Crickets digging tunnels?

[CosbyArt]

I know crickets in the wild dig tunnels and such in the soil, but my cricket feeders often dig in their egg laying dirt container too. I was curious if anyone lets their crickets dig tunnels?

I refilled their 3" egg laying dirt container yesterday, as they managed to kick out over a 1" of the ground coconut substrate lately. Today I noticed a few are back at it again digging tunnels in the container. One especially in the photo, I drew a arrow to it. The cricket is able to hide itself completely in the tunnel.

In the tank I keep the coconut substrate only about 1/8" thick to give them traction and help with humidity, so no digging there; however, many of the egg laying females will dig a bit to bury they abdomen as they lay eggs in the dirt container. There are others though, that will dig out tunnels and hide in them until the coconut eventually collapses or the water misting destroys the tunnels (the coconut doesn't stick together well enough to support tunnels).

Besides the obvious fact that crickets in tunnels are impossible to get out easy as feeders, will allowing them to make tunnels cause any other problems? I was thinking of perhaps adding a thicker layer of substrate in the tank to allow some of the diggers to get their wish with tunnels. Maybe a mix of sterile topsoil (from the oven) to about 1" deep and a thin layer of coconut as the top layer.

I have to admit after adding the thin 1/8" layer of substrate in their tank, and having a colony of Springtails and Isopods in there too - I haven't had any problems with dead crickets or cleaning really. I pick out a occasion dead cricket (from age) and clean the water bottles and add food, and the rest takes care of itself it seems. It also has little to no odor ever - just the chirping can get a bit old (but my wife loves the noise ).

So I don't think the tunnels would really affect cleaning either. Any thoughts about it?

Below I also added a photo of at least 4 generations of new cricket nymphs in the same egg crate spot. I say at least, as the newly hatched nymphs are all but invisible. My colony is really taking off anymore with breeding. I also did a post on some photos of their eggs.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

If you have a clean up crew, and don't mind a little extra work picking out feeders than I say go for it. The only other downside will be your girls will lay eggs anywhere they please so harvesting eggs won't be as cut and dry if you like to move them before they hatch.

 

[dmina]

I really don't have any answers for you Thomas... I keep my soil for egg laying in a little plastic dog food container with a piece of netting rubber banned over the top to keep them from digging...I guess if you really want to get very natural with the enclosure you could add more dirt.

 

[CosbyArt]

If you have a clean up crew, and don't mind a little extra work picking out feeders than I say go for it. The only other downside will be your girls will lay eggs anywhere they please so harvesting eggs won't be as cut and dry if you like to move them before they hatch.

I have been thinking of also doing a natural setup for some "pet" crickets. I figure if something happened to my main colony I was have some if really needed as well.

I've had glass custom cut before at a local Lowes, and I am thinking of a overgrown ant farm type tank for some crickets. As my wife, mom, and nephew actually seem to enjoy the crickets more than my mantises.

It would be easy to do. Build it wide enough to do a single row of egg crate material up top, water bottles, etc. Then have a good 4" or more of dirt mix to allow the crickets to make tunnels. Sounds like a interesting project - and one I would give to my nephew but my sister already said he couldn't have any of mine for pets (so I'll keep it here).

I really don't have any answers for you Thomas... I keep my soil for egg laying in a little plastic dog food container with a piece of netting rubber banned over the top to keep them from digging...I guess if you really want to get very natural with the enclosure you could add more dirt.

Sounds like you do, a quick easy fix - just add some netting. I think I'll keep the feeders simple and do that, and setup a 2nd tank as described above. Thanks for the overly easy idea to fix the problem.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I have been thinking of also doing a natural setup for some "pet" crickets. I figure if something happened to my main colony I was have some if really needed as well.

I've had glass custom cut before at a local Lowes, and I am thinking of a overgrown ant farm type tank for some crickets. As my wife, mom, and nephew actually seem to enjoy the crickets more than my mantises.

It would be easy to do. Build it wide enough to do a single row of egg crate material up top, water bottles, etc. Then have a good 4" or more of dirt mix to allow the crickets to make tunnels. Sounds like a interesting project - and one I would give to my nephew but my sister already said he couldn't have any of mine for pets (so I'll keep it here).

That sounds like fun. I've always viewed my feeders as additional pets. I enjoyed my crickets and now I am enjoying my roach tank. Sure I feed some off, but the majority will live their full life out. Some people really seem to loath having to use and need feeders like crickets for their other pets, and I always found that to be a sad mentality.

I love the more natural set ups because it is fun watching them dig, hide under leaves, and explore. If you do a more natural set up, cork bark is a great alternative to egg crate. I like it because it doesn't mold or get nasty like egg crate can and lasts forever. Plus it looks prettier.

If you are doing an entirely different setup you might have fun going with a different species of cricket such as the banded cricket Gryllodes sigillatus. Variety can be fun.

 

[CosbyArt]

That sounds like fun. I've always viewed my feeders as additional pets. I enjoyed my crickets and now I am enjoying my roach tank. Sure I feed some off, but the majority will live their full life out. Some people really seem to loath having to use and need feeders like crickets for their other pets, and I always found that to be a sad mentality.

I love the more natural set ups because it is fun watching them dig, hide under leaves, and explore. If you do a more natural set up, cork bark is a great alternative to egg crate. I like it because it doesn't mold or get nasty like egg crate can and lasts forever. Plus it looks prettier.

If you are doing an entirely different setup you might have fun going with a different species of cricket such as the banded cricket Gryllodes sigillatus. Variety can be fun.

Yeah I know what you mean. After all the time spent trying to figure out why I wasn't get any eggs to hatch, now I have plenty of little cricket nymphs, and so far I haven't been able to feed any of them to my mantis nymphs.

Thanks for the tip, it sounds like the way to go - more natural and longer use. I'll have to see what I can find.

Is the only difference between the crickets, in appearance, the three bands? I couldn't see much difference, but seems they are other differences - more immune to disease, faster runners, better climbers, etc. Might be worth checking into. Also some strange cricket such as the Jerusalem cricket, or mole cricket, could be interesting.

I'll have to give it some though and see what I can come up with.

 

[Tenodera]

Gryllodes sigillatus are smaller, much more agile, chirp more quietly, and are hardier than Acheta domesticus. I like how they look quite a bit, too.

Other crickets and cricket-like insects such as Stenopelmatus and mole crickets can make awesome pets, but are not practical as feeders because of the length of their life cycles and, with Jerusalem crickets, their natural weaponry.

 

[CosbyArt]

Gryllodes sigillatus are smaller, much more agile, chirp more quietly, and are hardier than Acheta domesticus. I like how they look quite a bit, too.

Other crickets and cricket-like insects such as Stenopelmatus and mole crickets can make awesome pets, but are not practical as feeders because of the length of their life cycles and, with Jerusalem crickets, their natural weaponry.

Thanks for the details, interesting to read. If I did the 2nd cricket farm tank it would be primary as pets, so no problems if they had to remain pets. I told my wife about the idea, she likes it but says I have enough bugs already. I'll likely draw up some plans and do one sometime in the future.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Is the only difference between the crickets, in appearance, the three bands? I couldn't see much difference, but seems they are other differences - more immune to disease, faster runners, better climbers, etc. Might be worth checking into. Also some strange cricket such as the Jerusalem cricket, or mole cricket, could be interesting.

Tendora hit on most of the main differences. I think the very legged look of the banded crickets is adorable. If your wife isn't that into insects you might want to pass on them though. For instance one difference that comes with their agility is if they get out you might say see one running up the side of your wall versus the clumsy Acheta domesticus that tend to just putter around on the floor like complete dorks. I always have a hard time seeing how Acheta domesticus feeder crickets would survive in the wild. They remind me of the insect version of fat domesticated chickens. Gryllodes sigillatus on the other hand seem like something that could actually survive in the wild.

If you use either of those species for your pet tank however keep in mind you will still probably need to cull numbers to keep the population from exploding. Both reproduce like rabbits.

 

[Introvertebrate]

The most important difference between them is that Gryllodes sigillatus is resistant to AdDNV cricket virus, and Acheta domesticus is not.

 

[CosbyArt]

Tendora hit on most of the main differences. I think the very legged look of the banded crickets is adorable. If your wife isn't that into insects you might want to pass on them though. For instance one difference that comes with their agility is if they get out you might say see one running up the side of your wall versus the clumsy Acheta domesticus that tend to just putter around on the floor like complete dorks. I always have a hard time seeing how Acheta domesticus feeder crickets would survive in the wild. They remind me of the insect version of fat domesticated chickens. Gryllodes sigillatus on the other hand seem like something that could actually survive in the wild.

If you use either of those species for your pet tank however keep in mind you will still probably need to cull numbers to keep the population from exploding. Both reproduce like rabbits.

Thanks for the details. Hey, if you think the banded crickets are adorable, perhaps there is hope. Sure, sounds like a species to try.

No problems with the running up walls, they will have a good lid on the tank. Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks that about the house crickets, they seem almost "backwards" on many things.

No problems with culling the population, especially as I can feed the banded ones off if needed to my mantises. If nothing else too perhaps I can get come pet converts from "free samples".

The most important difference between them is that Gryllodes sigillatus is resistant to AdDNV cricket virus, and Acheta domesticus is not.

I saw that, and it seems many of the cricket farms are switching to the banded to avoid the issue too. If nothing else it seems to give another positive to having them in a 2nd tank - no problem with a both cultures being ruined.

 

[CosbyArt]

I keep my soil for egg laying in a little plastic dog food container with a piece of netting rubber banned over the top to keep them from digging.

The crazy things have almost emptied the dirt container, and did it in only 5 days from when I filled it to the brim. There was 3" and now it is 1/4" to 1/2" deep. Since the 5th day they haven't been able to heave the dirt up and out of the container.

I did find the perfect netting, a empty net bag from some oranges. I'll get rid of the old container and make a few smaller ones covered with the netting this weekend.

 

[dmina]

Sounds like a plan! I hope it works for you..