House cricket, or house cricket, ( Acheta domesticus, Gryllus domesticus) - a species of arthropod insects from the order Orthoptera, family true crickets, genus Acheta.
The etymology of the Latin name of the species is not reliably known. The origin of the Russian name for this insect is associated with the ability of males to make specific crackling and chirping sounds.
House cricket (house cricket) - description, appearance, characteristics
House crickets are fairly small insects. The size of the slender, slightly flattened body, covered with a hard chitinous shell, in adult individuals ranges from 16 to 26 mm in length. The color of the domestic cricket can be grayish-yellow, straw-fawn or various shades of brown with streaks, specks or spots of indeterminate shape.
On the head of the cricket, which resembles a flattened egg in shape, 3 dark arcuate stripes are clearly visible. The small eyes located on its sides have a complex facet structure.
The mouthparts of crickets are of the gnawing type in structure. The antennae, consisting of several segments, are an organ of touch. Often their size is slightly greater than the length of the cricket's body.
The rear pair of well-developed membranous wings helps house crickets easily fly from place to place. At rest, the cricket's wings lie along the abdomen and resemble long, sharp tails.
If necessary, house crickets can travel quite long distances. When the insect is on the ground, its wings are reliably protected from damage by dense elytra that lie flat on the back, with the right one slightly overlapping the left.
Like all orthoptera, the house cricket has 3 pairs of legs. The hind legs have thickened thighs and are designed to perform fairly long jumps. It is noteworthy that the hearing organs of these insects are located on the shins of the front pair of legs.
The paired appendages located on the last segment of the abdomen are quite long and resemble peculiar antennae sticking out in different directions.
Sexual dimorphism is expressed in the presence of a special sound apparatus in male crickets, which is similar in structure to the sound apparatus of grasshoppers, but differs from it in greater complexity and a different arrangement of components. The stridulatory vein, which functions as a closure, is located on the right elytra, and the vein against which it rubs is located on the left elytra. When they rub against each other, the familiar trill of a cricket appears. In crickets, the sound apparatus is more developed and occupies a larger area than in grasshoppers.
Female crickets have an ovipositor at the very end of their abdomen, shaped like a spear. Its length ranges from 11 to 15 mm. With the help of this organ, females dig holes in the soil into which fertilized eggs are laid.
The average lifespan of a house cricket rarely exceeds 3 months.
Where does the house cricket live?
The house cricket lives in countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. The insect is often found in Russia, France and Germany, Belarus and Poland, Romania, Italy, as well as in others European countries. Large populations This insect has been recorded in India and Pakistan, China, Korea, Japan, as well as in the southern part of Australia. Recently, the house cricket has been living on the North American continent, where it was brought from Europe.
The main habitat of house crickets is human dwellings, warm basements, warehouses or industrial premises, as well as heating power lines. In temperate latitudes, with the onset of a warm period lasting from late May to mid-September, the house cricket can live outside buildings. The optimal conditions for the life of these insects are temperatures from +30 o C to +35 o C. When it gets cold, they find cozy shelters in any heated buildings, because when the temperature drops environment below +21 o C, crickets stop eating, become apathetic, move little, and the process of larval growth stops.
Under natural conditions, the basis of the menu of house crickets is any plant food. However, insects require protein supplements in their diet. They satisfy this need by attacking small invertebrates, eating dead insects of other species, or even attacking their own kind. Quite often, young individuals of crickets become an additional dish for an adult relative, and eating egg clutches is common.
Once in human homes, crickets gain access to a limitless source of food. House crickets enjoy eating pieces of vegetables, fruits or bread crumbs left after breakfast, lunch or dinner. If a cockroach or other small insect gets in the way of a house cricket, it will certainly become part of its diet. No less attractive to crickets are droplets of any drinks consumed by humans, with the exception, of course, of alcohol.
House Cricket Reproduction
The male brownie cricket is an insect that lives strictly in a certain territory and jealously guards its harem, consisting of several females. When a stranger enters the territory, fierce fights occur between males. An indispensable attribute of mating games is the singing of crickets, and if the conversation between males is carried out in sharp, abrupt trills, then the serenades that the gentlemen perform for the females sound quiet and melodious. Sometimes, thanks to such trills, female crickets can move to another, sweeter-voiced male.
House crickets do not have a seasonal rhythm in reproduction, so they can reproduce throughout the year. Moreover, females are able to mate several times before laying eggs. However, the peak of sexual activity still occurs in the summer. After fertilization, the female cricket, using an ovipositor, prepares holes in the soil into which it lays eggs that are shaped like a banana and have a length of up to 2.5 mm. One female is capable of laying from 40 to 179 eggs per season. If average temperature air temperature is 28 o C, the number of cricket eggs can reach 725 pieces.
House crickets are insects that have an incomplete development cycle, consisting of only 3 phases:
- egg,
- larva,
- imago (adult).
The duration of the egg stage directly depends on the ambient temperature and can take from 35 days (if the air warms up to a temperature of 32 o C) to 2 months (at an ambient temperature of about 27 o C).
The emerging larva of a domestic cricket looks a little like an adult insect, but does not have developed wings and is not capable of producing offspring. In its development, it goes through up to 10 molts, occurring over 7 weeks, during which the body undergoes restructuring. A few days after the last molt, house cricket adults become sexually mature.
Use of house crickets
In North America, house crickets are often used as bait when catching predatory fish, and in many Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, Laos, etc., house crickets are one of the traditional dishes.
Recently, in many countries around the world, crickets have been bred en masse to feed exotic pets, such as large spiders or reptiles.
There are also people who want to keep crickets as pets.
House cricket - breeding at home
With the right approach, keeping and breeding domestic crickets is not particularly difficult. You just need to follow simple recommendations and remember that you need to use at least four insectariums to keep insects of different ages.
- A maximum of 15 females and a maximum of 3 adult males can live in one container.
- As an insectarium for home crickets, you can use containers made of glass, plastic or plywood with a height of at least 60 cm, with tight-fitting lids made of stainless steel mesh that provides good ventilation.
- Glass plates are glued to the inner surface of cages made of plywood, at least 15 cm wide from the top. This is done to prevent crickets from escaping from insectariums. In containers made of glass or smooth plastic, such a “security perimeter” can be created by smearing the inner upper part with Vaseline.
- Finely sifted peat, often mixed with sand, is used as a substrate poured into the bottom of the cage for home crickets. The layer thickness should not exceed 10 mm. To support optimal temperature, necessary for the normal development of insects, use top heating of insectariums using ordinary incandescent lamps with a power of no more than 75 W or bottom heating carried out by a heating cable. The container for home crickets must be heated around the clock.
- In addition, it is necessary to maintain a certain humidity regime inside the cage. For adult individuals this figure should be no more than 40%, and for young larvae within 55-65%. In adults, moisture replenishment occurs through feeding with food with a high content of internal juices, and for young animals, a small irrigation of the substrate can be done with a spray bottle.
- Small glass containers about 6 cm high filled with substrate are also placed inside the insectarium, into which female house crickets lay eggs. The substrate with laid eggs is moistened a couple of times a day. As the container is filled with eggs, they are transferred to a special container that acts as an incubator. It constantly maintains humidity at 90% and a round-the-clock temperature of about 28-30 o C. After 5-10 days, the containers from the incubator are moved to a separate insectarium, in which, after the allotted period, the larvae are born.
What to feed house crickets?
Any vegetable crops and herbaceous plants are used as food for domestic crickets. Beets, carrots, lettuce or dandelion leaves, and clover heads work well. Good results provides an addition to the diet of small amphipod crustaceans (hamarus), pork or chicken feed, milk powder, as well as oatmeal. It is better to give food to crickets in small portions every day, and food can be placed in shallow feeders for adult insects, and scattered along the bottom of the insectarium for young animals. The condition of the food is regularly checked: if it is contaminated with waste from domestic crickets, it is replaced.
- Due to the warlike mood of crickets towards another male, in many countries in Southeast Asia they organize fights between them.
- In the Middle Ages, representatives of the nobility in China and Japan organized singing competitions for house crickets. Entire fortunes were given for the winners. The craftsmen made elegant houses for them, which were hung closer to the ceiling so that the trill of the cricket could be heard in any corner of the room.
- It is believed that the presence of a cricket in a house brings good luck, happiness and prosperity to its inhabitants.
- Scientists have found that the monotonous trills of a cricket have the same calming effect on the human psyche as the purring of a domestic cat.
The true cricket family has 8 subfamilies and 2,300 species. These are orthoptera insects. Their males are capable of making loud sounds with their elytra. The most famous in this company house cricket. It has been living next to humans for many centuries, and has become so close to them that it has practically become a pet. At the same time, people do not experience any negativity towards it, which cannot be said about bedbugs, flies, cockroaches and clothes moths.
The original homeland of the insect is the Far East and North Africa. But it just so happened that it spread throughout Europe, and then came to North America and a little later even ended up in South Australia. This creature is thermophilic. He needs a temperature of at least 20 degrees Celsius. If temperature regime does not reach this value, then the representative of the family becomes sedentary and does not eat anything. The same applies to its larvae, which, when low temperatures stop developing and growing.
Therefore, from time immemorial, crickets settled in peasant huts behind the stove. There, the temperature during the winter cold was always high. And in the summer, insects left human habitation and moved closer to nature.
The length of this arthropod reaches 15-25 mm. The main background of the body is yellowish. It is diluted with light brown spots and specks. 3 dark stripes run across the head. To produce sound, the male raises his elytra (the front dense and rigid pair of wings) and very quickly rubs them against each other. The result is a unique sound. The wings themselves are well developed, and the insect can fly, but uses this opportunity very rarely. The male uses the sounds he makes to attract the female and court her. Other males no longer approach such a pair.
In summer, the female lays eggs in crevices in the soil. The higher the ambient temperature, the more eggs there are. They are deposited in small piles. Their total number ranges from 50 to 200. In hot areas it reaches 500-600. They usually develop within 20-30 days, but again it all depends on the temperature.
These insects do not have a pupa. The eggs hatch into larvae that are very similar in appearance to adult representatives of the species. The only difference is the size and the absence of wings. The larvae go through several molts and after a month and a half turn into mature insects.
An adult cricket lives very short - only one and a half months. And the entire life cycle from egg laying fits into 90-120 days. But in the tropics, representatives of the family live up to 6-7 months. Field crickets live 14-15 months, but this time period includes hibernation.
Nowadays, these insects do not settle behind stoves, since they no longer exist. They chose heating mains, boiler rooms and warm basements for themselves. There are a lot of them on livestock farms. It's always warm there and there's plenty of food. This arthropod feeds mainly on plant foods, but also eats other insects. Adult crickets can eat both their own small relatives and clutches of eggs.
There are hobbyists who breed restless warblers in insectariums. In principle, there is nothing complicated about this. It is important that the soil is dry and humidity is minimal. A constant source of water is also needed. A piece of wet cotton wool is perfect for this. In nature, insects quench their thirst with dew. Bread and cheese crumbs, pieces of fruit, and drops of milk serve as food. When breeding, moist soil is needed so that females can lay eggs in it. The top of the soil must be covered with a net to prevent adult insects from digging it up and eating the eggs.
Crickets are orthoptera insects, the family of which includes 8 subfamilies and 2300 species. Males make loud sounds using their elytra.
Most known species- house cricket. These insects live with people for many years, so they are considered practically pets. People do not feel the same hostility towards house crickets that they feel towards flies, moths, cockroaches and bedbugs.
Crickets are native to North Africa and the Far East. But these insects spread throughout Europe, later they settled in North America, and then came to South Australia.
The cricket is a heat-loving insect that lives at temperatures of at least 20 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is lower, the cricket becomes inactive and stops feeding. Cricket larvae behave the same way; at low temperatures they stop growing and forming.
Listen to the voice of the common cricket
That is why crickets have always settled in Russian huts behind the stoves, where the temperature is even cold winter always high. IN summer time crickets left human habitation and settled in nature.
Appearance of crickets
The body length of this insect ranges from 15-25 millimeters. The main body color is yellowish, it is diluted with light brown specks. There are 3 dark stripes on the head.
Behavior, nutrition and reproduction of crickets
When singing, males raise their front, hard pair of wings, called elytra, and rub them together, resulting in a chirping sound. The cricket's wings themselves are well developed, so it can fly, but they use this ability in rare cases. With the help of their "singing" males attract females and warn other males not to approach the pair.
Females lay eggs directly in the soil in summer. The higher the air temperature, the more eggs the female lays. The clutches are small piles. The total number of eggs laid is 50-200, and in hot regions the clutch may consist of 500-600 eggs. As a rule, eggs develop in 20-30 days, but this process is directly affected by temperature conditions.
In the process of formation of these insects, there is no pupal stage, that is, larvae are immediately formed from the eggs, outwardly similar to adult individuals. The difference is the lack of wings and size. The larvae molt several times and after 1.5 months take on the appearance of an adult insect.
The lifespan of an adult cricket is extremely short - only 1.5 months. Life cycle in this case it is 90-120 days. But crickets that live in the tropics live about 6-7 months. The lifespan of field crickets is 14-15 months, but this is taking into account hibernation.
In modern times, crickets do not live behind stoves, since there are no stoves in houses. These insects settle in heating mains, heated basements and boiler rooms for the winter. Crickets love to live on livestock farms, where it is always warm and there is plenty of food.
The cricket feeds mainly on plant foods, but its diet also includes other insects. Adults even hunt small relatives, and they also eat their eggs.
Crickets are one of the families of Orthoptera insects. Its representatives love warmth and moisture, so the greatest diversity of species is found in Africa, the Mediterranean and South America. There are 2,300 species of insects, the most common being the house and field crickets. Having settled next to a person, it does not cause a negative reaction like a cockroach or a fly. The photo fully conveys what a secretive cricket looks like, and to listen to its trills, you should go out into a field or garden in the summer.
Description and area of residence
The true cricket is a typical representative of the family of Orthoptera jumping insects. Its close relatives are grasshoppers and locusts. The insect has an elongated body, a large head, and a gnawing type mouthparts. The antennae are long, thread-like, and vision is well developed. The hind legs with thickened thighs allow them to push off when jumping.
The elytra are dense, leathery, the wings are fan-shaped with veins. Females have an ovipositor, which they use to cut through stems to lay eggs. Few people know what a cricket looks like, but they have heard its chirping at dusk. It creates its trills by rubbing the elytra. The faster the vibration, the higher the sound. The special structure of the elytra makes it possible to produce sounds in a wide range.
The insects are widespread in Asia, Europe, North Africa and America. In Australia they are found only in Adelaide, where they were introduced from other countries. They find cracks for housing, dig holes or hide under stones. Activity falls on summer months, because at temperatures below +21 0 insects become lethargic and stop feeding. The love of warmth forced crickets to seek refuge in human habitation. With the onset of autumn, they move into houses, heated warehouses and industrial buildings.
What is the cricket singing about?
Songs can only be heard from males. Difficult " musical instrument“They need it to attract females and build communication with other individuals. The main theme of all trills is the invitation of the female for mating. The louder and more interesting the sound, the higher the chances of procreation.
Males settle separately; they allow the presence of female representatives in their area, but will not tolerate rivals. A special chirping alerts crickets to the boundaries of foreign territory. Another type of trill is war songs. These insects are brave and formidable warriors; they always rush into battle, defending their borders.
Interesting fact. In China, fights of specially trained crickets are held annually. The males are brought together in a kind of arena and teased with straws, forcing them to start a fight. These fights are popular among the Chinese, with thousands of dollars being wagered on the winners. The losing insects face a sad fate; in the fight they lose their legs and antennae. The defeated are given to birds as food or thrown away.
Insect nutrition
In their natural environment, crickets feed on fresh grass shoots and bush leaves. Having settled on the site and significantly increased the population, they will begin to harm garden crops. Adults prefer to nibble on seedlings rather than weeds. Their diet is not limited to plant foods; insects require protein for development. Its source is small insects, corpses or their own offspring.
What does a cricket eat when it finds itself at home? In this case, he shows omnivorousness, eating crumbs of bread, droplets of liquid dishes and drinks, pieces of vegetables and fruits with equal pleasure. Meat or fish that falls on the floor will also be eaten by the little neighbors. Showing the instincts of a hunter, they can catch flies or small invertebrates that end up in the house.
Many seemingly harmless insects turn out to be a source of danger, so the question often arises: do crickets bite? You can rest assured about night singers, they don’t bite people. The jaws of the gnawing type are not adapted for attacking large objects; moreover, aggressiveness is shown only towards males in foreign territory.
Life cycle
Sexual differences in insects are manifested in the presence of a chirping apparatus in males and an ovipositor in females. The dimensions of the appendage are 10-15 mm; with its help, females lay eggs in the ground. The cricket is a type of insect with incomplete metamorphosis. This means that its development takes place in three stages:
- egg;
- larva;
- imago.
Varieties of crickets
Thousands of species of these insects are found in nature, mostly inhabitants of the tropics and subtropics. In hot and humid climates there are large individuals that are bought for their spectacular appearance. Among the numerous types of crickets, the most widespread are:
field cricket
Insects lead a solitary lifestyle; they settle in meadows and fields, as well as light pine forests. The field cricket digs a hole up to 20 cm deep and 2 cm in diameter. It jealously guards its home, not allowing other males to approach it. The body is black (rarely brown), smooth and shiny. The head is round on the forehead with 3 simple eyes (ocelia). The field cricket feeds on leaves, seeds, grass roots, and small invertebrates. The body length of the male is 20-23 mm, the female is slightly smaller - 17-21 mm.
The entrance to the hole is masked with a tuft of grass. If the male's chatter does not scare away the uninvited guest, a fight begins. During fights, crickets bump their foreheads, jump on each other, and try to bite off an antennae or paw. A male without part of his limbs is considered a lower creature; he will not be able to fertilize females. Field crickets have a lot natural enemies, so they are very shy and cautious, when they hear a noise, they hide in a hole.
Poorly developed wings do not allow the insect to fly, so it searches for food by running on the ground. During the mating period, females leave home and go in search of a partner. To attract them, males emit ringing trills while sitting near their burrows. A fertilized female lays hundreds of eggs in the ground. After a month, the larvae appear and will have to molt several times before turning into a mature cricket. With the onset of winter, the larvae hibernate in their burrows; by May next year they will turn into adults.
You can meet field musicians in Central and Southern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. Due to frequent droughts, the number of these insects is constantly decreasing.
Interesting fact. The hearing organs of crickets are located on the front legs; they pick up sound waves and vibrations. To hear better, the insect raises one limb up.
House cricket
This is the only species that voluntarily coexists with humans. Insects find shelter, food and a favorable climate in houses. Previously, they settled in the warmest place - behind the stove. In modern conditions, it has been replaced by central heating pipes. Insects prefer to spend the warm season outside; they move into houses and basements in September.
Homeland of the insect middle Asia and North Africa, will spread to colder areas, enabled by close proximity to people. The house cricket is similar to a grasshopper with a flat body. Its size is 16-25 mm, the female’s ovipositor is 11-15 mm. The main body color is yellowish-brown, with noticeable dark spots and stripes on the back, abdomen and head. The wings are well developed, the insect actively uses them for flight. There are 3 pairs of legs, thickened thighs on the hind legs help to jump long distances.
Interesting. The antennae of crickets are an organ of touch; their length exceeds the size of the body.
Only night trills allow people to notice the appearance of an insect in the house. Are reconciliations dangerous for humans or pets? They are completely safe - they do not bite, are not poisonous, and do not damage furniture or things. The only concern is the chirping at night. Insects feed on the remains of human food and catch invertebrates. They need moist places to reproduce. The peak of sexual activity is observed in the summer, but egg laying and breeding continues in human housing.
Having received an unexpected neighbor, people wonder how long does a cricket live in the house? The life of the imago (adult) is short; it will disturb with its trills for no more than 3 months.
Interesting fact. There are many signs and superstitions associated with the appearance of a cricket in the house. Among the Slavs, this is a symbol of imminent marriage, recovery or improved well-being. It was strictly forbidden to kill an insect, otherwise the person would face an imminent illness and other misfortunes.
Stem cricket
The common stem cricket or trumpeter lives in the steppes and foothills, preferring to settle on bushes. Representatives of this species can be found in the steppe part of Russia, the Caucasus, northern Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. The color of the insect is from greenish to light brown. The body length of an adult (imago) is 9-14 mm, the size of the ovipositor is 6-8 mm. In the normal state, the wings are folded behind the back. The hind legs are covered with small spines.
The common trumpeter waits out the hot day under the leaves; active trills calling for females are heard in the evening and at night. Insects are phytophages; they feed on plant foods.
Attention. When ovipositing, females cut plant stems to place eggs in them. If insects settle in large numbers in a tobacco field or vineyard, they cause significant damage to the planted crops.
The eastern trumpeter is a species found on Far East Russia, Japan and China. The insect has an elongated body of a light green color, with a dark stripe visible on the abdomen. The elytra are short and transparent. The brown antennae are much longer than the body. The trumpet size is 11-13 mm. The female lays eggs in the stems and petioles of leaves; the larvae appear in July.
banana cricket
The field cricket (Gryllus assimilis) is common in Central America. His homeland is Jamaica. This is one of the largest representatives of the family. Adults reach sizes of 18-25 mm. In favorable conditions they reproduce all year round. Individuals reach sexual maturity in 1 month. Insects eat plant foods and invertebrates, and there is cannibalism among them. When there is a lack of food, insects eat eggs and larvae.
Interesting fact. The males of this species chirp less than others, for which they are nicknamed “silent crickets.”
Their rapid growth and large size have made these insects the subject of breeding for pet food. Crickets are a favorite part of the diet for turtles, lizards, reptiles and birds.
Grasshopper and cricket - similarities and differences
Both insects belong to the same order Orthoptera. They have an elongated shape, a large head, and well-developed eyes. Males of both families have a chirping organ - elytra. Insects have much in common in the process of reproduction, development and nutrition, but upon close examination it is difficult to confuse them. What is the difference between a grasshopper and a cricket? Grasshoppers are larger in size, some species reach a size of 35 mm. Their body is usually colored greenish for camouflage in the grass. The hind legs of grasshoppers are much better developed, because they live in open spaces and need powerful limbs for jumping.
The time of their activity also differs - crickets play music at night, and grasshoppers during the day. Their graph is related to the structural features of the wings. The apparatus of grasshoppers must be dry in order to make sounds. They are waiting for the warmth to dry the dew from the grass.
But him appearance may frighten an unprepared person. The homeland of the species is Eurasia. But together with humans, the house cricket has colonized the North American continent and a little bit of Australia. In Australia, it was limited only to the city of Adelaide, where the household dependent was initially brought. With a high degree of probability, the house cricket was prevented from spreading throughout the continent by the too dry Australian climate.
Appearance
The house cricket resembles a massive, medium-sized grasshopper with a straight back.
- Ordinary grasshoppers have folded wings. Crickets have three pairs of legs. The latter, like that of grasshoppers, is long and can push the house cricket upward. But he doesn't use his "catapult" to make jumps. The insect needs this pair of paws only to throw its body up, where it can spread its wings for flight.
- Crickets fly very well.
- The cricket's singing mechanism, also located on its hind legs, gives it an additional resemblance to a grasshopper.
- The head is large. There is a pair of large compound eyes on it.
- The mouthparts are gnawing type.
The long cerci located at the end of the abdomen give the house cricket its terrifying appearance. They are associated with stings. But house crickets are harmless insects. The female has a long (11-15 mm) ovipositor between the cerci. The cricket's body length is 1.5-2.5 cm. The color of the cricket's body varies from yellowish to brown.
A photo of a house cricket taken from above gives an idea of what this human companion looks like.
Lifestyle
Crickets are active at night. This is the song beloved by many that males produce when courting a female or scaring off rivals. During the day they hide in secluded places. In summer, insects prefer a natural habitat, hiding in damp crevices or burrows.
On a note!
House crickets cannot live and breed in dry areas.
Females lay eggs in moist substrate in crevices of trees or stones. The number of eggs laid by one female per season depends on the ambient temperature. The usual number is from 40 to 180, but at temperatures above 28°C the number of eggs laid can exceed 700.
For the winter, crickets move into houses and into warm, damp rooms, which include heated basements and heating power lines. When the air temperature is above 21°C, the cricket in the house can continue its vital activity in winter.
Interesting!
There is a sign that the appearance of a cricket in the house is good luck. For this reason, some people deliberately bring insects home from the street. But you won’t be able to enjoy singing for long; it interferes with sleep. That's why people prefer . The lifespan of a house cricket in the adult stage is 3 months.
Diet
Nymphs and adults in nature feed on plant foods. If a cricket lives in a house, it eats mostly liquid food. But it can also feed on rotting organic matter and even engage in cannibalism. Adults need protein supplements, so they catch small invertebrates and eat soft corpse tissue. They can catch and eat young relatives.
Relationships with a person
A very difficult topic for cricket. In Japan, it was customary to keep these insects at home in miniature cages. In Asia they are specially bred for food; in North America they are used as bait. In Russia today, many exotic animal lovers keep reptiles that eat crickets. Owners of these cold-blooded animals, along with reptiles, usually breed crickets as food for their pets.
If a cricket suddenly appears in a multi-storey building in the city center, you can be sure that it has escaped from a pet reptile lover. Much less often such escapes occur from insect lovers due to the fact that they also prefer to keep exotic crickets.
On a note!
There is nothing to worry about if this insect has settled in your home. Although it is related to cockroaches and can feed on similar foods, it does not cause any damage. Night Grasshopper is neutral. It does no harm or good. Except for nighttime singing, which can interfere with sleep.
How to get rid
If a cricket in the house turned out not to be lucky, but to insomnia, and even managed to multiply, you will have to get rid of the uninvited guests. Here it would be appropriate to remember that biologically they are cockroaches with similar requirements for habitat and food. You can poison them with chemicals, set sticky traps and try to drive out the crickets folk remedies. But the first thing to do is to stop “feeding” them:
- There should be no open trash cans, untidy crumbs, or leftover food on the table in the house.
- It is necessary to monitor the taps so that water does not drip from them (watering hole).
- If the house has a basement, you need to check if there are damp places there.
- All cracks through which insects can enter the house must be sealed. Hang a mosquito net on the windows.
For private houses and apartments on the first floors, trimming the green spaces under the windows will be a prerequisite. Owners of a private house need to place compost pits in the farthest corner of the site, since crickets live in nature in just such damp places full of rotting organic matter.
Farm at home
There is also the opposite side of the coin. Fishermen and reptile lovers are often forced to independently breed these insects at home in terrariums. Not every reptile agrees to eat frozen dead food, and the cost of such food in a pet store can ruin lovers of rare animals.
On a note!
These insects do not have seasonal activity, therefore, given favorable conditions, the house cricket is able to reproduce all year round. This is very helpful for terrarium owners.
The optimal combination of insects is 1 male to 5 females. When there is an overabundance of males, fierce fights arise between them, which leads to injuries among the breeders. A male that has lost its elytra is unable to produce mating trills and becomes unsuitable for breeding.
Females are provided with a moist substrate for laying eggs. Containers with the substrate are covered with a mesh with a mesh size of 2 mm. The net is needed to prevent insects from digging up and eating the eggs. In favorable home conditions, the female lays 200-500 eggs, shaped like a banana.
The substrate should not be too dry or dense. When attempting to lay eggs in dense or dry soil, females damage the oviduct and become unable to reproduce.
The humidity of the substrate must be carefully monitored. When dry, the white eggs dry out and become transparent. This means the death of the masonry. In the case of a dry substrate, the female may try to lay eggs in the drinker. In this case, the masonry will also die.
The house cricket is an insect with an incomplete metamorphosis cycle. There are only three stages in its development:
- egg;
- nymph;
- imago.
The pupal stage is eliminated. The nymph is very similar to the adult, but lacks wings. The nymph has 9-11 stages of development. That is, young domestic crickets will molt 9-11 times.
At home, egg development lasts 10 days, so containers with substrate must be replaced every decade. The fry that emerge from the eggs must be fed with soft protein food, placing the food in a container with low sides. You also need to provide young domestic crickets with water. Wick drinkers are suitable for this.
Depending on the room temperature, the development of house crickets lasts 40-60 days or more. After completing the development cycle, they are suitable for feeding domestic reptiles.
