black cricket

buzz

New Member
I live in San Diego and my local pet shop said that they are now getting black crickets instead of the regular brown crickets. I was just wondering if these were the same nutrition wise as the brown crickets. They do seem to be a little bit fatter. Also I noticed that they excrete this liquid when you try and catch them. Not always though.
 
Wow!! Haven't heard of those for sale before...I get some wild ones around my house that are "black"...Interesting!!!...May I ask what store that is I'd like to check them out.
 
every cricket i have every caught in the wild has been black. could be different species or something.
 
I got some of these at another store in San Diego. I find them scary. Even though it's more expensive, I went back to Petco for nice brown crickets.
 
The black crickets are Gryllus bimaculatus from north Africa (brown ones are Grillus assimillis from the US). Black crickets are actually agressive (they can bite, or better eat a small part of the skin of a sleeping cham), some people in Europe therefore avoid using them.

Since I am feeding chams from my hand, I do not care much about this danger and I sometimes use them. It seems to me that they attract chams a bit more then other usually used species of crickets.
 
Actually the "brown" cricket we get in the US is Acheta domesticus I dont really see a problem with the black cricets if they are hand fed. Not something I'd leave running around though. Can't wait to try them out!
 
I don't know that I could hand fed if their bite can draw blood...
I'll stick to good ol USA crickets.
 
I never got bit...but they still scared the crap out of me. One met a sad death when its fellow cricket ate it alive...BLECH!

They are more compact than the brown crickets and just generally more "nasty insect" seeming...I didn't know about the change when I bought them and it was night so I didn't notice the different look until I got them home. At first I wondered if they were victims of the plague and so, about to die (because from what I've seen, really dark crickets are about to die). But no.
 
Actually the "brown" cricket we get in the US is Acheta domesticus I dont really see a problem with the black cricets if they are hand fed. Not something I'd leave running around though. Can't wait to try them out!

In that case, you would probably like G.assimillis (these are the most popular in our country, second is A.domestica, G.bimaculatus third). They are almost as big as bimaculatus, they do not bite, they almost do not jump, they are not so noisy, ...

It sounds unbelievable to me that you use african crickets A.domestica prior to american G.assimillis in the US.
 
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