I Had To Clean My Crickets' Container This Morning After Breakfast

My crickets' container had gotten really dirty because I never cleaned it. So this morning after breakfast I decided to clean it. It really stank. Ewwwwwww. So first I got this glass container (like the one I gave to Mr. Olson) and put all the LIVE crickets in it (there were 11 of them I think the rest either DIED/GIVEN AWAY/ RAN AWAY). Then I dumped everything else into a bag and omg it smelled really bad. It was filled with cricket poo dead carcasses and some other stuff I don't wanna mention here. The water tissue broke into pieces and got brownish stain on it so it actually looked like mud. I was surprised when my crickets actually LIKED this kinda environment (they were kinda annoyed when I got them into a clean container). So I washed the container by pouring hot water on it and flushed everything in the toilet. It was absolutely DISGUSTING but kinda fun. It got really clean and neat so I wiped it dry with a paper towel. Everything was nice. Then I wiped the cardboard divider clean and put it in the container and secured it into its place. Then I made this little foil container and put a soaked paper towel into it as the crickets' drinking water. Then I put some cricket feed into one section of the container and a slide of golden delicious apple into the other section. When all of these were finished I put all the crickets back. They were kinda scared at first because it was like a "new" environment for them but after a while they just got used to it and began chirping again. REALLY LOUD. I think they like their clean container. This is the first time for me to feed them apple but I think it works because I've seen one of my friends feeding apple to her crickets and they actually ate it like a lot. I plan to clean their container one every two weeks to keep them healthy and chirping.:P

What a Clever Cricket

Today one of my crickets ESCAPED from the jar. It ran all the way to the kitche and hid under the fidge. We didn't even know it was there 'til it chirped. My mom was like, "Mimi is that your cricket?" I was like, "Whaaaaaaat?" I ran all the way to the bathroom and check on the jar. Yep. One was missing. The escaped cricket was still chirping. I could not see it because it was under the fridge. I was like "Man I am gonna catch you" Then it stopped chirping. Awwwwwwwwww! And then I went away and it started chirping again. My dad says that it's never gonna go hungry as long as it's in the kitchen. Smart little creature. My mom says she is really gonna rage if she finds a hole in her tomatoes the next morning. Chilll.....don't EVER underestimate a cricket's intelligence. It's evil. It's GENIUS.

Woah 'O.o Sweat~~~

This afternoon I observed my crickets for 15 minutes straight and saw something pretty...well, you will see...

Yes the crickets were killing each other and eating their comrades.

I am not lying. They were really doing it. You want to get to all the glory details?

So, this fat cricket was upside down for some reason and it couldn't get up. So it was struggling and struggling and struggling. Another cricket came and began biting its throat. The injured cricket struggling more but the stronger cricket just kept on biting. Finally the injured cricket was DEAD. So, the other cricket started to eat the carcass. It was chewing the dead cricket's head. Then another cricket came and began biting the dead cricket's fat leg. Then it tore the leg apart from the body and ate the whole thing like a bunny eating a carrot (yeah, you get the point). Then more crickets came and feasted on the dead cricket. I shook the container so they all went away except the dead one (well, maybe it's because it was dead?!). I examined the carcass and it was pretty messed-up. Its gut was leaking out from yeah...you know where it is. Anyway, it was pretty gruesome...but you just have to get use to it for a while...like MEE.

Oh The Crickets

Today I let my crickets go. My first experiment is done but only 9 crickets are dead, so I gather up all the live ones and put them in a plastic bag and let my dad take them down to the park and let them go. I just can't kill them...Maybe it's because of that heart of mine that I took pity on these little guys. I am not really sure if they will survive in the wild or not, but at least they will have a chance to live. My second and third bunch of crickets are going to arrive at my house on Saturday, so I need to make some room for them. After that I am probably gonna let the live ones go------and hope they can make it.

Oh the Crickets!

Remember I got 50 crickets yesterday? Well, they are just so NOISY! Last night I DID NOT sleep well because these annoying little things were chirping in unison like crazy. They chirped all the time. When I was up this morning eating my breakfast they were chirping; when I came back home from school they were still chirping, and right now they are still chirping as well! Well, I just hope they can STOP, because I think I am going insane from all the noises they've made. I wonder if I can sleep well tonight...

Crickets------Chirp Chirp

Today I bought a box of crickets from PJ'S PETS for my science project (the termites are not coming along so I had to switch to crickets). I chose a box containing fifty three-week-old crickets and they all looked healthy. In fact, they looked too healthy: fat legs, googly eyes and well...fat bodies! Uh, it was kinda gross, holding the crickets, even though they were in a container. There were some dead ones too...but it was only like, what, two of them? So the rest of the crickets were good and lively. While I was waiting for the bus, I grew worried: what if they become too chilly and die? So I put the container in a bag so that the wind could be kept out. When I got home I quickly took the container out and put it under the light. Oh no, all the crickets looked...dead. I began to panic, but quickly calmed down at the sight of a cricket stirring. Soon all of them (except the two dead ones) became lively again under the light (because of the heat?). Hmm...looks like I can still perform my experiment tomorrow.