Cricket Soap Opera

[ScienceGirl]

My brother's lizard, a lovely Crested Gecko, eats crickets (3 large crickets, 2x a week). We have a nice, comfy terrarium for them and every once in a while, we get a couple males.

Right now we have 2 males. They have been chirping non-stop, and this group of crickets is actually pretty nice to watch - they like being on top of the egg-carton vs under it.

The poor males have a little soap opera going on. I haven't seen them have success/get paired up once. They'll serenade a female, crooning with their chirps, and doing a little dance by swaying and lifting their legs. And what do they get? Rejection. Sometimes it comes with a swift, backleg kick. Sometimes the female just walks away.

Today the males had a face off, both chirping loudly and facing each other. I've heard of crickets wrestling when there's more than one male in a cage, but have never seen it. And these males didn't do it. One just backed down but jumping away.

I think that anything can appear to have a "personality." Especially when you observe them doing actions similar to our own.

Any of you guys have funny cricket stories?

 

[patrickfraser]

I don't feed crickets, but my dubia males put on a nice display for females where they raise their wings and dance around. I think it is also a territorial or dominance thing between the males. Fun to see.

 

[BugLover]

So far the only funny cricket behavior I've had is when a cricket starts to walk by one of my mantids, thinks it sees something, keeps walking, then gets swiped up by a mantis

 

[ScienceGirl]

I don't feed crickets, but my dubia males put on a nice display for females where they raise their wings and dance around. I think it is also a territorial or dominance thing between the males. Fun to see.

Really? That is so cool!

When I had Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, the males never showed off in any way. I thought that perhaps they mated young or something, because I never saw them mate. However, I was a great-great-great-great grandma of the youngest generation before I gave the whole setup to the nearby college.

I did, however, see females expel their eggsack, pushing it almost all the way out for a few minutes, and then pull it back in. I never did understand what that was about, because not all of my pregnant females showed that behavior.

 

[brancsikia339]

One time a cricket was molting to adult and got stuck and then got free somehow. After he was drying like he was on top of the world but was soon run over but other males and later eaten by the females

 

[ScienceGirl]

So far the only funny cricket behavior I've had is when a cricket starts to walk by one of my mantids, thinks it sees something, keeps walking, then gets swiped up by a mantis

Haha!

Never fed crickets to mantids before, but with some cricket groups that we buy, everything goes hush-hush when I walk into the room. With a select few, though, such as this one, everything carries on as normal. I like it like that, because then I can observe them without having to sit still for 30 minutes, waiting for them to forget that I'm there.

 

[ScienceGirl]

One time a cricket was molting to adult and got stuck and then got free somehow. After he was drying like he was on top of the world but was soon run over but other males and later eaten by the females

Oh, that's awful! :blink:

Poor guy!

I hate the crickets that act like they are dying.... slowly..... moving slowly..... limping around..... lethargic.....

They make me worried that they'll poison the lizard. It's never happened, though.

 

[patrickfraser]

Really? That is so cool!

When I had Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, the males never showed off in any way. I thought that perhaps they mated young or something, because I never saw them mate. However, I was a great-great-great-great grandma of the youngest generation before I gave the whole setup to the nearby college.

I did, however, see females expel their eggsack, pushing it almost all the way out for a few minutes, and then pull it back in. I never did understand what that was about, because not all of my pregnant females showed that behavior.

I think all the females do it, you just weren't a witness to it. "If a tree falls in the forest....". Dubia and hisser females (I have them both in the same bin) both do the same thing. I think it is to air it out and dry a bit before sucking it back into the "incubation chamber" inside the female to hatch and give live birth.

 

[ScienceGirl]

I think all the females do it, you just weren't a witness to it. "If a tree falls in the forest....". Dubia and hisser females (I have them both in the same bin) both do the same thing. I think it is to air it out and dry a bit before sucking it back into the "incubation chamber" inside the female to hatch and give live birth.

Haha, yeah. When I first saw them do it, I was seriously freaked out. My mom was pretty freaked out for a bit, before I read some things on mantids. Scary beginner stories....

But what about all the micro-organisms and bacteria in the cage? I bet that gets sucked in, along with the eggsack....

 

[patrickfraser]

It must not be too bad, both hissers and dubias are breeding like crazy with very little die off. They are co-habitating well. I may want to separate them, as the hissers are going to really start crowding when they get bigger. They aren't too bad as young nymphs, but they mature into such tanks. :tank:

 

[ScienceGirl]

It must not be too bad, both hissers and dubias are breeding like crazy with very little die off. They are co-habitating well. I may want to separate them, as the hissers are going to really start crowding when they get bigger. They aren't too bad as young nymphs, but they mature into such tanks. :tank:

Oh, yes, they do get big. Lovely shiny hissers... [happy sigh] I do miss them...

And the wrestling matches! Full of head-butting, ramming, and lots and lots of hissing! Those were always very cool to watch. My males never got too agressive, though. Sometimes they'd fight, but not very often. I had A LOT of adults within a year and hundreds of flat babies hiding under the water and food dishes.