Grasshopper and Cricket Photography by Kozmic Dreams

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Grasshoppers and Crickets

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Grasshoppers

Grasshopper #1

I found this huge grasshopper (about 2 1/2 inches long) on September 6, 2008 on the butterfly bushes. It really seems to enjoy eating them. I did some indoor photos with it set up on a butterfly bush branch. After releasing it, I was also able to get a few photos through the den window in a natural setting. I haven't yet researched what species this is.

Crickets

Snowy Tree Cricket, Oecanthus fultoni

Unlike most crickets that live on the ground, the snowy tree cricket is usually in bushes or trees. They are sometimes referred to as the "thermometer cricket" because one can calculate the temperature by the number of chirps. The formula depends on whether you live in the eastern or western United States because they chirp faster in the west. I photographed this one on July 30, 2008. It is a juvenile and does not yet have its full wings.

Field Crickets, Gryllus campestris

I have always loved this species of cricket and have never had the heart to ever feed one to any of my carnivorous friends. They are very friendly crickets and seem to like to be held. It is sometimes difficult to get them off of your hand because they just want to hold on. No wonder the Chinese built special cricket boxes to keep them in as pets. In contrast, the house cricket pictured under this species will not let you hold them for a second. They frantically try to escape and seem to be much better at it than they were 15 years ago. I strongly believe that they are being bred to escape better since they are the feeder crickets that are sold in pet shops. If you think about it, the ones that are best at escaping the hands of their caretakers are the ones left behind to breed, so we are selectively breeding more intelligent crickets over time.

Here is a male field cricket photographed on 9-9-07. He was found singing in my basement.

Here is a female field cricket photographed on 9-9-07. She was found in my basement, probably attracted by the song of the above cricket.

House Cricket, Acheta domesticus

Here is a molting house cricket (the kind sold in pet stores for animal food) photographed on June 24, 2008. How strange that I would have photographed my last molting house cricket exactly one year ago to the day!

Here is a house cricket that is molting its exoskeleton. I was in the process of photographing a jumping spider when I noticed the molting cricket in the bottom of the glass that the spider was in, so I decided to take a few pictures on June 24, 2007.

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