Crickets
Crickets
Cricket Scientific Name: Acheta domesticus
All About Crickets
Did you know that only the male crickets chirp? The familiar cricket serenade that most people hear late in the day during the warmer seasons. The sound is often considered calming, and in China, males are often bred as pets and traditionally kept in small cages made of bone. In this culture, crickets are said to bring wellness and health into a home and can make for a relaxing, if not persistent, companion.
It is sometimes assumed that the chirping of the cricket is created from the act of the insect rubbing its legs together. In actuality, these creatures make their unique sound by running the tip of one wing along its teeth. The resonating sound is created from the vibrations generated during this act, similar to a human holding a piece of grass between thumbs and blowing to create a whistle. It is emitted by the stridulatory organ and is called stridulation.
A cricket’s song is similar to a language among these insects. There are four distinct songs, each with its own specific purpose. The first song is a calling song. The song is an attractive melody to females and repulsive detractor of other males. The courting song is a soft and soothing sound, which is followed by the copulatory song of celebration after a successful mating. Finally the cricket is also equipped with an aggressive song. It serves as a detection of males in the near vicinity.
Cricket Habitat
Tall, long grasses are favored by this tiny green insect. These creatures are likely to blend in among the vegetation and are often difficult to locate, though they often announce their presence in song. These critters are fairly common in gardens, woodlands and will occasionally come into the home. In these cases, it is more likely a female that has wandered indoors, looking for a safe place to lay her eggs. Crickets are able to live in almost any environment all around the world. They even inhabit beaches and other non-grassland areas.
Life Cycle of Crickets
The mating season takes place in the weeks of late summer and early fall. They lay their eggs when the weather cools, and their eggs will remain where they are laid until hatched in the early spring. Females spend the majority of their time laying eggs, while the males are usually in search of an available female. These insects are lustful creatures and mate throughout all seasons, not limited to their reproductive mating season alone.
Many crickets serve as a live food source for carnivorous pets such as frogs, lizards and spiders. Crickets have a high-value, nutrition-packed diet. It is their diet that makes them ideal food for larger animals, who gain all of the value from the cricket’s diet by consuming the insect itself. In certain situations, this nutrition is encouraged by humans to increase nutrition for other pets, and they will often overfeed the cricket to maximize results.
Crickets and Humans
These little critters will eat just about anything; like humans – they are omnivorous. Crickets will even occasionally eat their own species, though they prefer easier meals like grass, fruit, and even pollen. These insects can efficiently chew through cardboard and alternatively should be stored in plastic cages when kept as a pet. Some people keep these singing companions as pets, while others use them as a live food source.
Crickets are unlikely, but capable of biting a human in self-defense. The bite will not usually break through the skin. These insects are not known to carry any diseases and treatment of the wound can be carried out at home with usual first aid treatment if necessary.
Cricket Control – Pest Control for Crickets
Crickets are one of the fastest reproducing specious on the planet. They are the poster child for opportunistic birth habits. Read our cricket control page and learn extermination methods.
Cricket Entomology
Cricket Scientific Name: Acheta domesticus
Crickets belong to the Gryllidae family and are more commonly associated with katydids and less related to the grasshopper. These insects have flat, green bodies with long antennae. Crickets are nocturnal critters and can be confused with grasshoppers due to the similarity in their body structures and colorings. There are currently 900 classified species of crickets. Crickets take on the temperature of their surroundings. When the temperature rises, so does that of the cricket, enabling the insect to reach an active energy level through chemical reactions in its body. In cooler temperatures, the cricket body will slow, storing energy and slipping into hibernation.