The Colditz Affair (The Blunders Of A Beginner)

[Tomas Whitehouse]

Yesterday morning I was faced with an escapee cricket.
I'm sure many of you have dealt with this kind of situation countless times before and done so with much more adeptness.
I really thought however that this wouldn't happen to me (the bliss of ignorance) due to the cricket keeper I had bought and so I swore to my girlfriend that 'it just won't happen'.
I was certain that every possible escape route was blocked and barricaded and the chance of escape, impossible.
I was gravely mistaken.
For those who have cricket keepers you will know of the two copper coloured plastic access flaps that allow a hollow black tube to be introduce into the enclosure, crickets being the nocturnal babies they are, love the dark and will readily crawl into the tubes which allows the easy application to feed your invertebrate.
Sounds great doesnt it.
What I failed to see was the gap above the access flap and this is precisley where the offending escapee found it's freedom.
Needless to say I was no longer the popular chap in our apartment.
I couldn't understand it, the gap was quite small and the size of the cricket was considerably larger! Eugene Victor Tooms or what?!!

I had two oppurtunities to re-capture the assailant but both occasions failed. I saw it sitting ontop of my jeans and then I went in for the kill but 'pop'! How quick are they? Blimey O reilly, strike a light, they are on crystal meth! and they discover nooks and crannies you didn't even know where there!

After acquiring some 'Non Toxic Sticky Insect Traps' and a rough nights sleep, We awoke to find a most stationary cricket, up to the nines in super adhesive strip. Thank the skies! Phew! I'm out of the dog house!
What a right kuffuffle.

The cricket keeper now has been modified and sits upon a shelf fortified with sticky non toxic strips.

The blunders of a noob.

All the best

Tomas

[KJ Vezino]

Escaped crickets just kinda come with the territory. It doesn't happen often to me, usually only if I drop one on it's way into a cage. I've become pretty adept at recapturing the ones that bolt for freedom during feeding time, so it's usually not an issue. Just be sure that those sticky traps aren't near your spiders, in the unlikely event that they should escape.

[Tomas Whitehouse]

Hell No Brother!

Just be sure that those sticky traps aren't near your spiders, in the unlikely event that they should escape.

My crickets are kept in a seperate room entirely, I thought about that issue in depth already. I was debating getting traps for a good while because of the concerns that insecticides raise. That is exactly why I opted for the Non Toxic option. The traps are miles away from my T.
Man, you must be a quick chap to catch one o those crickets! They're like lightening. Respect

Tomas