Short-winged crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus)
Text: Heiko Werning
House crickets all the time – that‘s boring! And to think there are so many alternatives! A kind of „action figure“ among the classic house crickets is the short-winged cricket. It remains somewhat smaller and is therefore the smallest cricket type available at the pet store. Correspondingly, these insects are the ideal feed for small terrarium dwellers and offspring.
On the outside they appear to be very similar to the house crickets, yet upon taking a closer look you can set that this is a completely different species. The smaller size, the somewhat more compact build, the stronger jumping legs and the much shorter wings are the tell-tale signs. It is precisely these shorter wings that give the crickets their German and English name. A small difference with consequences: Since all crickets create the characteristic chirping sound by rubbing their wings together, the shorter size has a significant effect. The chirping of the short-winged crickets is much quieter as the loud Mediterranean field crickets and yellow-eyed crickets.
And even the strong jumping legs point to one of the most important characteristics of this feeder animal: Short-winged crickets are veritable athletes; they can make huge jumps from a standing position. For many insect-eating pets, this makes catching the prey especially attractive since many terrarium dwellers love to hunt and they jump at the opportunity to really showcase their abilities. If you have ever watched a swift lizard chase an energised short-winged cricket, you know what we are talking about. So: Why don‘t you grant your pets this small action-packed sequence during feeding time. Movement is healthy; that applies to our pets as well as to their owners.
The small size of the short-winged cricket makes the younger crickets the optimal feeding insect food as well as an ideal breeding food and dietary staple for small terrarium dwellers. The micro short-winged crickets are perfect for small frogs; many tiny geckos love cornering and eating these fast, small crickets.
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Short-winged crickets are uniquely coloured and are therefore easy to distinguish from house crickets and other cricket species. Their base colour is light brown to grey. Young short-winged crickets are particularly lightly coloured; as they grow older the crickets get a little darker. The two black rings located between their neck and stomach which encircles the area in which the second pair of running legs are located. It looks a little bit as if these crickets were wearing a nice signet ring. By the way, „sigillatus“ is the scientific name of the short-winged cricket and is the Latin name for nicely decorated things.
The short-winged cricket is aptly named. The wings of the male go from the neck ring to about the area of the jumping legs; with the female they are even shorter and less prominent and hardly recognisable as wings. Actually, they look more like two bumps on the back. However, females have a pretty cool laying stinger with which they cannot sting but instead use to inject their eggs into the ground.
But the legs! Just based on their looks, they have something very athletic and, behold, short-winged crickets are also master jumpers. With a length of about 2 cm, the adult short-winged crickets remain quite small; they are about 6 mm thick and have a somewhat more compact build than house crickets. The freshly hatched larvae are only about 2 mm – an excellent feeding size for the smallest terrarium dwellers!
Short-winged crickets originate in the tropics of Africa; nowadays they are widely spread throughout the tropics, practically as the tropical version of the house crickets. This is also why these crickets are also known as „tropical house crickets“. Correspondingly, they react somewhat sensitively to cool temperatures, which has to be taken into consideration during transport and housing.
These crickets eat everything – both plant food and animal food.
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At BUGS-INTERNATIONAL, we only use the very best feed that has been especially produced to meet the needs of our short-winged crickets. We spent years testing the perfect secret recipe, replete with minerals and trace elements. In order to be very certain, we also let an independent lab test the feed for any type of possible residue so that our short-winged crickets are always provided with the best feed.
And of course, at BUGS-INTERNATIONAL we do not allow any unappetizing things into our feed: no medication or hormone-treated additives, growth acceleration agents or whatever else there is these days. Why would we? The nutritious foods our insects are given provided them with a healthy diet. They don‘t get sick. And of course we only use feed that does not contain discharges from land, fertilizer and agricultural pesticide residues.
However, even providing the short-winged crickets with the best diet is not the reason for the merriness of this premium feed. That is the result of something else, too: Perfect hygienic conditions is the most important factor! More than 130 employees and an enormous industrial washing system ensure the ongoing cleaning of all insect containers – not only at the end of a breeding cycle, but also on a regular basis during the breeding period and of course during every new formation.
At high temperatures, all of the boxes in our washing system are cleaned to the highest hygienic standards. They are heat-sterilised and then disinfected. The troughs for the short-winged crickets even go through this procedure on a daily basis.
And normally we would consider it overkill to even have to mention it, since for us it is all a matter of course. However, we unfortunately have learned from our own painful experience that in this regard nothing should be taken for granted, so we‘ll say it again anyway: Naturally we only use fresh and newly manufactured egg carton in the packaging of the house crickets. Cartons that once contained eggs can transfer salmonellae.
Of course that‘s a great deal of effort and costs a bit more than if the short-winged crickets were to walk through their own mud until they are sold and if they would quench their thirst by drinking water from foul cotton balls. And if you were to also receive a batch of humpbacked flies for free – you won‘t be getting that from us, we`re afraid.
At BUGS-INTERNATIONAL you will always receive short-winged crickets that have been reliably cared for year-round optimally fed and nurtured from day one. Our short-winged crickets have also been bred under the most stringent hygienic conditions and possess such excellent nutritional values that we harbour absolutely no reservations in having our insects tested by independent labs and agencies and having the results published online.
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Advantages of short-winged crickets as feeder animals:
• Always available in all sizes
• Perfect for small terrarium dwellers
• Soft feeder animal – very well liked by many predators
• Can be nicely powdered with vitamins and minerals
• Can be housed for an extended period of time; young crickets do not grow as fast and can be used as feed for smaller mammals or smaller terrarium dwellers
• Excellent nutritional value
• Due to their quickness and love for jumping, they are perfect as prey for active hunters
• Relatively subdued chirpingDIsadvantages of short-winged crickets as feeder animals:
• Can flee relatively easily due to their jumping ability
• Are simply too fast for slower predators
• A bit difficult to handle
• Can establish themselves in tropical terrariums and cause feeding damage
• Nocturnal and quick to run and hide
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Short-winged crickets are brought to your favourite pet store in climate-controlled transporters – it doesn‘t get any fresher than that! But everything else is in your hands. It makes the most sense if you get a food subscription from your pet store and then are able to pick up the short-winged crickets immediately after they‘ve arrived. Our crickets will be able to survive for a few days in their transport boxes.
Whatever you do – please pay attention to the external temperatures, in particular during the winter months. Short-winged crickets are from the tropics and are susceptible to extreme fluctuations in temperature. If they cool down over an extended period of time (in other words: they are not that temperature-sensitive, but you should definitely not subject them to temperatures under 10 °C) you will most likely have to deal with some dead crickets.
In the wintertime, do not leave short-winged crickets in your car for hours at a time. And not in the summertime either, since no cricket likes to overheat and you want to provide your predators with lively and healthy crickets.
Short-winged crickets can be well cared for at room temperatures. Of course, higher temperatures are not a problem either, but then they get very agile and active. If you have not had a lot of experience dealing with short-winged crickets or if your pets are somewhat slower, then we recommend cooling off the crickets shortly before feeding them, for example by placing them in the refrigerator for a brief period of time. Then they are far less quicker and cannot jump as high.
The transport boxes are not suitable for housing the short-winged crickets at home for longer periods of time. Please make sure that your short-winged crickets can move into a comfortable „interim space“ before finally ending up as pet food. Carefully place the contents of the transport boxes in the large plastic boxes. The „fauna boxes“, which can be purchased at any pet store, are perfectly suited for this.
These boxes also have a practical, easy-to-operate lid that enables a generous air exchange and larger short-winged crickets can also not fall between the cracks. Please do not let yourself be fooled by the relatively small size of the short-winged crickets. As mentioned, these babies are professional jumpers! Therefore, the containers for housing the crickets should be at least 30 cm high so that the crickets cannot jump out from a stationary position.
In order to house small short-winged crickets, simply additionally seal the box with a suitably cut piece of nylon stocking. Invite your wife (1,0) out to dinner for a change. Or indulge yourself (0,1) in something more modern, then the old pair of nylons can certainly be used for the crickets. As an alternative you can also use the insect screen that can be purchased at the DIY store or garden centre.
Clean cellulose or egg cartons serve interior decorative purposes. The short-winged crickets will make themselves feel at home, don‘t worry. And at the same time they have something that they can climb around on. There is only one thing missing for a cricket‘s dream home – okay, so it‘s the same thing that you want: something nice to eat and a few delicious drops of your favourite drink. It should be warm and dry, too.
Do not place an open dish of water or a bird bath into the boxes – that only leads to a big mess or death by drowning. A small dish with a moistened cotton pad is fully sufficient; the short-winged crickets will drink to their heart‘s content. Nasty germs don‘t have a chance – the cotton is changed on a regular basis, in a best case on a daily basis. The small dish can therefore also be quickly washed out. Then place a few more treats into the box so that they do not coming into contact with the watering hole; now the short-winged crickets will feel absolutely at home. The crickets love eating muesli mixes and dog flakes. Be on the safe side and use organic products – insects don‘t think it‘s funny when they have to eat pesticides.
This way you can keep the short-winged crickets in great shape until your collection has been used up and the next delivery is made by BUGS-INTERNATIONAL to your local pet retail shop. And you will notice: The short-winged crickets are in great shape and chock full of valuable nutrients once they beginning their final journey from our home to yours. That just doesn‘t keep the short-winged crickets happy – that also keeps the terrarium mammals happy and healthy and in the mood for reproduction!
In the wild, short-winged crickets get the moisture they need from the moisture of their feed. That means, when caring for them at home it is best to do it the same way. Crickets love fruits and vegetables.
However, beware!
Unfortunately, most people don‘t pay nearly as much attention to their health and nutrition as we do with our short-winged crickets – normal fruits and vegetables from the grocery store or from the backyard vegetable garden can kill the insects if residual insecticides are not completely removed. Or it can transform the delicious titbits into a type of dirty bomb if the terrarium mammals eat the insects that have been fed fertilizers and other „delicacies“. So just use good feed.
In addition, please remember that all types of germs feel at home in moist areas and that the presumed fresh food can quickly mutate into a inedible and health-risking paste. In other words: don‘t overdo it!Short-winged crickets as feeder animals
At the pet store, you can purchase short-winged crickets from BUGS-INTERNATIONAL in four different sizes: micro, small, medium and large. There is definitely something for everyone – from the golden poison frog and anolis baby to the grown leopard gecko or a red-eyed tree frog.
Short-winged crickets can certainly serve as a dietary staple. They are also excellent as a change of pace in alternating the main food between house crickets, other crickets and locust. They stimulate the predatory instincts of your pets because short-winged crickets are fast and good jumpers, also brings a change of pace and action in the hunting process. For many of our terrarium dwellers, the various sizes the short-winged crickets have at the different stages of their life have the perfect size. These crickets are relatively soft and additional minerals and vitamin powder adheres to them nicely.
An advantage of the short-winged crickets are their relatively slow growth. This way you can keep the short-winged crickets for a longer period of time and feed them to the smallest of your terrarium pets, especially if you do not keep the crickets too warm. Then there are still feeder animals available in the corresponding sizes even after purchasing, while it can occur that other insect species grow too fast and are therefore too large for some of your smaller terrarium dwellers.
From the newly born chameleon to the spiny-tailed monitor; from the freshly hatched bearded dragon to the grown leopard lizard; from the Carolina anole to the Madagascar day gecko – practically all insect-eating gekos love eating crickets! Of course, this also applies to insect-eating snakes such as green snakes. Insect-eating turtles also love short-winged crickets; however, on land the turtles are often too slow to be able to hunt the quick insects. Help: you can feed the insects to your turtles using a tweezers or put the insects into the water. There are lots of insect-eating fish that think that‘s an excellent idea! Among the amphibians, the short-winged cricket is well loved; from the poison dart frog to the tree frog; from the Australian green tree frog to the reed frog – not one of these creatures can resist the short-winged crickets.
Lots of birds and insect-eating small mammals also love eating short-winged crickets. Short-winged crickets are nocturnal. That makes them an especially attractive meal to terrarium animals, such as numerous species of geckos and frogs. For mammals active during the day, the feeder animals (crickets) should be given in controlled amounts, since the short-winged crickets quickly look for a place to hide after spending a few moments with orientation to their new surroundings.
Therefore, only offer them as many crickets as the terrarium dwellers can capture. Or use a pair of tweezers and feed them „by hand“. In tropical terrariums, the short-winged crickets feel at home and will reproduce quickly. This can of course be quite useful, since this will create a surplus of food for nocturnal terrarium dwellers. The crickets are perfect to act as the „health police“ in the terrarium. Nevertheless, the majority of the terrarium dwellers prefer other species, for example white isopods or springtails.
The short-winged crickets are very assertive, to put it mildly. In other words: They will eat everything they can get their hands on. Even the eggs of your pets. Or freshly hatched invertebrates. They won‘t stop at the greenery either. And even if they don‘t chirp as loudly as most crickets, not everyone enjoys listening to the evening short-winged cricket concert in the terrarium. So: Instead, please ensure a controlled feeding.
Escaped short-winged crickets
You will really stop and stare when our short-winged crickets launch from a stationary positions and touch-down somewhere where you would never expect them to be. Of course, this means it can certainly happen that one of the insects will find its way out of the storage box or the terrarium and will hide somewhere in your flat.
Okay, that‘s not really what we planned. But: Relax!
If your home resembles a well organised mess, then you can even use our short-winged crickets as a small army of cleaners who can keep everything nice and tidy... But let‘s be serious: Short-winged crickets may be very adaptable but our modern, centrally heated homes and flats as well as our kitchens with refrigerators instead of cooled pantries does not enable them to hunker down and nest within our four walls. The insects simply do not have any food. Moreover, the short-winged crickets come from the tropics and in turn enjoy a moister and warmer climate than they find in your flat.
So you do not have to fear a plague or for that matter not even a somewhat longer stay by an undesired house guest in your living room because a cricket has escaped your watchful eye. Your escapee will not reproduce uncontrollably in your living room. It‘s not that easy for short-winged cricket to reproduce – if it was, then BUGS-INTERNATIONAL wouldn‘t go through all of these measures to keep our cricket-breeding operations up and running.
So, if a short-winged cricket does escape, you do not have to live in fear that an army of crickets will invade your home. And if an escaped feeder animals keeps you up at night: Simply use a standard sticky trap – available at your local pet supply store or garden centre. Properly placed, you will certainly avoid any missteps by your short-winged crickets.
You should only use insect sprays as a final alternative and certainly not in rooms in which you house your terrarium or the cricket boxes.
Insect Olympics
Cockroach races have become a real event in some locations in which enthusiastic spectators place high bets on which cockroach will cross the finish line first. Perhaps you can develop an entirely new business idea and come up with a high-jump competition for short-winged crickets? But be careful that your athletes are not snatched up by the next bird that swoops down from the treetops – our feeder insects are loved by almost everyone.