What do crickets eat?

[twickster]

I seem to have one in my basement. Will it starve to death or do I need to deal with this?

[Aunt Flow]

They eat mostly vegetable/plant matter. Why do you need to get rid of it? Little ol' thing's probably minding its own business and giving you the occassional concert

[twickster]

I'm not all wound up about this, just wondering what happens if I don't do anything. The most likely scenario seems to be that it will get out however it got in and go look for food.

[What Exit?]

Some live on mold. I have Cave Crickets in my basement.

[kayT]

Some eat fabric. I had a cricket eat a hole in a bedspread.

[Khampelf]

Crickets eat mulberry leaves. Have you never read A Cricket in Times Square?

[fisha]

I've seen them eat each other. Eeeeeeew.

[Colibri]

You probably have enough stuff in your basement to keep a cricket well fed. Depending on species, they can feed on plastic fabrics, woolens, nylon, rayon, leather, silk, thin rubber goods, and wood.

[CanvasShoes]

Originally Posted by dahfisheroo

I've seen them eat each other. Eeeeeeew.

Hmmmm....never done this before but...

The Cannibal Crickets

(band name?)

[Zoe]

My Harris tweed skirt. My cashmere cape.

[twickster]

Originally Posted by Colibri

You probably have enough stuff in your basement to keep a cricket well fed. Depending on species, they can feed on plastic fabrics, woolens, nylon, rayon, leather, silk, thin rubber goods, and wood.

Sigh. So I should just hope there's only one, and not a breeding pair, lest they settle in and found a dynasty of crickets that then mutates and takes over not just my basement, not just my house, but my neighborhood, and from there all of Philly, and then (bwah ha ha ha) the world?

[Nuclear_Siafu]

Originally Posted by twickster

I seem to have one in my basement. Will it starve to death or do I need to deal with this?

You need to throw a few insect munching reptiles down there immediately; crickets have grown accustomed to a hearty diet of reptile souls through the course of their evolution . The reptiles' subsequent lack of souls keeps them mellow and unable to self-regulate their internal temperature, thus preventing them from rebelling against us.


Circle of Life.

[Anaamika]

Now I am talking about the feeder crickets, the kinds you get in the store to feed to your gecko or whatever. In my experience, they eat anything. We tried a styrofoam "lift" for them hoping it'd be easier to get to them, and they ate the styrofoam. So I would say almost anything, really.

[Mangetout]

Originally Posted by Colibri

You probably have enough stuff in your basement to keep a cricket well fed. Depending on species, they can feed on plastic fabrics, woolens, nylon, rayon, leather, silk, thin rubber goods, and wood.

When you say 'feed on', do you mean that they can actually metabolise all of those materials? Or do you just mean that they'll chew anything without dying and can eat mixed-fibre fabrics indiscriminately, digesting only certain bits of them?