Unintentional Cricket Breeding

[dgerndt]

As I was checking on my scorpion, Lucy, the other day, I noticed possibly the only cute cricket I've ever seen. It was so tiny, it must be a pinhead. Upon closer inspection, there are more itty bitty crickets. I'm thinking, "this is awesome. Free feeders for my L2 cryptics!"

But then the problem of sticking my hand into my scorpion's tank, rummaging around for crickets the size of melanogasters, pops into my head. She's not dangerous, technically speaking. But I still don't want to be attacked! Plus, how am I supposed to get those crickets out without squishing them? It ended up that I found a little cup that I used to get fly pupae in, and I used it to scoop out the little buggers. I just kept a close eye on Lucy, but she didn't seem to be phased.

So, for now, free pinhead crickets for me! My cryptics seem to like them.

 

[hibiscusmile]

great, now come do it for me! use a tolit paper roll and use it to get them, they crawl in there and just pick it up and shake it into a 32 oz cup.

 

[BugLover]

Lucky!

 

[ScienceGirl]

Nice. My feeder crickets for our Crested Gecko lizard laid eggs in a terrarium I set up for them. Unfortunately, they never hatched... Perhaps it was that I was keeping them in the same stuff that we layer the lizard's cage in - coconut fiber. It dried out.

 

[Coneja]

great, now come do it for me! use a tolit paper roll and use it to get them, they crawl in there and just pick it up and shake it into a 32 oz cup.

This. I've found they tend to crawl into what they perceive as little hidey-holes and it's easy to get 'em that way.

 

[ladygigi]

great, now come do it for me! use a tolit paper roll and use it to get them, they crawl in there and just pick it up and shake it into a 32 oz cup.

Ah ha! That's how to get the little buggers out! I too have an unintentional cricket breeding. Another legacy left behind by my Tartan. The little suckers are so little and jumpy that it's next to impossible to catch them. Unlike Deby I don't have a scorpion to be worried about, but on top of my coconut substrate I have bark which gives them zillions of little cubby holes to crawl under. :blink: But that is what allowed the substrate to stay moist enough for the little boogers to hatch.

 

[dgerndt]

I have a mixture of peat moss and coconut fiber for a substrate. Since I have to keep it hot and humid for Lucy, it must be perfect for crickets to hatch. I witnessed a very fat female laying more eggs the other day. Maybe I will get more! Lucy ate her now, though. Lol

 

[hierodula]

lol! I thought emperors were very calm. You could try moving the scorpion then shaking the cricket out.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

This isn't that unusual considering how easy it is to breed crickets. Rather than intentionally letting them hatch in your scorpion cage however I would simply set up a separate little cage for them. I'm guessing with as hard of an exoskeleton scorpions have your girl is probably safe, but I've heard of more than a couple cases where this happened and the starving crickets hatching out went on to to swarm attack and create lesions on their resident critter. It is sort of like ants. One ant, no problem. A few hundred however and then you got a problem.

 

[dgerndt]

That's true, Krissim. I never thought about that! But luckily there aren't that many. It was more like 15 or 20 little buggers. Big crickets don't last long in her cage, and so they don't have much time for egg laying. And now most of little ones have been eaten by my cryptics! Lol

 

[ladygigi]

I have a mixture of peat moss and coconut fiber for a substrate. Since I have to keep it hot and humid for Lucy, it must be perfect for crickets to hatch. I witnessed a very fat female laying more eggs the other day. Maybe I will get more! Lucy ate her now, though. Lol

Awww.... well, there went mama. :balloon: It does sound like you're gonna have more to come! It's funny, I can't find any of my babies now. I found that if I waited until nighttime, and then misted the bark on top, the little suckers would start jumping everywhere! :lol: LOL But now all of a sudden I can't find any of them. I don't know if they found an escape, if they buried themselves and ended up dying, or what the heck. But I do know they seem to have disappeared. :huh:

 

[dgerndt]

Haha, the mystery of the disappearing baby crickets! That is very strange, though. I haven't found any more babies, either.