# Headless Crickets



## eridu (Jul 3, 2010)

Hi
Ok I am sorry to ask this because to some it will sound so silly but:
My mum has a slow/thick Leopard Gecko that cannot catch it´s own food, she misses on every attempt if given crickets.
We give it worms but we also feed it dead crickets, my mum gets me to pinch the head off the crickets to feed to the gecko.
Well I know it is daft but I am concerned because the crickets still jump and move about for hours WITHOUT their heads...it upsets me.
I know animals can have residue electric pulses in their dead limbs BUT these go way beyond that they actually jump, flop over from their back to their belly and walk about. I moved one 4 hours after it had been put on a rock and it clung to my hand!!!
HOW can this be?
Please tell me they are dead, I know they are just little insects but I´d hate the thought of them in prolonged agony, I thought pinching their heads off with my long nails was quicker and less painfull than removing their legs untill the silly gecko got them.


Thanks
ES


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## kitschyduck (May 30, 2010)

Well I know cockroaches can live without their heads for weeks because they breathe through their body segments and without the brain, the body can still function in terms of very simple reactions. Perhaps it's the same for crickets?

Also, I'm not sure anything can feel pain without a brain. Interesting though :O


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## PhillyDee (May 17, 2010)

Why not trying refrigerating them for 15 instead? Or just bung em in the freezer. That usually deads them. The frig will slow them right down.


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## eridu (Jul 3, 2010)

I just wish the gecko would do it itself LOL
It moves so slow that the live ones just walk off, it also waggles its tail alot and seems to put itself off balance just before it strikes at the live cricket, then misses!!.
Because it gets hand fed it comes out whenever it hears movement, she´s a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry greedy girl.
Mum feeds her 10 crickets a sitting atleast 3 times a day (then I bet it runs off and catches itself some worms round the back of the rocks).

Lazy moooooooooooooo!!


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