Black Cricket

[PrettyInInk87]

I know there are LOTS of threads about Black Crickets already but I just wanted to throw my experience with them in. They FREAK the heck out of me! I have never been freaked out by bugs and not even my 3 roach colonies but these suckers are scary. They are HUGE have big heads and big legs with spikes on them... Along with their big heads comes a pair of big choppers. One day I was feeding the gang so I grabbed one with my fingers, it turned around and bit me! It scared the living CRUD out of me and I jumped. Scary... I guess i'll just have to deal with them since my new cricket "dealer" only has these.

 

[Hoj]

I hate the damm black crickets hate them hate them hate them!!!!!
i may have to deal with them to as i hear there is a disease that is a problem for cricket breeeders killing the reg brown ones and the black one are fine so alot of the breeders are switching.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Yes I have heard about that and I thought things were getting better with it but I guess not. I hated dealing with the brown crickets and i'm with you on TOTALLY hating these but my Chams REALLY love crickets so i'll just have to suck it up.

 

[robmd1]

they are really freaky cannibals, take one in eachhand and put them to eachother see what they do...

 

[Hoj]

they are really freaky cannibals, take one in eachhand and put them to eachother see what they do...

haha i throw a brown one in with 1000 of emm

 

[Ekproject]

Ya they creep me out. But the damn things are indestructable. Lol. Live forever!

 

[Elizadolots]

They're hideous.

I know that some cricket farms are now producing hybrids. I'm hoping they will have the health of the blacks and the personality of the browns.

One thing I find myself wondering is if they are really good food for chameleons? Look around the internet and you'll see that they are pitched as being extremely high in protein. I've seen numbers over 60%. Of course, all the numbers are different and it is the internet, but still....aren't we always advised against giving our chameleons too much protein?

P.I.I. are you getting yours from the American Cricket Ranch? They only have blacks in the full size, but they do still have smaller browns. I don't know how long that will last though. I know they are trying to get "hybrid" going.

 

[sdheli420]

ya they are here in sd, ive been getting them for awhile too..got bit once, now i use the tongs to grab em

they really are built like lil tanks..lol

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Oh really? I use to get bulk orders from American Cricket Ranch and sell the extras off on craigslist but they only had brown crickets. I had no idea they started selling black crickets now. I don't feed crickets much and have only fed them these black ones for a few days, i'm going to look more into it. I usually feed Dubia along with a few supers and a few different types of worms. My thing is that they are scary as hell, lol!

 

[ncrippen]

Black Crickets

They are really creepy! They remind me of potatoe bugs! Those jaws...

 

[PrettyInInk87]

They are really creepy! They remind me of potatoe bugs! Those jaws...

*shivers* Potatoe bugs... I had forgotten about those. I feel like such a pansy being freaked out since I love bugs so much but dang Potatoe bugs are pretty creepy too and I have seen those in person. They come out at my step brother in laws house in Tijuana.

 

[nonnatus]

Oh god I've refused to have any more crickets in my house now I find them so repulsive. We've switched to locusts which not only are actually CUTE (my daughter happily picks them up and plays with them ) but the beardie and the Cham go mental for them. They do seem skinnier than the crickets though so despite heavy gut loading, I do offer more that I would crickets and add a couple more worms...

Hoe spoiled are our animals eh