field cricket. it could be carrying nematodes or other parasites to spread to your colony or animals. Kill it with fire or crush it.
 

Ferrachi

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,014
I just got my first pet, a curly haired tarantula, around 3 weeks ago. I'm new to the hobby and I just now bought a cricket pen and have put my crickets in there. I noticed there was one very large (cricket?) that is black and much larger than the small pale crickets in the pack. I thought that this was strange but I put all the crickets in the pen.
This afternoon I have discovered that it was eating a cricket 🥲🥲🥲
I'm very unsure what this bug is or why it's eating one of the crickets but I need some help!! Thank you!
How many crickets you have left in there ?
 
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