Problems with Cricket Jumping Legs?

[Sarah K]

Hey guys,

I do not feed crickets to my mantises, but I do keep some dart frogs and tree frogs to which I feed crickets. I have noticed a problem with my feeder crickets on various occasions where their long jumping legs don't seem to work. It seems like they are just crawling around with the rest of their legs and sort of dragging their jumping legs, rather then using them to jump! It has been really bothering me that I cannot figure out why this is happening! Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this, or figured out what causes it?

I buy my crickets from Ghann's cricket farm, so they are Banded Crickets
(Gryllodes sigillatus).

 

[Introvertebrate]

Gryllodes sigillatus is immune to the paralysis cricket virus, so I don't know what to think.

 

[CosbyArt]

At the moment I have house crickets (Acheta domesticus) and never had a issue with them, or the Banded Crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) that was used by my pet stores occasionally since the cricket disease.

Not sure what could be causing your problem, as your species are very resistant to the cricket virus; however, are not immune occurring to scientific articles (although many assume they are immune as it is rare). Are your crickets smaller than normal, die quickly, do their eggs hatch, etc? I'm curious if you have a fluke strain that could be infected or have some other issue. Although often infected crickets will be on their backs (messed up acting), become paralyzed and die from the virus.

As mentioned by Introvertebrate there is a cricket virus that had a big outbreak here in the US that bankrupted some cricket farms, and others managed to recover by switching to the resistant Gryllodes sigillatus species. The virus is called Cricket Paralysis Virus or simply C.P.V., and is scientifically named Acheta domesticus densovirus (AdDNV).

Here is more information about it from ScienceDirect, NCBI, and a cricket breeding site.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Can you get some video? I would be curious to see what they look like as far as dragging their back legs. If you poke one of the ones dragging its legs will it switch from crawling to jumping?

 

[Sarah K]

Yeah, I read about that virus, and that is why I have only used banded crickets ever since. In fact, when that disease first broke out in 2009, I had been getting house crickets from the pet stores to feed my chameleon, and I remember wondering why every time I would get them, it would take only a matter of days until all of them were on their backs and dying or dead! (After my last chameleon died, I took a long hiatus from any of the small animal hobbies I have been involved with in the past, and didn't start back again until 2015.) Eitherway, I have been through that, and this is definitely not as severe. It always seems to affect only some of the crickets, not all of them (even though they are all in the same cage), and only a few die still. It certainly doesn't kill an entire colony, which is why I thought maybe it is something other than AdDNV. I have also raised plenty of them (all kept together) from pinhead to adult, and bred them still. Eggs still seem to hatch fine.

Can you get some video? I would be curious to see what they look like as far as dragging their back legs. If you poke one of the ones dragging its legs will it switch from crawling to jumping?

I will try to get a video this weekend, and post here.

 

[CosbyArt]

Yeah, I read about that virus, and that is why I have only used banded crickets ever since. In fact, when that disease first broke out in 2009, I had been getting house crickets from the pet stores to feed my chameleon, and I remember wondering why every time I would get them, it would take only a matter of days until all of them were on their backs and dying or dead! (After my last chameleon died, I took a long hiatus from any of the small animal hobbies I have been involved with in the past, and didn't start back again until 2015.) Eitherway, I have been through that, and this is definitely not as severe. It always seems to affect only some of the crickets, not all of them (even though they are all in the same cage), and only a few die still. It certainly doesn't kill an entire colony, which is why I thought maybe it is something other than AdDNV. I have also raised plenty of them (all kept together) from pinhead to adult, and bred them still. Eggs still seem to hatch fine.

I will try to get a video this weekend, and post here.

Sorry to hear you have firsthand experience with the disease AdDNV; however, it seems to work in your favor as you are certain that is not the culprit. More searching I did for your issue only turns up the Acheta domesticus species problem online - no matter what keywords were excluded or tried. Hopefully a video of your crickets can help someone figure out the issue you do have.

In the meantime perhaps starting a new cricket tank with a new supply of crickets from another supplier, while letting your other tank dwindle down and end, would be a good option to stop the problem. Of course if the problem is spreadable, specifically airborne transmission, the new crickets may develop the problem as well though.

 

[mantisman 230]

one would keep any new ones in another room entirely to ensure nothing goes wrong. And sterilize the old container with boiling water if possible.

 

[CosbyArt]

one would keep any new ones in another room entirely to ensure nothing goes wrong. And sterilize the old container with boiling water if possible.

Indeed, good points.

 

[mantisman 230]

 

[Sarah K]

Hey guys, I finally got the video for you!

View attachment Banded cricket jake leg.mp4

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Hey guys, I finally got the video for you!

View attachment 7401

They do seem a little off. Crickets do a lot of crawling but usually if you really harass them enough they will kick into gear to escape. I noticed from your video it also appears to be happening to crickets in various stages of growth. What is the cage setup and diet like?

 

[Sarah K]

They do seem a little off. Crickets do a lot of crawling but usually if you really harass them enough they will kick into gear to escape. I noticed from your video it also appears to be happening to crickets in various stages of growth. What is the cage setup and diet like?

Hey Krissim Klaw,

My mantises are in a  sterilite container, and eat only Nature's Promise Romain lettuce, and Repashy bug burger.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Were they like that straight from Ghann's, or did it occur after they lived under your care for a while?

 

[Sarah K]

I did not notice it immediately.

 

[Sarah K]

How big of a deal is it if crickets drink some regular sink water? I do rinse my lettuce off under the facet before placing in the cage. 

 

[mantisman 230]

Depends on where you are, for my area, it is fine because we use groundwater. But it can vary depending on your location.

 

[CosbyArt]

How big of a deal is it if crickets drink some regular sink water? I do rinse my lettuce off under the facet before placing in the cage. 

The tap water can wildly vary for sure. I give my crickets water in my inverted water bottles with tap water (but mine is ran through a house filter system and such). Besides that though water in my city is a bit hard, after all I do live in "the limestone capital of the world" lol. In the nearby city, Bloomington, the water seems to vary depending where you live in town. Of course that may have more to do with the house plumbing leaching into the water than actual variations.

All in all though the water should be fine. If you think it could be the cause though pick-up some "spring" water at a store in gallon jugs (it can typically be bought for about $0.75 per gallon).

 

[Introvertebrate]

How big of a deal is it if crickets drink some regular sink water? I do rinse my lettuce off under the facet before placing in the cage. 

Unless you live in Flint Michigan, I wouldn't worry about water quality.  Ghann's is a pretty reputable breeder.  Dirty Jobs did an episode on them.  At the time, they were still breeding Acheta domesticus.

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/dirty-jobs/videos/cricket-farmer/

 

[Sarah K]

Thanks guys.....just trying to think of any possible causes for my weird problem.  I am going to take a few of the jake leg crickets out separately, so I can monitor them more closely. Maybe I will do some experiments with care on them. I will let you know if I figure out anything worthwhile.