Anyone with experience breeding black crickets? Gryllus bimaculatus?

[Persnickety Parson's]

That one is Syrbula admirabilis, an egg diapause species. Too small for consideration unfortunately.

Just need to go a month earlier for the katydids to be nymphs. I caught about 20 adults, so nymphs should be even more abundant. I don't care about them enough to make that trip, but if anyone wants to, they're in central TX in April. I already have 10+ species and more stuff on the bucket list

Priority is Microcentrum rhombifolium in Florida, but looks like they're getting outcompeted hard by Stilpnochlora couloniana, which was introduced from the Caribbean islands.

Too small thats what she said, no that guy appeared huge lol.

You have no choice you must get Eumegalodon blanchardi or those pink katydids, they are just too impressive looking and pink, to leave alone.

 

[Connorology]

Priority is Microcentrum rhombifolium in Florida, but looks like they're getting outcompeted hard by Stilpnochlora couloniana, which was introduced from the Caribbean islands.

So it's a rescue mission then. Does anyone have bug collecting contacts in Florida? I have no reason to go to Florida in the near future, but I would potentially pay someone to get some of these before they get killed off by the alien species we can't legally buy/sell.

 

[jamest0o0]

I guess if I must… I will sacrifice and accept a financed trip to Florida.

 

[scags]

That one is Syrbula admirabilis, an egg diapause species. Too small for consideration unfortunately.

Just need to go a month earlier for the katydids to be nymphs. I caught about 20 adults, so nymphs should be even more abundant. I don't care about them enough to make that trip, but if anyone wants to, they're in central TX in April. I already have 10+ species and more stuff on the bucket list

Priority is Microcentrum rhombifolium in Florida, but looks like they're getting outcompeted hard by Stilpnochlora couloniana, which was introduced from the Caribbean islands.

I think I’ve found broadwings and Florida giants when down there? I have pics. Easiest to find them at night. I can bring some back next time I’m down there- If I find any. I assumed they needed a diapause. And that I would need at least 1 male and 1 female, but more would be better.
Last time I spotted one was near Myakka state park, at night, in a ditch.

 

[SauceGandhi]

I think I’ve found broadwings and Florida giants when down there? I have pics. Easiest to find them at night. I can bring some back next time I’m down there- If I find any. I assumed they needed a diapause. And that I would need at least 1 male and 1 female, but more would be better.
Last time I spotted one was near Myakka state park, at night, in a ditch.

Yep that's the one. At least in my area, they're super difficult to capture because they spend their adult lives so high up in the trees. I remember hearing dozens of them in a tree in Sacramento, but not being able to reach a single one. I just got lucky one day that a female came down to lay eggs and started my whole colony from her.

 

[scags]

Yep that's the one. At least in my area, they're super difficult to capture because they spend their adult lives so high up in the trees. I remember hearing dozens of them in a tree in Sacramento, but not being able to reach a single one. I just got lucky one day that a female came down to lay eggs and started my whole colony from her.

Nice! Yeah the only ones I find down here in Santa Clarita are small bush crickets. I haven’t seen any larger Katydid species- I did find one Sooty Winged in Anza Borrego. Huge female.
A month or so ago I was passing through Bakersfield on my way home from a hiking trip. It was night and we were at a red light. There were these huge insects flying around the street lights. They looked like some type of orthoptera. I wasn’t able to stop and catch any because my wife and kids were in the car and just wanted to get home. I’ll have to go back next summer and see if I can find them. They were the size of dragon flies, and had an erratic flight pattern.
My guess would be migrating grey bird hoppers. But not sure.

 

[Connorology]

I guess if I must… I will sacrifice and accept a financed trip to Florida.

Haha well I was really thinking of paying a much smaller amount to buy them from someone already in Florida

 

[Connorology]

Yep that's the one. At least in my area, they're super difficult to capture because they spend their adult lives so high up in the trees. I remember hearing dozens of them in a tree in Sacramento, but not being able to reach a single one. I just got lucky one day that a female came down to lay eggs and started my whole colony from her.

I hear them every summer in Sac but I haven't actually seen one for a few years now. I basically only see them incidentally at lights at night. I've tried attracting katydids with a blacklight trap in both Sacramento and Davis without much success. If there's a tried and true collection method I'm not familiar with it. I can only regularly get Scudderia katydids because they eat my rose bushes.

 

[SauceGandhi]

Nice! Yeah the only ones I find down here in Santa Clarita are small bush crickets. I haven’t seen any larger Katydid species- I did find one Sooty Winged in Anza Borrego. Huge female.
A month or so ago I was passing through Bakersfield on my way home from a hiking trip. It was night and we were at a red light. There were these huge insects flying around the street lights. They looked like some type of orthoptera. I wasn’t able to stop and catch any because my wife and kids were in the car and just wanted to get home. I’ll have to go back next summer and see if I can find them. They were the size of dragon flies, and had an erratic flight pattern.
My guess would be migrating grey bird hoppers. But not sure.

They're in your area as well. Listen for a ticking sound in the summer/fall.

 

[Connorology]

They're in your area as well. Listen for a ticking sound in the summer/fall.

Have you caught all your katydids by hand or have you found any successful trapping method? The black light I use is LED, I may try a mercury vapor bulb instead.

I hear these things all summer up in the trees in my yard and I probably see them once every 3 years.

 

[SauceGandhi]

Have you caught all your katydids by hand or have you found any successful trapping method? The black light I use is LED, I may try a mercury vapor bulb instead.

I hear these things all summer up in the trees in my yard and I probably see them once every 3 years.

I always have a net. I only ever caught 2 anglewings; the one that started my colony, and one many years ago that I tossed back because I was looking for something else

When looking to start my colony, I just took a walk around the neighborhood every evening hoping to get lucky and eventually did. For the other one, I was throwing rocks in trees to flush out Schistocerca shoshone in the Mojave, and ended up knocking off an anglewing.

My advice is to have good luck

 

[Connorology]

My advice is to have good luck

Haha well I'll keep that in mind

 

[scags]

I always have a net. I only ever caught 2 anglewings; the one that started my colony, and one many years ago that I tossed back because I was looking for something else

When looking to start my colony, I just took a walk around the neighborhood every evening hoping to get lucky and eventually did. For the other one, I was throwing rocks in trees to flush out Schistocerca shoshone in the Mojave, and ended up knocking off an anglewing.

My advice is to have good luck

In the Midwest catching Katydids is easy- but the only time you can find them is generally autumn. At night I would take a flashlight out to the fields, a long stick, and just follow their calls. But even without the calls I would stumble across females and random males. They were very abundant in Michigan in September. It was predictable every year, same location. A large field near a pond, surrounded by woods. Generally I would start hearing them at the end of august and then by mid September they were full tilt. Once a week I would head out to the location and do my collecting. Looking back I wish I would have attempted to breed them. Or at least get eggs of my own.

I believe the most common ones I found in Michigan were greater angle wing.

 

[Connorology]

In the Midwest catching Katydids is easy- but the only time you can find them is generally autumn. At night I would take a flashlight out to the fields, a long stick, and just follow their calls. But even without the calls I would stumble across females and random males. They were very abundant in Michigan in September. It was predictable every year, same location. A large field near a pond, surrounded by woods. Generally I would start hearing them at the end of august and then by mid September they were full tilt. Once a week I would head out to the location and do my collecting. Looking back I wish I would have attempted to breed them. Or at least get eggs of my own.

I believe the most common ones I found in Michigan were greater angle wing.

We need the no-diapause variety for them to have much utility as a feeder though. That apparently means Florida, before they get killed off by the Caribbean alien katydids

 

[scags]

We need the no-diapause variety for them to have much utility as a feeder though. That apparently means Florida, before they get killed off by the Caribbean alien katydids

Yeah I know. In all my experiences in Florida I’ve never come across a Caribbean Katydid. I’ll have to look them up. I’ve seen plenty of native katydids, as well as various grasshopper species.

Just my opinion based on what some of my biologist friends who work in Florida tell me- much of the invasive species data is overblown for federal funding purposes.

Not saying the invasive Katydids aren’t killing off or threatening native species, I have no data on the matter.

But I wonder how many native katydids are wiped out by insecticides each year? Or what habitat loss to human development has impacted their populations over time. Much of north Florida is still very wild. But southern Florida is losing habitat every year due to massive development, and farming.

Sorry I’m getting way off topic.

Bottom line, next time I’m in Florida I’m going to look for katydids. Haha. Shipping them into California might be difficult. Since I don’t have any kind of permit.

 

[scags]

Yeah I know. In all my experiences in Florida I’ve never come across a Caribbean Katydid. I’ll have to look them up. I’ve seen plenty of native katydids, as well as various grasshopper species.

Just my opinion based on what some of my biologist friends who work in Florida tell me- much of the invasive species data is overblown for federal funding purposes.

Not saying the invasive Katydids aren’t killing off or threatening native species, I have no data on the matter.

But I wonder how many native katydids are wiped out by insecticides each year? Or what habitat loss to human development has impacted their populations over time. Much of north Florida is still very wild. But southern Florida is losing habitat every year due to massive development, and farming.

Sorry I’m getting way off topic.

Bottom line, next time I’m in Florida I’m going to look for katydids. Haha. Shipping them into California might be difficult. Since I don’t have any kind of permit.

And actually looking up photos, I think I may have actually seen these before, but assumed they were native. They aren’t huge. And like some other katydids are opportunistic feeders- eating the occasional insect.

 

[SauceGandhi]

It's not that nonnative Stilpnochlora are eating the native Microcentrum, but outcompeting them at the same role. They are both almost exclusive herbivores, but Stilpnochlora has come to dominate the region since introduction. Observations of Stilpnochlora couloniana (left) vs Microcentrum rhombifolium (right) in Florida:

 

[SauceGandhi]

But I wonder how many native katydids are wiped out by insecticides each year? Or what habitat loss to human development has impacted their populations over time. Much of north Florida is still very wild. But southern Florida is losing habitat every year due to massive development, and farming.

Yes, this is the main reason almost all species populations are down across the board. Nothing can compare to habitat destruction.

Bottom line, next time I’m in Florida I’m going to look for katydids. Haha. Shipping them into California might be difficult. Since I don’t have any kind of permit.

Microcentrum rhombifolium is legal across all states; the only katydid on the USDA deregulated list

 

[Connorology]

Microcentrum rhombifolium is legal across all states; the only katydid on the USDA deregulated list

^This is the main reason for the potential of this species as a really good feeder IMO. If everything was legal we could just use the nymphs of the Caribbean katydids themselves as feeders. Or stick with Schistocerca. But getting a new species set up in culture has limited value to the chameleon hobby if it doesn't breed fast enough to feed chameleons, or can't be legally shared with other keepers of pet chameleons.

Florida Microcentrum rhombifolium has the potential to be both legal and productive, if they they are truly non-diapause as opposed to something weird like overlapping generations with eggs that still won't hatch for several months. Not sure if that even can happen but I suppose something like that could also lead to two peaks without providing much benefit to captive rearing.

 

[jamest0o0]

I’d like to add, hunting katydids(here in PA) by their sounds at night was pretty fun. Then keeping them and breeding them was fun as well, they’re cool critters to work with… seemed to have a lot of personality