Crickets: what they eat in nature and at home

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

What do crickets eat? This question often arises at the sounds of such a familiar, dimensional song of an insect, symbolizing homeliness and comfort. The mustachioed "owner of the bakery" has always evoked a reverent attitude in Russia; such a crumb can significantly reduce the number of unpleasant numerous neighbors: fleas and cockroaches.

Cricket lifestyle

Crickets belong to the suborder Long-whiskers, order Orthoptera and number more than 2000 species. They are able to adapt well to environmental conditions, feeling comfortable both in the hot, humid tropics and in almost barren, dry areas.

The domestic cricket Acheta domestica lives naturally in the desert areas of North Africa, where water is available only in the form of dew drops, and vegetation is practically absent. What do crickets eat in nature? In such modest conditions, the desert dweller does not disdain anything, feeds on organic remains found, even those that have long since dried up.

Persistently rummaging in the sand, looking for eggs, larvae and pupae of other insects. At home, in dark basement corners or under the floor of a hut, the cricket behaves in the same way and actively destroys flea nests and cockroach broods. What do crickets eat at home?

Survival features

Acheta domestica is the only species of cricket that has managed to adapt to coexistence with humans. This feature allowed the insect to move northward and live wherever people live. In the summer, the cricket leaves its inhabited dwelling and, until the autumn cold, retires to “free bread”.

How do crickets live? What do they eat? It is known that the mustachioed "tenant" is a very modest insect and does not betray its presence in anything other than singing. As a rule, only one individual has the right to sing songs on the territory of the dwelling - the strongest male in this territory. The rest are expelled, and the struggle for primacy is not for life, but for death. Crickets ruthlessly fight for superiority, tear off each other's whiskers, wings, paws; Quite often the winner eats the loser. The most terrible and shameful injury is the loss of a mustache. The beardless cricket leaves the battlefield in disgrace, loses its sire status, and lives in exile without showing itself to its brethren.

Cricket fights

The collision propensity of crickets is successfully exploited by Asian peoples, who arrange exciting duels between these insects. To warm up, it is enough to place a female between six-legged opponents, for which at the same secondserious fight. The winner of the championship gets a comfortable cage, a rich menu and a harem of the most attractive females. The offspring of such a wrestler will be valued at a huge amount of money.

The owners raise the morale of losing pets by throwing them into the air, which makes the insect spread its wings and fly. The cricket will not fly far, but cheerfulness in his mood, depressed from the loss, will increase significantly. According to research, in flight, the insect produces octopamine, the so-called fearlessness hormone, which gives the male the ability to fight further.

Cricket lifestyle

The cricket has a nocturnal mode of existence, but the insect does not forget to sing the well-known roulades at sunset. The musical instrument of the cricket is located on the wings; one of the elytra is equipped with a "bow" - a thickened vein with a large number of regular teeth, on the other there are "strings" - veins. There are also "resonators", which are mirrors made of membranes. To extract the sound, the cricket raises the elytra and makes certain movements with them.

Italian representative of Oecanthus pellucens Scop stands out with special melody against the background of his brothers. It was this species that the ancient Greeks kept in cages. The masters of Ancient China used ceramic vessels for such an occasion, a material capable of amplifying the sound made by a winged musician many times over. By the way, the older the male, the richer his music sounds.

Fighting for a lady's attention

Ladies of the Heartmale crickets are quite fastidious and force the gentleman to persuade them during the day: w altz around the chosen one, drive away rivals, sing serenades. In case of victory, the male hangs a special bag with seed material - spermatophore - from the lady's abdomen and quickly takes it home. This precaution is explained by the fact that the fertilized female becomes very voracious and, in a fit of hunger, can eat her lover.

Egg laying takes place one week after fertilization. After half a month, tiny larvae come to the surface of the soil. Before the onset of the adult insect stage, they have to go through 4-6 molts. The strength and size of the jaws are what differentiate larvae from adult crickets.

What do baby insects eat? Their diet consists of fruits, berries and tender shoots - in general, pasture.

Domestic crickets: what do they eat?

Crickets can be successfully kept at home, using an old aquarium as a place of residence, at the bottom of which it is recommended to place several stones and snags, pour a layer of sand or earth. The top must be covered with mesh. The created conditions will be appreciated by such interesting insects as crickets. What do mustachioed pets eat? Almost everything. Grated vegetables, fruits, clover and dandelion leaves, steamed bran, soft caterpillars and pupae, milk, dog and cat food. Adults are able to use the feeder, young animals are recommended to scatter food evenly over the entire area of the substrate, removing every 2-3 daysplant remains. For a watering hole, it is better for an insect to use wet sand or a damp sponge; crickets do not know how to use drinkers.