Freakin Crickets are driving me nuts!!

[Dark_Angel_25]

Kenn bought our second to last batch of crikets as adults.. and one or two of them WON'T STOP CHIRPING!!!

They are driving me batcrap!! and when I look in to try and see whichone(s) are doing it, I can't see ANY of them rubbing their legs together to make the chirping sound.. so I can't even feed them to my leos to shut them up!!!

Man I hate Crix... :(

[Removed_2815]

Hi,
Here's a tip: Achetus domesticus do not stridulate by rubbing their legs together (a common misconseption); rather, the shrill sound is produced by the males via rubbing the "wings" together. Therefore, locate the males (http://chamownersweb.com/insects/crixpics/male_crix3.jpg) and feed them first, you can identify the males by the "wings" and lack of an ovipositor (click the link to see the pic).
Cheers,
R

[Dark_Angel_25]

aha... I'll go hunt them down...

[TheRedDragon]

That's really interesting to know... I actually quite like the chirping in the house, I always seem to manage to get mostly males, judging by the amount of chirping I hear. :)

[Wuntu Menny]

It drives me absolutely BUGSH*T!! I have been known to go to great lengths to locate the persistent ones. I order 4 wk as a rule to avoid the problem, but there always seemd to be that stray adult or the odd one that matures a week early.

I purposely feed the males to the hungriest herps to get them processed as fast as possible. On occasion one or two escape in the house and when a male gets into the walls... well OMFG does this person lose his mind! I've ripped baseboard or door casing off the walls with my bare hands to get at them.

Lately I've resorted to taking a can of PC cleaner and inverting to get the icy blast of refrigerant happening. Poke the nozzle into the nook where the bug is holed up and FREEZE his sorry little exoskeleton into a bugsicle!!

Perhaps I just need therapy...

WM

[Tim and Julie B]

Ya you do WM:D I am so used to it now that when we go away and I am in a hotel room I can't sleep because there are no crickets chirping!

JULIE

[drewlowe]

LMAO!!! Before my boyfriend and myself kept reptiles a cricket got into the house and was driving him CRAZY for a week. He would search for hours and still never find it. Now we have tons of crix. chirping and they don't bother him at all.

[Lisa]

our cats like thme.

[Dark_Angel_25]

yeah my cats think they are awesome, the flock around their tank and watch them for hours,, and really I wouldn't mind if it mwas a few males chirping but there is ONLY ONE and for some reason it is making me loose my mind... I don't think i can take this much longer.. I may just take a blowtorch to the whole thing and acall it a day! :D :D :D