Let's appreciate crickets!

[KaroKoenig]

"They stink"

"They're cannibals"

"They infect our tarantulas with diseases"

"I hate them"

But do they? Are they? Do they? Should we?

Let's all take a step back for a minute and acknowledge how awesome crickets actually are. I have opened this thread for several reasons.

First and foremost: They really grew on me. I feed a mix of crickets (various species) and locusts to my tarantulas. As many other keepers, I have found that I spend more time on the maintenance of my feeder insects than on the few tarantulas I have. While doing so, I couldn't help but observe them a bit. And frankly, I now think they're pretty cute and interesting to watch. I have a "feeding video" in the works. It's so much fun to watch how the poor creatures happily swarm all over a small water dish and/or a fresh leaf of salad after rehousing them from the pet store cricket box into a somewhat decent faunarium. Gives me almost as much pleasure as watching the tarantulas hunt.

Here's some fun facts about crickets:

- They don't stink. Not a lot, at least - if you keep them right and feed them right.

- They are not notorious cannibals. Cannibalism in cricket containers can mostly be avoided - if you keep them right and feed them right.

- They do not, under normal circumstances, infect tarantulas with anything - if you keep them right and feed them right. Notice the

- They live in our care, awaiting death row in the form of a pair of massive fangs. They damn well deserve to be treated with respect.

Feel free to share your photos, videos or stories about crickets in this thread. Let me start with a photo of a freshly molted Gryllus assimilis:

 

[Jess S]

I suppose they are quite cute.

I really like the large thorny ones - cannot think of the scientific name for the life of me. They look amazing!

 

[DomGom TheFather]

There's nothing really wrong with crickets...
I'm just a roach guy. Some people like mealworms.
Whatever your pleasure. If you like raising them and your spiders like eating them, it's a win all around.
That being said,

 

[Emi248]

I have a hard relation with crickets because one time one escaped and was chirping all night under my bed, problem was I couldn't sleep and tomorrow was a Business Inquire I had, and Im pretty sure I looked sleepy.However they do feed our Ts and die with honor I guess

 

[VaporRyder]

Crickets are gross. I despise them, and don’t trust them around my tarantulas!

That said my local pet store is out of beautiful, cute, gentle hoppers in the right size for my slings. It is what it is!

 

[Ferrachi]

Some crickets can be quite tough. I've had one take out one of my widows and one took out one of my scorpions before !

 

[DomGom TheFather]

Some crickets can be quite tough. I've had one take out one of my widows and one took out one of my scorpions before !

It's not always crickets.
Sometimes, feeders are just born on the wrong side of the tracks.

 

[VaporRyder]

Some crickets can be quite tough. I've had one take out one of my widows and one took out one of my scorpions before !

Why won’t they just DIE!!!

 

[Ferrachi]

It's not always crickets.
Sometimes, feeders are just born on the wrong side of the tracks.

It's true ! Sometimes you wonder if they were just born in that cricket body... maybe some of them contain venom too

 

[Doodlebird]

In third grade I started a black market for crickets in our school, but I haven't interacted much with them since. Pretty cool little guys though.

 

[Konstantin Konstantinov]

Hi all
Me and my tarantulas do appreciate them a lot.
They induce the best feeding response with my Ts.Have few picky eating tarantulas that will not touch anything else.
Have no issues with cannibalism or mass deaths while I keep them on cheap porridge oats and water cristals changed every 4 days as water source.
Bonus all those that escape during feeding time provide lots of entertainment for my 4 cats that love hunting them down.
Once dropped a tub full and the cats were having great time for over a week even if the girlfriend was not impressed at all.hahaha
Regards Konstantin

 

[Duke1907]

I feed my T's crickets exclusively. That being said, I only have two T's and I only buy 5 or 10 crickets at a time. I feed them bits of apple, cabbage, carrots, whatever veggies I have available, soak a paper towel for their water source and give them a paper tube hide and a little topsoil or coco fiber to run around on. I'm careful to not let them escape. They illicit a fantastic feeding response and they are basically dirt cheap. My crickets live well until the sacrifice and I've not had any problems with them, no cannibalization, odor or otherwise. A few of them usually die for whatever reason (they are, after all, crickets) and that's why I buy a few extra at a time. I see no need to feed any other feeder insects.
I can, however, see how keeping large numbers of crickets for breeding or bigger tarantula collections may become an issue.

 

[Dry Desert]

"They stink"

"They're cannibals"

"They infect our tarantulas with diseases"

"I hate them"

But do they? Are they? Do they? Should we?

Let's all take a step back for a minute and acknowledge how awesome crickets actually are. I have opened this thread for several reasons.

First and foremost: They really grew on me. I feed a mix of crickets (various species) and locusts to my tarantulas. As many other keepers, I have found that I spend more time on the maintenance of my feeder insects than on the few tarantulas I have. While doing so, I couldn't help but observe them a bit. And frankly, I now think they're pretty cute and interesting to watch. I have a "feeding video" in the works. It's so much fun to watch how the poor creatures happily swarm all over a small water dish and/or a fresh leaf of salad after rehousing them from the pet store cricket box into a somewhat decent faunarium. Gives me almost as much pleasure as watching the tarantulas hunt.

Here's some fun facts about crickets:

- They don't stink. Not a lot, at least - if you keep them right and feed them right.

- They are not notorious cannibals. Cannibalism in cricket containers can mostly be avoided - if you keep them right and feed them right.

- They do not, under normal circumstances, infect tarantulas with anything - if you keep them right and feed them right. Notice the

- They live in our care, awaiting death row in the form of a pair of massive fangs. They damn well deserve to be treated with respect.

Feel free to share your photos, videos or stories about crickets in this thread. Let me start with a photo of a freshly molted Gryllus assimilis:

View attachment 389739

I had a pet shop owner friend that was so pissed off with escaped crickets from his shop displays he had a free roaming Today Gecko in the shop. During the day there was a lot of chirping - in the morning - all was silent.!!

 

[MrGhostMantis]

In third grade I started a black market for crickets in our school, but I haven't interacted much with them since. Pretty cool little guys though.

“Hey you, yeah you, want some C R I C K E T S?”

 

[Introvertebrate]

First you give some away for free. Once your classmates are hooked, then you start charging for the crickets.

 

[VaporRyder]

Crickets are gross. I despise them, and don’t trust them around my tarantulas!

That said my local pet store is out of beautiful, cute, gentle hoppers in the right size for my slings. It is what it is!

So, on the day of delivery, the store was out of small locust (again) by the time I got there this evening! So I bit the bullet and bought 3 boxes of crickets, 2 small Exo Terra Cricket Pens and some Bug Grub and Bug Gel. The cricket sizes I bought were seconds, thirds, and adults. I put the adults in one of the Cricket Pens, and you are supposed to be able to put the seconds and thirds in this size too - but the ventilation holes look too big. Do the long antennae prevent them getting through gaps or something? There is not a smaller version.



I have to admit, crickets are growing on me. Also, locusts are so passive that a number of my Ts are able to simply reach out and pull them slowly to their fangs. With crickets, they have to hunt properly and chase them hard - sometimes even missing a few times!

 

[KaroKoenig]

When I have very snall crickets, i use a thin wire mesh, just to be on the safe sie. The lid of the critter keeper still fits.

 

[VaporRyder]

Oh yeah! I’m converted!

Just accidently dropped two crickets in the LP enclosure at once! Lightning response - killed the first quickly before sprinting over to the other, with the first still hooked on its fangs, and speared that too! Ate them both together!

Dropped two into the large huahini sling’s enclosure. It killed the first, leaving it where it was, hunted down the second, some way away. Brought the second to the first, did the happy dance - webbing them together. Then proceeded to feed on both!

Bye bye, loc-i! I won’t be needing you anymore…

Almost forgot; 3 pokie slings - who weren’t overly bothered by locust. One cricket each, hunted them across the cork in seconds - instant feeding.

 

[Scorpiobsession]

After getting a thousand crickets and lots of them escaping, I was quite pleased sweeping the hundreds up that were around the house. No more crickets for me.