silent crickets ?

[omdi]

I own a tarantula and buy silent crickets for it..or so the box says.the last ones are anything but silent.I have noticed that some are much larger than others and suspect these to be the culprits. can anyone explain what makes a cricket silent as I always thought that they chirped by rubbing.their legs together.

[Pudding4brains]

No idea whatsoever about crickets for Tarantula-food, but some species signal their mates by trampling their hind legs on leafs or branches - for humans that would probably qualify as 'silent'

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by omdi

I own a tarantula and buy silent crickets for it..or so the box says.the last ones are anything but silent.I have noticed that some are much larger than others and suspect these to be the culprits. can anyone explain what makes a cricket silent as I always thought that they chirped by rubbing.their legs together.

Crickets rub their fore-wings together to make a sound (stridulate). Grasshoppers (or most of them) rub pegs on a hind femur onto a ridge on the fore-wing (probably what you are thinking of).

[CloudedYellow]

Originally Posted by omdi

can anyone explain what makes a cricket silent as I always thought that they chirped by rubbing.their legs together.

They are probably stridulating at a high frequency which cannot be heard by the human ear (unless perhaps they are young or have very sensitive hearing).

[Pudding4brains]

Okay, I was thinking the likes of Leptophyes punctatissima that do not stridulate but rather tap their hind legs on the substrate, or maybe these, but it seems that the crickets offered for sale as "silent crickets" are more in the Gryllidae category and from the looks of it I'd think most would be "exotic" - only found one scientific name mentioned: Gryllus assimilis which seems to be American rather than European. Not even sure all specimen of this species would be silent, or that it is some genetic aberration that produces silent animals.

Interesting story about that here/here.

But of course you can google yourself too

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Okay, I was thinking the likes of Leptophyes punctatissima that do not stridulate but rather tap their hind legs on the substrate, or maybe these, but it seems that the crickets offered for sale as "silent crickets" are more in the Gryllidae category and from the looks of it I'd think most would be "exotic" - only found one scientific name mentioned: Gryllus assimilis which seems to be American rather than European. Not even sure all specimen of this species would be silent, or that it is some genetic aberration that produces silent animals.

Interesting story about that here/here.

But of course you can google yourself too

Leptophyes does produce a stridulation- though not easily heard by us; the Meconena species don't though + use their rear legs for communication.

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Leptophyes does produce a stridulation- though not easily heard by us; the Meconena species don't though + use their rear legs for communication.

Ah, yes - you're right of course - I got those two mixed up (they're both abundant here) Sorry, 'bout that ...

Arp

[Gill Catton]

well I have only ever met Gryllus bimaculatus and Gryllus campestris and they were both very noisy indeed!

[omdi]

thanks for all your help guys .the larger crickets actually look like a different species to the smaller ones.bit of a mystery how they got mixed up

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by omdi

thanks for all your help guys .the larger crickets actually look like a different species to the smaller ones.bit of a mystery how they got mixed up

I think my local pet shop have both Gryllus bimaculatus + smaller Acheta domesticus, though in separate containers- could they be these?