Black crickets.

Eltortu

Established Member
A couple of weeks ago, at the Pomona Show, I bought about 100 crickets that not only look, but behave oddly. They are black in color, do not jump -hind legs are short-, their bodies are wide and stubby, bite right through the cage screen mesh, and have a very peculiar head with very big and eerie looking eyes...anyone -that got them at the show- noticed the same?...or is it just me!??
 
Yeah...I can't find the thread that was up recently on these. It's a different strain of crickets. What we've been used to are brown "house" crickets.

I've gotten these once and they scared the crap out of me. At one point, two of them ganged up on another and killed him and ate him on the floor of the cage.

They spent way too much time on the bottom of the cage as far as I was concerned. The brown crickets always go hang out under the light which makes them easy prey...these things? nope....

I won't buy them again if I can possibly help it.
 
Hey Elizadolots thanks for the reply. I knew there was something odd on these crickets...so after all, I may not be that crazy seeing things... :D
 
Are these the ugly things you're talking about? I bought 2k and about 15 were white like this. The white ones body parts fall off and still stay alive. I think they're weaker than the other ones, because they die eventually.
 

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Are these the ugly things you're talking about? I bought 2k and about 15 were white like this. The white ones body parts fall off and still stay alive. I think they're weaker than the other ones, because they die eventually.

Yeah dude, those are the ones!
 
I thought there was something different about them. Their heads are way huger too, right? They really creep me out. My sister can't stand the sight of them. lol.
 
White means they just molted...

I just got some, but they aren't black. I was told mine are hybrids of some sort. They are crazy huge! They (mine) look more like mormon crickets than black crickets. My chameleons seem to like them more so far. I almost pooped my pants when I first saw them! :)
 
They are totally creepy and I hate them...I put them right with super worms for things I never want to see in my house again.
 
these are the cricekts that are mostly available over here. I feed all black crickets by hand and they tend to be meater and bigger then the browns!
 
i live in SD and the pet shops down here are switching to the black crickets because they said that there is a shortage of brown crickets because they are getting diseased and can't keep them alive past a certain point. so now they are going to sell the black crickets. I haven't really had any problems but I cup feed my chameleon so that might help out a little
 
I havent seen those down here yet in Texas. My lps where i pick upmy cricks said that their supplier hasnt had any issues with the crick plague yet. Im just praying we dont have to switch over to those. They look weird looking. :eek: Although if they can handle lower temps I may be tempted to try em. It sucks trying to keep my crickets warm in the garage during winter and I cant stand crick smell or chirping of a 1000 cricks in my home.
 
I think bearded dragon keepers are going to really like them. Because they get a little bigger than normal cricket. Mediums are like normal adult size. Guess we have a new size when ordering; extra large, or mucho grande.

On a side note: Have you felt the weight of a box? per thousand cricket. Much heavier than a normal box of crickets.
 
There ya go! :)

They are waaaaay heavier! I put in the normal number of crickets with my chameleons (cup fed because these things look scary) and I found a bunch still uneaten this morning! I guess even the chub ladies couldn't get that much cricket to stay down.
 
That previous thread said they're more aggressive. Well I always see them fighting with each other; one freaking bit me. I didn't notice it on my shirt and I got freaked out and fed it to my chameleons, ahahaha.
 
Somebody told me that they got a good bite on em. Like I said, I had a small gecko bitten so watch out with over feeding/left over crix in cages.
 
Black crickets

Ive noticed that they dont chirp much at all. There my kinda crickets, lol. Mine are totally silent at night..:D
 
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