#i cant write at all 😔🤘

[spricket-central]

heya! i suppose i better start out with a sort of intro/background post.

my apartment gets a lot of greenhouse camel crickets in it. its far from an infestation, but theyve been common visitors for years. i grew pretty fond of the little guys, and maybe a couple months ago i began toying with the idea of catching a few of them to keep as pets.

this happened suddenly on december 6th 2022 when i found crouton, my first and youngest spricket (short for "spider cricket," another name for camel crickets). i wasnt prepared with supplies yet, so i had to keep him in a badly mangled plastic tupperware for the night until i could go shopping the next day.

here's a picture of him investigating his new home!

crouton is VERY shy compared to my other sprickets, so its hard to get pictures of him. this is still one of the clearest pictures of him i have.

heres one more of crouton, demonstrating his small size.

if youve ever seen a greenhouse camel cricket before, you probably know just how big these guys get. crouton is about 1/4 - 1/3 of the size of an adult. as of writing he still hasnt molted yet while in my care, but im excited to watch him grow!

on december 11th, i was unexpectedly graced by the presence of two more sprickets, biscuit (male) and cookie (female).

heres a picture of them together in Gay Baby Jail (the small enclosure i put my sprickets in while i clean their tanks).

you can tell the two apart by the presence of an "ovipositor" on cookies rear. it looks like a big "stick." some mistake it for a stinger, as greenhouse camel crickets have a very large, slightly curved ovipositor, but its a harmless organ they use to deposit their eggs into the soil.

both were adults, and i was nervous about keeping the two with crouton because of his size, so i went out and bought a second tank for crouton to live in. hes been doing well!

biscuit and cookie ended up mating, and cookie laid a LOT of eggs.

i have no plans to start a colony, so i froze the eggs and the soil they were in for 48 hours before discarding them. i ended up regretting this decision though; cookie ended up dying only a day or two later (december 27th), presumably from age combined with the enormous effort needed to lay this many eggs in about 24 hours. i wish i had kept a few to hatch, but alas, the eggs were already dead.

i was hoping to find another female tankmate for crouton, and last night (december 30th) my wish came true.

enter, peanut!

i believe shes an adult, but if shes not shes likely close to it, as shes only the tiiiiiniest bit smaller than biscuit.

shes missing one of her jumping legs, so im extra happy to have been given the chance to take her in. i think biscuit likes her, ahaha. i cant be sure, but i believe ive observed him attempting to court her a couple of times? he would turn his back to her and start wiggling his butt rapidly while doing what looked like a little jig with his jumping legs.

peanut was not having it, and just walked away. damn girl thats cold 🤘😔

id be remiss to not take a moment to talk about biscuit on his own for a little, because he is QUITE the character, ahaha. hes so animated. ive loved bugs all my life, but i never anticipated one could have such a big personality!

...this is the 2nd time hes managed to do this.

i think thats about everything i can think of for now? i have adhd, so theres a good chance im forgetting several things i wanted to mention, but my attention span cant last any longer, so I'll end this post for now.

im looking forward to spending more time with these guys and learning more about them, and im excited to see what 2023 will bring!

#insects #crickets #camel cricket #pet bugs #crouton #biscuit #cookie #peanut #spricket #rhaphidophoridae #intro #pics #reproduction