# Silent crickets not so silent?



## GlassWalker (Jun 15, 2011)

I've been feeding silent crickets to my crested geckos but one of the last bunch has just become vocal. I first noticed it late Sunday morning, but it shut up again later on so didn't think more of it. At 6am today it started up again... and I found out my bedroom door doesn't cut the noise out. I'll have to try and find and remove it later since it seems my crestie hasn't managed to find and eat it in 2 nights.

Are silent crickets not silent? Or could a different type be mixed in there? I did see a suggestion elsewhere they can start to get noisy when they get older.

Edit: now that I've posted this do "related threads" show up... had search fail earlier so didn't find them!


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## lonelyone (Aug 26, 2011)

No such thing as a silent cricket. What is sold as a silent cricket is a quiet cricket. 
If it makes a noise loud enough to keep you awake it has probably jumped it's way into the quiet breeding group or got transferred somehow.
If more of them get loud you were sold the wrong species.


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

isn't it just like the psoter above said. they are quieter but the males still sing. 
i wasn't too impressed either. :lol2:
i found that banded crickets don't really seem to call at all but your best bet is roaches. they don't make much noise or smell as bad either.


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## mstypical (Feb 16, 2011)

Pull their limbs off. That'll shut em up.


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## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

mstypical said:


> Pull their limbs off. That'll shut em up.


no it wont they dont sing with their legs :lol2:


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## mstypical (Feb 16, 2011)

123dragon said:


> no it wont they dont sing with their legs :lol2:


Crickets produce noise by rubbing their wings together. At the base of the forewing, a thick, ridged vein acts as a file. The upper surface of the forewing is hardened, like a scraper. When the male cricket wants to call for a mate, he lift his wings and pulls the file of one wing across the scraper of the other. The thin, papery portions of the wings vibrate, amplifying the sound. This method of producing sound is called stridulation (which means "to make a harsh sound" in Latin).

I said limbs, not legs :no1:


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## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

mstypical said:


> Crickets produce noise by rubbing their wings together. At the base of the forewing, a thick, ridged vein acts as a file. The upper surface of the forewing is hardened, like a scraper. When the male cricket wants to call for a mate, he lift his wings and pulls the file of one wing across the scraper of the other. The thin, papery portions of the wings vibrate, amplifying the sound. This method of producing sound is called stridulation (which means "to make a harsh sound" in Latin).
> 
> I said limbs, not legs :no1:


yeah i know how they sing and if you rip there wings of the other crickets kill them in my experiance because their body is soft under the wings


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## mstypical (Feb 16, 2011)

123dragon said:


> yeah i know how they sing and if you rip there wings of the other crickets kill them in my experiance because their body is soft under the wings


Of course you'll kill them if you start ripping body parts off, it was a joke.


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## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

mstypical said:


> Of course you'll kill them if you start ripping body parts off, it was a joke.


well either way i guess it would stop them singing lol


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## mstypical (Feb 16, 2011)

123dragon said:


> well either way i guess it would stop them singing lol


Dead crickets are a lot quieter than living ones!


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## GlassWalker (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm not the biggest fan of bugs so pulling any bits of them off isn't really an option for me!

Ok, I wasn't expecting silent crickets to be totally silent, but all the ones I had up to now have made no more than a slight chirp. The one that made all the noise was far above that.

Anyway, here's a photo I got of the noisy one before it decided it didn't like being photographed and did a disappearing act. The wings did seem to move in time to the noise. Actually, I don't think I ever had any with wings before...


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## mstypical (Feb 16, 2011)

It is the wings that create the chirp


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## GlassWalker (Jun 15, 2011)

Well, that was fun. I heard a chirp. Ok, the cricket is active again. I saw it on the top of the foam so I though I'd try to stab it through a cable hole. Missed. It moved down onto the foam like in the earlier photo. Ok, I put my dusting bucket under it to catch it, and tried to knock it off with a screwdriver. Nope, that didn't work either. Chasing it with the screwdriver tip, it ran across the top gap into the fake leaves. Shook the leaves, and out it popped onto the floor. So close, and yet so far... I was going to put a plastic container over it, but the container was just too big with the rest of the stuff in there, and the cricket ran to the other side of leaves. Doh! After much poking and shaking of those, I saw the cricket behind my crestie. Aha! If I can turn him around, maybe he'll take care of things. For starters, he really didn't want to turn. And when I got him to, he didn't budge. Just looked at the cricket. my further attempts to point him in the right direction seemed to just annoy him and he ran off into the corner ignoring the cricket.

Time to call in the experts. Got another crestie (female so separated from male) which I have seen hunt the last couple nights and pointed her at the cricket. Nope, she was more interested in the leaves. Twice. Put her back, got the other one, and same again. Is no one in a cricket eating mood tonight?

So it was down to me. This cricket is not going to disturb my sleep. I'm going to get it dead or alive. Using the back end of the screwdriver as a club, the 1st hit was inconclusive. Cricket was still in view, the 2nd hit stunned it. That'll do. I got my poop picking tweezers and lifted it out into a plastic tub, which I then emptied into my garden. Sorted!

Just what you want to do before bedtime, but at least I wont have an unexpected alarm call tomorrow.


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## ba1l3y76 (May 8, 2011)

Well done!! Oh nice photo by the way:2thumb:


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## mstypical (Feb 16, 2011)

GlassWalker said:


> Well, that was fun. I heard a chirp. Ok, the cricket is active again. I saw it on the top of the foam so I though I'd try to stab it through a cable hole. Missed. It moved down onto the foam like in the earlier photo. Ok, I put my dusting bucket under it to catch it, and tried to knock it off with a screwdriver. Nope, that didn't work either. Chasing it with the screwdriver tip, it ran across the top gap into the fake leaves. Shook the leaves, and out it popped onto the floor. So close, and yet so far... I was going to put a plastic container over it, but the container was just too big with the rest of the stuff in there, and the cricket ran to the other side of leaves. Doh! After much poking and shaking of those, I saw the cricket behind my crestie. Aha! If I can turn him around, maybe he'll take care of things. For starters, he really didn't want to turn. And when I got him to, he didn't budge. Just looked at the cricket. my further attempts to point him in the right direction seemed to just annoy him and he ran off into the corner ignoring the cricket.
> 
> Time to call in the experts. Got another crestie (female so separated from male) which I have seen hunt the last couple nights and pointed her at the cricket. Nope, she was more interested in the leaves. Twice. Put her back, got the other one, and same again. Is no one in a cricket eating mood tonight?
> 
> ...


Love this story, like a mini book!


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