Super Crickets?

[Pssh]

I hate those things! I've watched them take down brothers when there was plenty of food (a variety too!) and water available. Take a set of needle nose pliers and crush their jaws.

 

[Fuzzy]

Gryllus assimilis. Some also refer to it as the "Silent Brown Cricket". That thread says that the cricket virus has essentially made Acheta domesticus extinct.

Extinct? Every pet store that I go to now still breeds them in large numbers. I'm thinking of starting my own farm in case they switch over though. I'm a bit worried about these super crickets (mainly, their powerful jaws) but I suppose that I can crush them with pliers or something if I end up having to use them as food, not taking the risk for any of my tarantulas.

---------- Post added at 03:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:00 AM ----------

By the way, does Cricket Paralysis virus affect tarantulas? I've been doing some research on google and have gotten mixed results.

 

[Introvertebrate]

From what I've read, the virus only effects Acheta domesticus. Ts are immune.

I guess if you've got your own Acheta domesticus colony, there's little risk of it getting infected by an outside source. No one seems to know for sure what causes the virus.

 

[wesker12]

I believe your talking about Gryllus assimilis? The Jamiacan field cricket - I hate them! They terrorized my friends geckos and bit it several times. They not only have stronger, sharper mandibles but they are alot stronger than the normal feeder crickets and can mess up alot of pets. If you have to use them I suggest stunning them or my personal favorite - off with thier heads!

 

[Introvertebrate]

I wonder if they could pose any harm to a T or Scorp?

That would interest me too. We know they terrorize geckos.

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

That link to the gecko site was very informative, thanks!

Concerns over the powerful jaws of these Jamaican crickets are probably in reference to adult crickets only, or maybe late instars. Most pet stores sell two sizes of crickets. I assume 2 or 3 small crickets will safely substitute for one large. We never fed adult crickets to our few geckos anyway, so this won't affect us.

It seems a lot of people around the web are confusing their local black "field crickets" with these new ones in the pet stores. There are numerous species of native crickets in the US that are black in the earlier instars. Jamaicans are established in Southern Florida, according to the various literature referenced over at that site. Apparently, at least one business has already been given permission to ship these new ones around the country.

If I read any of the literature incorrectly, please correct me.

Adult crickets have always been capable of damaging molting tarantulas or mantises, etc. I wonder how much of the hype about the power of these new ones is a function of their novelty combined with a few high profile and synchronous cases of predation.

 

[Nanotrev]

No way am I using these crickets. Acheta domesticus is what I'll continue to use until they really are in low numbers. It's either that or I'll find some of the soft crickets around my place and figure out how to breed them. Would anyone know a good way to get the parasites out of crickets? I imagine you'd get the parents and have them breed and then discard them. Would the resulting offspring be parasite free?

 

[hedwigdan]

I see allot of people on this thread saying that they wont switch over to super crickets until acheta domesticus is in very low numbers.
Why not just switch to roaches? Roaches cant harm a molting T so I don't see the point in switching over to super crickets.....
And also I haven't seen any of these super crickets here in Ireland pet shops are still selling acheta domesticus.....

 

[Nanotrev]

Nobody in my household will welcome roaches, so if I can't get any different feeders or keep mine from being contaminated by the virus I'm out of luck unless I want to feed pinky mice to my scorpions once every week.

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

Nanotrev,

By parasites, are you referring to the cricket virus? Parasites and viruses are two totally different things. I don't recall any discussion of parasites in this lengthy multi-forum, multi-hobby discussion and I'm concerned your introduction of that concept in conjunction with the "hype" already growing against this cricket species will perpetuate a largely unfounded paranoia against them.

I've been using, and am now breeding for personal feeder use, these new crickets for months. I find them more attractive and hardier. Even though they "apparently" have a more powerful bite, that is a reference to adults and you don't have to feed adult crickets to your smaller animals. Adult crickets of the original species were always a danger to our smaller pet bugs, or especially molting ones.

I don't personally see much of a difference between the two cricket species. I can understand how some gecko keepers have had bad experiences, but I have to assume they would still be able to use this new cricket species if they were careful about not using ones that were too large. This whole situation represents change and is a result of a cricket virus, but this too will pass. Personally, I'd like to have the option of two cricket species as feeders in this hobby.

 

[Vulgaris]

Wow I would love to get my hands on a couple of these "super crickets". I haven't seen any at the shops around my area

 

[Nanotrev]

Nanotrev,

By parasites, are you referring to the cricket virus? Parasites and viruses are two totally different things. I don't recall any discussion of parasites in this lengthy multi-forum, multi-hobby discussion and I'm concerned your introduction of that concept in conjunction with the "hype" already growing against this cricket species will perpetuate a largely unfounded paranoia against them.

I've been using, and am now breeding for personal feeder use, these new crickets for months. I find them more attractive and hardier. Even though they "apparently" have a more powerful bite, that is a reference to adults and you don't have to feed adult crickets to your smaller animals. Adult crickets of the original species were always a danger to our smaller pet bugs, or especially molting ones.

I don't personally see much of a difference between the two cricket species. I can understand how some gecko keepers have had bad experiences, but I have to assume they would still be able to use this new cricket species if they were careful about not using ones that were too large. This whole situation represents change and is a result of a cricket virus, but this too will pass. Personally, I'd like to have the option of two cricket species as feeders in this hobby.

Oh! No no no...

What I mean is how I can make sure the crickets I collect from the wild are free of unwanted hitchhikers. I don't mean viruses. I know there are some critters that sometimes live in their guts and I'd rather not take wild caught feeders and introduce those same problems that they have to my scorpions. I'm not at all concerned about wild crickets carrying viruses. It's only parasites I want to make sure don't transfer with the young during reproduction. I suppose I'd better word my question in a different way.

Regarding parasites, would the young of wild-caught crickets be safe to use as feeders should I wish to establish a colony of them? Camel crickets are very appealing to me right now. When I encountered them (years back) I remember them being quite sluggish in the daytime hours and it would be very easy for a large scorpion to catch them. If I knew how to breed them, along with if it would be okay to feed the young to my scorpions, I'd 'hop' right on it. I just want to make sure I'm not introducing anything to my terrariums or to their inhabitants.

Now, on using multiple species, I'm all for it too! I'm just a very cautious kind of person and I like to know all of the risks before I do something. I do tend to be overly paranoid sometimes but I like to be sure most of the time.

Edit-
Also, on multiple species for feeders...

I may not trust the new crickets myself but I wouldn't mind seeing them be implemented. I think my fear of them harming my scorpions made it pretty foggy when speaking about my opinion of them. I distrust them for now (if I kept them alone - it would be worth it because they look so neat) although I'd like to see more variety of feeders entering the hobby. On a chameleon forum they have a rather large list of all these feeders people use for their chams and I really wish we could see commercially raised grasshoppers too, or perhaps other kinds of bugs. Scorpions and the rest of the invertebrates we keep certainly have a much more varied diet than we give them in our care.

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

I read your previous post too quickly perhaps. Thanks for the thorough explanation. My wife was rushing me out of the room to start our next Netflix episode of Battlestar Galactica so I may have read too hastily. [You can't keep a lady waiting when she's subjected herself to both science fiction TV and a house full of bugs!!!]

Back to hype, then. I have been feeding wild caught insects to my pet bugs for many years and have experienced no verifiable or even suspected death on account of wild feeder insects. I believe this common hobby fear is also a myth perpetuated mainly by two groups of hobbyists with philosophical imbalances. One group are well-meaning preservationists/conservationists that believe one less housefly in nature on account of a pet bug's mouth constitutes a quantifiable degradation to nature's perfection. The other group consists of people who have less than five pet bugs, each of which has a name and will, upon death, receive a proper funeral complete with planted flowers watered copiously with human tears.

I don't consider myself insensitive to either of these groups, but I feel their perspectives can skew their conceptions of reality.

In fact, my experience suggests that pet store crickets are much more likely to cause our pets to be sick than wild caught feeders. Mantis hobbyists are particularly familiar with this observation.

My scorpions are eating the new crickets (appropriately selected for size, of course), and so are my tarantulas and my mantises and my centipedes and my assassin bugs, and every other predatory bug I have. I've not actually seen domestic/house crickets for about six months since my local pet store (and source for cricket breeding stock) switched over. Perhaps the gecko folks just need to build a better gecko or switch to non-burrowing roaches (there are many).

And I love your point about how captive scorpions live in a totally different universe than wild scorpions.

 

[Nanotrev]

Thank you! I really picked up on the idea of variety when I started keeping chameleons, having seen all of what people were feeding them. After that I then poked around with other creatures and what they might also eat besides a staple of crickets. I've always bought the largest variety of feeders for my animals and things just seem to turn out better that way. They all eat well and seem to be doing better than when I merely fed my reptiles and arthropods crickets alone. I don't think all nutritional components can be met by one gut-loaded species of insect. Perhaps they can, but the wild-caught additions to our hobby seem to be larger most of the time and I'm sure their diet probably had something to do with it. (I could go on and on about environment)

However, I am new to forums and communicating with people who enjoy the same hobby I do. It's been great to get personal feedback and not having to rely on text and such from books that are outdated. I modify my habits of care for my animals based on what's best for them. Having feedback such as yours is nice, and I agree on the points you've made.

As for the new crickets, would you agree that they're meatier than the Achea domesticus we've been used to? I've heard that they are through other sources. Speaking about their mandibles, isn't it generally suggested that you don't leave feeders with your animals unattended anyways? If you do toss a few crickets in and leave, it's obviously best to know how much your animals can eat in a sitting so that there won't be survivors chowing down on them. I leave food in the cages as it is anyways. It keeps the crickets gut-loaded and stops them from considering the other residents as lunch when it should be the opposite.

Thinking back to your video of the super crickets... do you breed them like that as well? I've considered the idea of keeping crickets in an environment with isopods to clean up after them and just let the crickets breed as they normally would and it seems you might have already done that. The concept of having a cricket enclosure that is self-sustaining in terms of having a clean-up crew to do the cleaning for me seems appealing, though I imagine you'd still have to clean it out every once in a while. Maybe not?

 

[stewstew8282]

Back to hype, then. I have been feeding wild caught insects to my pet bugs for many years and have experienced no verifiable or even suspected death on account of wild feeder insects. I believe this common hobby fear is also a myth perpetuated mainly by two groups of hobbyists with philosophical imbalances. One group are well-meaning preservationists/conservationists that believe one less housefly in nature on account of a pet bug's mouth constitutes a quantifiable degradation to nature's perfection. The other group consists of people who have less than five pet bugs, each of which has a name and will, upon death, receive a proper funeral complete with planted flowers watered copiously with human tears.

I don't consider myself insensitive to either of these groups, but I feel their perspectives can skew their conceptions of reality.

I guess in all your big-worded wisdom you failed to take into account the reason some people might fear wild caught food for their pets is possible contamination by sprayed pesticides. I guess up in Or eee Gon if you're somewhat schooled and can properly use big words it gives you the right to become a snob who mocks other peoples' views, such as looking down on those who don't have a whole room full of inverts. Well my opinion of you is pretty low. But knowing the rules of this forum, I'll keep my gutter mouth out of this conversation. Instead I'll use the AB provided smileys to relay my message... ;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P

 

[Nanotrev]

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think BugsInCyberspace really meant what he said to be seen as a mockery to anyone. I would be led to believe he provided both ends of the spectrum in a manner which points out the extremes. It's ultimately up to any one person to decide what they think are the correct practices of their hobby while it is possible you can go overboard on any one view. The piece of conversation being tossed back and forth was more about disease and the transfer of parasites between invertebrates than it was pesticides.

It doesn't go to say however, that I don't become nervous when thinking about feeding wild-caught insects to those I consider valuable in my collection. It happens to be the main reason I've never caught insects from outdoors and fed them to the scorpions I enjoy so much. I don't look down on those who do. I don't think BugsInCyberspace looks down on anyone either and he made that clear by stating he was not insensitive to people who do mourn the loss of their bugs nor those who have a strong view on how we should treat the environment. He may have access to more pristine land, and most of all it's what he chooses to do. I live in an area where my neighbors are quite heavy handed with their pesticides. Anyways...

I personally didn't feel offended by what he said at all. He even complimented me because I'd pointed out the different lifestyles between captive invertebrates and those that are outside meandering around.

Getting the thread back on topic, has anyone else had experiences with the new crickets? The idea has began to sink in with me that with the addition to this new feeder, perhaps more will begin to make their way onto the market. It makes me curious to think about what else we could feed to our invertebrates that is easily bred and cared for.

 

[AaronP]

Circkets?

People still use crickets? though most were using roaches by now.....

 

[zonbonzovi]

I guess in all your big-worded wisdom you failed to take into account the reason some people might fear wild caught food for their pets is possible contamination by sprayed pesticides. I guess up in Or eee Gon if you're somewhat schooled and can properly use big words it gives you the right to become a snob who mocks other peoples' views, such as looking down on those who don't have a whole room full of inverts. Well my opinion of you is pretty low. But knowing the rules of this forum, I'll keep my gutter mouth out of this conversation. Instead I'll use the AB provided smileys to relay my message... ;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P;P

In case of big words, click link: http://www.merriam-webster.com

Literacy without comprehension and context is akin to feeding a gastric bypass patient a 72 oz. porterhouse steak.

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

Thanks for being receptive to my opinions and generalized constructive criticisms, Nanotrev. As we all know, one can't have an opinion without pissing somebody off. It's fine.

It would also be insensitive for me to laugh at others' fears. Fears are often more real than reality, and so are the emotional connections some people have with their pet bugs, but it would be neglectful of me to miss the opportunity to share my "experiences" on the topic of parasites. I didn't mention pesticides previously, maybe, because it was not the topic of conversation.

As for pesticides, here we go again. I've had a lot of pet bugs and have fed a lot of wild caught bugs to them. Through this, none have died from suspected pesticides. Further, in years of cruising these forums, I recall no confirmed or documented evidence of somebody's pet bug dying on account of feeding them pesticide-tainted, wild caught feeders. I'm not saying it can't happen. I'm just saying that raising fear levels over something with evidence to the contrary should at least be examined/discussed, and prevented. In fact, I "believe" that feeding wild caught bugs to our pets is healthy for them in a context limited not just to trace elements. Further, I agree that exclusive feeding of pet store crickets that survive in part on each others' feces (lest I offend a coprophagist), is not best practice. I have no documented evidence on the latter and pet bugs are clearly very tolerant.

On a related point, what are the chances of a wild caught feeder bug being exposed to a harmful degree of pesticide and not dying before it ends up in my pet bug's mouth? (Yes, I'm aware of the increase in levels as pesticides make their way up the foodchain, but still.)

More to topic, my local pet store has switched back to ordinary house crickets again. Is it just me or do they look a 1/3 smaller than before? I often have multiple bins of multiple feeder species being housed together. If enough food is provided, all will grow and reproduce together. They should, in theory, grow more quickly in separate cages, but we constantly weigh convenience against other factors.

 

[BobGrill]

People still use crickets? though most were using roaches by now.....

You do realize that it's illegal for people in certain states to use roaches, right?