Cricket Insect
Facts About The Cricket Insect
The cricket insect group are those considered as true crickets, and are quite plentiful the world over. Closely related to katydids and somewhat related to grasshoppers, the cricket insect has a flattened, hard body and long antennae. Most of them tend to be nocturnal, and they begin calling or rubbing as the sun goes down on each summer day. They over winter through shallow hibernation, as the chemical reactions in their cold blooded bodies will react strongly to increase and decrease of temperature. The strong jumping back legs often find him confused with a grasshopper as well. He is an omnivore for the most part, choosing to forage on decaying plant materials and organic matter. He will, however, display carnivorous behavior when faced with the dead of his own kind, or even with those who are weak.
The cricket insect has very strong biting parts on the formidable head, and though it is quite rare he will bite humans when feeling threatened. Depending on where he gets hold, as the more tender the skin the worse the pain, his bite can cause a grown man to squeal. He rarely breaks the skin in remote instances when he does bite, but the entire experience is considerably unpleasant no matter what. African and Asian cultures are quite glad to consider the cricket insect as one of their most prized and nutritious meal sources, though those of us in the west of the world tend to be repulsed at even the thought of crunching into an insect, live or dead.
Many species of cricket insect are prone to flight during the mating season, and this flight pattern can carry the southern mole cricket up to 5 miles in search of receptive females to mate with. Unlike a great variety of flying ants and roaches, the cricket insect keeps his wings and survives the mating season with hardly a scratch. He will stop along his journey whenever he needs a rest and a bit of a snack, foraging in dark places for decomposing organic materials or dead insects. This will sustain him as he makes his way along diligently toward propagation.
The cricket insect is also a popular food source for animals higher on the food chain, both in the wild and in captivity. Captive feeder crickets are often “gut loaded”, or fed nutritional supplements that will allow the recipient of the cricket to gain healthy benefits. This is done with a powder, usually dusted over the cricket insect before it is placed into the tank of his enemy. Frogs, lizards, spiders, and birds are all fed crickets, though some will settle with the dead, dehydrated insects rather than the live version. I guess it all depends on how lazy your pet is!