Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I accidentally killed my entire colony of lobsters except for a couple dozen very tiny survivors. I'll tell that story if anyone lets me know they would like that.

For the short term, I'm stuck with juvvie crickets. My roommate told me he would remove all my furniture to outside and spray my room if he ever hears a single roaming male. He's had very bad experiences in the past. I need to do my best to separate the sexes.

I understood the store owner's explanation on how to sex them.
But now I have doubts. He said males have almost no anal feelers at all, and females have long slender ones.

The conflict is that all my crickets (older juvvies) have anal projections. Some are double and very slender. I assume these are females. The other type has a single short, somewhat fatter, anal projection. Are these the males?

Can someone clarify accurate cricket sexing for me?

Thank You,

Roger

Or maybe they are some kind of carapace that extends down to the narrow end of their abdomens. Females have no wings at all. So I went out to he parking lot with two containers and nabbed every male from a group of about 60 - 70, and let them go (not really a favor ). It was easy. Although the weather was on my side, reading down in the low 60's, which slowed them all down I think.

If I ever have to select through a warm frenzied mixed group, I will cool them down first.

Also, you don't need water gel. A soda cap with cotton or crumpled TP works. Even the tiny ones can walk out, because crickets are wall-walkers. Just clean it every few days.

clffdvr

Roger

Both male and female crickets have wings. Females are larger as adults and have a 'third' antenna or anal 'hair'..usually black or very dark brown in color coming out of the center...with two hairs on either side in a sort of 'V' formation. You can see this 'dark' hair when the crickets are about 1/4" long, long before the wings develop. Keep these and you will just have females.

The center hair is the ovipositor, which the adult female uses to deposit her eggs.