# Crickets just know not to eat each other???



## AFK

As long as they're not starving at least.

I've never kept crickets, but now I'm curious. If you breed crickets, what is stopping a cricket from eating another cricket while it is molting? During that time, that molting crickets is completely helpless. If crickets won't hesitate to capitalize on a molting mantis, why not a molting cricket? Or do crickets just generally instinctively know not to attack their brethren if they aren't starving?


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## Rick

Never had an issue with crickets eating mantids or other crickets. I've kept them for years as mantis food.


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## Butterfly

Ive had many crickets eat eachother and battle eachother quite a bit. But I get mine from Petco. Maybe theyre just mean little suckers from there.


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## randyardvark

yeah they do, i split the sizes up


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## AFK

so basically in a crowded cricket bin, when a cricket is molting, it has to pray that another cricket won't stumble upon him/her?

see, what i don't get is that whenever i go to the pet store and see their tubs CRAMMED packed with crickets, i wonder if they just replenish that tub from some cricket factory or something or do they actually BREED them. if they breed them, how in the world does any ONE cricket manage to molt without getting cannibalized? plus, i know most pet stores feed their crickets .

i've also frequently read here about people's mantises getting eaten by smaller crickets while the mantis is molting. very sad.


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## Rick

> so basically in a crowded cricket bin, when a cricket is molting, it has to pray that another cricket won't stumble upon him/her?see, what i don't get is that whenever i go to the pet store and see their tubs CRAMMED packed with crickets, i wonder if they just replenish that tub from some cricket factory or something or do they actually BREED them. if they breed them, how in the world does any ONE cricket manage to molt without getting cannibalized? plus, i know most pet stores feed their crickets .
> 
> i've also frequently read here about people's mantises getting eaten by smaller crickets while the mantis is molting. very sad.


My tub is packed with crickets. No issues here of them eating each other. Very low risk of one eating a mantis in my opinion.


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## Jwonni

Does it also depend on the cricket colour?

I have l;ittle brown/silent ones and they quite happily walk around there are tiny crickets and full grown crickets in the same tub and the little ones are still alive (when i say little they must have shed twice from being born i think) and there was one sat in the middle of others that had just shed and they all carried out their normal business

I read somewhere that someone had put a locust in with a bunch of black crickets and they had torn it apart and eaten it, i put a maggot in with my crickets to see if they were hungry for more than just fruit/veg and it is still in their after 4 or 5 days alive and crawling

Are black viscious but not others?


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## monster

i keep crickets around for my geckos. as long as there is ample food &amp; water there should be no cannibalism. even with the PetCo ones :wink:


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## AFK

ok cool. so basically, there is some exaggerated stories and myths to dispel here to get at the real truth about crickets.

i used to have an alligator lizard when i was a little kid when i didn't know any better, and i used to dump like 20 crickets at a time in the terrarium. turned out that the lizard got stressed out, and i'm assuming the crickets sensed the vulnerable state of the lizard now and i'd catch glimpses of the crickets nipping at the poor lizard. given the dark, ugly side of crickets i've seen first-hand, i'm purely speculating that a mantis or any other creature that isn't too big but in a vulnerable state could just be capitalized by crickets as the ones i saw (which were also bought from a pet store).

interesting nonetheless.


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## babynik14

I have a thing full of crickets and they are all dying or dead.. they have food and moisture.. so i dont know.. its gross though i hate them


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis

> ok cool. so basically, there is some exaggerated stories and myths to dispel here to get at the real truth about crickets.i used to have an alligator lizard when i was a little kid when i didn't know any better, and i used to dump like 20 crickets at a time in the terrarium. turned out that the lizard got stressed out, and i'm assuming the crickets sensed the vulnerable state of the lizard now and i'd catch glimpses of the crickets nipping at the poor lizard. given the dark, ugly side of crickets i've seen first-hand, i'm purely speculating that a mantis or any other creature that isn't too big but in a vulnerable state could just be capitalized by crickets as the ones i saw (which were also bought from a pet store).
> 
> interesting nonetheless.


Im guessing that this is partly why mantids like to stay up high, not just to see prey from far off, but to also stay away from potential predators..ive had a few african flower mantids overcome by cricks..


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## KuKulzA

i once had a tarantula... and too many crickets in the environment can be bad, especially if they decide to mob the beastie... 1 cricket is no match for a tarantula, but lots are...

and normally they just bounce around, but if the biggie-creature is stressed or hurt they go evil and start attacking like a mob :evil:

crickets can be the evilest SOBs outa all the food stuffs.... sometimes i didn't feel bad taking off their hind legs so that they couldn't jump around in their tub and later, flee from my zebra tarantula... but my Buddhist background makes me stop the cruelty... still though... crickees have an evil side


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## monster

> 1 cricket is no match for a tarantula, but lots are... and normally they just bounce around, but if the biggie-creature is stressed or hurt they go evil and start attacking like a mob...crickees have an evil side


i call it "the best survival skills" :twisted:


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## Patrick

We keep a bunch of tarantulas, and I mean a bunch, so we have a lot of experience with crickets. They will cannibalize each other if there isn't sufficient food available. They must also have something to keep them out of their own frass. We use toilet paper rolls. Something about walking around in their own poo can shorten their lifespan considerably. Hope this helps.


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## KuKulzA

> We keep a bunch of tarantulas, and I mean a bunch, so we have a lot of experience with crickets. They will cannibalize each other if there isn't sufficient food available. They must also have something to keep them out of their own frass. We use toilet paper rolls. Something about walking around in their own poo can shorten their lifespan considerably. Hope this helps.


oh good point... its good to try to keep the crickets' heigine good too, after all would you like to eat pig's feet with on it? nah  

so having feces on crickets isn't good nutrition either for your mantis


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## Ben.M

> i've also frequently read here about people's mantises getting eaten by smaller crickets while the mantis is molting. very sad.


Well a cricket shed while in my d.lobata's tank and got a lot bigger, and sadly overpowered my mantis  ...................................R.I.P


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## AFK

> i've also frequently read here about people's mantises getting eaten by smaller crickets while the mantis is molting. very sad.
> 
> 
> 
> Well a cricket shed while in my d.lobata's tank and got a lot bigger, and sadly overpowered my mantis  ...................................R.I.P
Click to expand...

so basically, your cricket leveled up before your mantis did and so was able to beat the mantis.


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## Ben.M

Yep


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## colddigger

i've kept greyish tan crickets in small containers and had no problems with canabalism during molts, although when i would take a dying cricket (cricket that was bitten and then got away) they would gang up and devour it.


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