11/18/2022: Giga-Gryllus

2022 has been the year of the Gryllus as I’ve collected species from across the US to captive breed. I have two established cultures and hope to round them out with another 5 by the year’s end, granted upscaling enclosures go well and there are no fungal outbreaks (which are a common problem when starting cricket cultures).

One of the emerging favorites are some truly gigantic ones from extreme southern Alabama, collected by birding fanatic Satchell Watts-Kerr. Satchell has been doing some insect collect during his birding trips and found these giant crickets while looking for a groove billed ani. His group located the bird as well as some interesting inverts in the nearby area.

I have kept the females I received in a pretty bare enclosure, hoping to get a crop of eggs along with a decent hatch that could be quickly and safely extracted to a larger, better conditioned rearing enclosure. I wonder how large these crickets could get if fed a captive diet. If the eggs are fertile and this species doesn’t belong to the group of egg-diapausing Gryllus, we should know soon enough.

-Kyle