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Crickets as pets

en.wikipedia.org

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Re: Crickets as pets

#21

Post by echelon »

tslmy wrote: post #2

Born and raised in Northern China (2hrs drive from Beijing), my parents bought me crickets & taught me how to catch grasshoppers when I was in early school age. They have short lifespans, so they are quite affordable and low-maintenance pets for families who aren't yet sure about (or can't yet afford to) keep pets that lives for years (cats, dogs, ...). Plus, they teach young children lessons on caring, feeding, life…

I grew up in the South Eastern US, and bug and lizard cages were common educational toys.

I used to catch grasshoppers, lizards, fireflies, and "June bugs" (Popillia japonica).

One summer, there was a particularly bad outbreak of June bugs and if you shook a Japanese maple tree, the entire tree would empty of thousands of them in a dense cloud.

Childhood summers were fun.

Re: Crickets as pets

#22

Post by etrvic »

Apparently cricket fights are also a thing. I find this part intresting (from the cricket fight wikipedia article:

> Studies done indicate that the sense of "flying" encourages a cricket's fighting spirit. In one such study, a losing cricket put back into the ring will only go back to fight one out of ten times. If crickets are shaken and thrown in the air repeatedly, they will fight again six out of ten times.

Re: Crickets as pets

#23

Post by puchatek »

GrayShade wrote: post #16

> Chinese breeders of the 21st century strive to extend the fighting season to the whole year. They advertise farm-bred "designer bugs" as super-fighters and agree that their technology is "completely counter to the natural process". However, they refuse to use hormones or the practice of arming crickets with steel implants. Um, what?

Right? What's wrong with steel implants?

Re: Crickets as pets

#24

Post by AngryData »

raylad wrote: post #19

As a child, I lived in Firenze (Florence, Italy) and had a pet cricket. All the kids had them, in little bamboo cages, for the Festival of the Cricket: https://www.italymagazine.com/forums/do-see/6010-festival-cr... I tried to take good care if it, but it died after a couple of months. I probably didn't know what to feed it (but then again I was only 5 years old).

Crickets only live for a couple months so it could of just died of old age.

Re: Crickets as pets

#25

Post by puchatek »

batuhandumani wrote: post #9

I haven't looked into whether this happens in other countries, but in Turkey, when kids ask for a cat or a dog, parents will often buy them a baby chick from a local market instead. Sadly, within a week or so, once the child loses interest, the chick is often gotten rid of somehow by the parents.

I heard they do it in Spain, too. Around Easter in particular. Sometimes the chicks are even painted.

Re: Crickets as pets

#27

Post by MBCook »

willmeyers wrote: post #6

My partner had a jumping spider as a pet for some time in a terrarium. It was really interesting because he would jump out onto my partners arms when we opened his terrarium and then climb around and then go back after doing some wandering. Pet beetles are also pretty common (and something that I really want tbh). There are a lot of animals that you wouldn't think can be pets, but honestly, if you're helping a critte…

They’re insanely intelligent for something so small.

Re: Crickets as pets

#28

Post by saaaaaam »

Didn’t most people keep stick insects (which aren’t quite crickets, but similar) as pets when they were kids?

I thought that was a near universal experience for nerdy academic families, along with hatching frog spawn and having a chemistry set and causing minor explosions in the garage.

Re: Crickets as pets

#29

Post by saaaaaam »

etrvic wrote: post #22

Apparently cricket fights are also a thing. I find this part intresting (from the cricket fight wikipedia article: > Studies done indicate that the sense of "flying" encourages a cricket's fighting spirit. In one such study, a losing cricket put back into the ring will only go back to fight one out of ten times. If crickets are shaken and thrown in the air repeatedly, they will fight again six out of ten times.

Quite likely because they are very angry about being shaken and thrown. As you would be too, I imagine.

Re: Crickets as pets

#30

Post by moomoo11 »

batuhandumani wrote: post #9

I haven't looked into whether this happens in other countries, but in Turkey, when kids ask for a cat or a dog, parents will often buy them a baby chick from a local market instead. Sadly, within a week or so, once the child loses interest, the chick is often gotten rid of somehow by the parents.

so much cruelty to animals is it really surprising people do the same/worse to each other in more advanced ways?

wars lead to millions of orphans, widows, and utter loss.

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