I just cannot belive it - escaped crickets, again!

[Tom Forman]

I thought I had them beat.

Sealed box, suspended 1 metre above the ground, today I move the box so they got ever so slighly less heat and these buggers decide to escape!

I just don't even know how they've gone and done it but I've got 2 males on the lose again...

I have been waiting for my colony of crickets to die(and finally get rid of) for several months now but they are still here, laying eggs like crazy, escaping and chirping.

I thought they only lived a few weeks.

Well these males are only living for as long as they stay out of my reach this time.

[Pam Turner]

See, this is where cats come in handy. Any crickets that have escaped on me during feeding don't last long, as my son's cat is right there waiting eagerly.

[Peter Lacey]

tee-hee, when you originally informed us of your system for stopping crickets escaping I was left having a chuckle to myself, especially the suspended bit, crickets climb and jump so that seemed a little amusing. The polysterene box provided no insight to where the crickets were when you open the lid and by its very nature its not heavy to lift or squeeze through. Worst of all crickets can dig, mine dug holes into the cork bark where they sat happily avoiding predators, they've also dug through some expanded foam and I had visions of them taking up a rota system on your polysterene box, "one more night of digging and we're out of here" came to mind. Don't mean to mock, but I did see this coming.
Perhaps try glass, they have a hard time climbing that or the american tape at the top of the enclosure. You can always place the tank inside the polysterene but forget the suspension idea, you're dealing with Houdini and lots of his family here

Why do I have the Great Escape music running through my head

[Nicola Dolby]

I have a perfect solution for escaped crickets - house spiders!!!! I have quite a few in my place now, word must have got round!

[Phil Rea]

I once had a sack containing 1000 adult black crickets and some eggboxes get chewed through (because I stuck it in a cupboard, got distracted because of some crisis and forgot about it) and all the crickets escaped. I opened the cupboard door, and a wave of black crickets bent on freedom spilled out.

Oh how I laughed

[Colin D Wilson]

Oh how I laughed

Phil.....you are one easy going chap !!!!

I would have been kneeling in the room with my head in my hands shouting WHY WHY WHY !!!!!!


My friend in Birmingham has an ingenius plan for escapees.

He has four Madagascan Day Geckos loose in his spider room, escapees last the matter of hours, in fact he empties a tub of medium locusts on the window blind weekly to feed them.
The downside to this is if he has any spiderlings escape.

[Clinton Hogben]

See, this is where cats come in handy. Any crickets that have escaped on me during feeding don't last long, as my son's cat is right there waiting eagerly.

Same here our two cats one persian and one moggy form a hunting pack to corner any wayward escapees between them its about the only exersize the lazy beggers get during the day between naps and eating (what a hard life)

Clint



Cat after a busy hunt te he

[Tom Forman]

Well I have checked the colony and as far as I can tell I'm not missing any crickets there. Can't see any way they could have escaped either.


I have had a cricket try to dig through polystyrene before but that was because i had left it in a glass of water with some polystyrene to stop it getting out. It didn't get very far though.

This can only mean these crickets are remnants from the box of crickets I dropped on the floor back in November or from some escape in between. But they must have just been living in the room for a good month atleast.


I just hope my landlord never ever finds out.

I couldn't catch them last night and have not spotted or heard them since either...

Very strange but all the more reason to get rid of crickets alltogether. They are a house pest if you ask me.

Edit: I need to borrow myself a cat for the weekend lol.


Edit2: And Peter, yes it is quite ironic that my last statement about my box was that is was "Escape Proof" and now I have got crickets on the lose again but I guess I was asking for trouble when I made the statement.
Some1 says, this thing is idiot-proof, next thing you know it breaks. Shouldn't have tempted my luck even though I'm sure they haven't escaped from the new box lol.

[Peter Lacey]

tee-hee Tom, never say never again eh! we've all done it.
I think there will always be escapees, its part of life but to the uninitiated I guess it would be better to find a cricket than a cockroach!!!

[Phil Rea]

Phil.....you are one easy going chap !!!!

I would have been kneeling in the room with my head in my hands shouting WHY WHY WHY !!!!!!

My friend in Birmingham has an ingenius plan for escapees.

He has four Madagascan Day Geckos loose in his spider room, escapees last the matter of hours, in fact he empties a tub of medium locusts on the window blind weekly to feed them.
The downside to this is if he has any spiderlings escape.

We managed to round up most of them, by closing and opening the door, letting a few out and frantically grabbing them, but we were getting the dogs catching strays for a few weeks later.

Let's just say I wasn't very popular at home for a little while

Geckos. Hmmmmmm, interesting

[James Box]

with practice, i'm getting better at catching...but i lost two adult crickets the other week and another small one last night.
i don't see many housespiders, but i really hope we have a bunch of big ones!

[J M Clegg]

Ah the joys of Crickets!!

I am just in the process of finally building a spider house at the bottom of my garden. It's a fully insulated 8 X 6 custom made shed with thermostatically controlled heating and has both day and night (red) lighting. I have even run two network cables out to it, so people can view the spiders over a full pan, rotate and zoom camera. OK it's a little over the top, but who cares. Like my Mrs says, I could be in the pub blowing the family nest egg on beer!!!! If anyone is interested - I will post some pics when we finally getting up and running?

My son and I have also been considering having a couple of Tokay Ghekos running free inside it, just to pick off any random roaches, crix etc that escape.

[James Box]

sounds grand! is it expensive building a shed like that? i could see it becoming a project for me for this year!

[J M Clegg]

The shed itself was £298, hand made, delivered and erected. Then count around £150 on running electrics to it, armoured cable etc. I have a 50 amp feed to power garden lights, heaters which is all running off a distribution board in the shed. This is all tied back to the mains board in the house on a RCD. Luckily my cousin is a sparky! Then we are replacing old flag stone paths with neatly laid concrete, thats another £150. We hired a digger for the weekend to level out the garden and dig the initial foundations and power feed trenches- that cost us £120. The wires have to be a specific depth by law.

I still have to buy the internal fittings for the spider house, things like shelves, glass for custom built tanks etc. So it hasn't been cheap to do really.

But the end result will be worth it as we have also used the project to sort out the garden. So everyone gets benefit from it. The Mrs gets a sun lounger (and a new hanging out area) , and my son's get a nice safe garden to play in.

[Colin D Wilson]

All sounds like a plan to benefit everyone Jay.

You'll have to post some shots when it's all complete

Colin