Interesting things about Field Crickets
So Mildura is currently, as you may or may not know or care, in the grip of several plagues, some of which might give Moses himself a little flush of self-congratulation. Besides the mosquitos, about which I have whinged in previous entries, there is also a mouse plague and a spider plague. We are getting praying mantises the size of cocker spaniels and moths like London pigeons. While the locusts have slacked off between breeding seasons, we are told that their next appearance will be months sooner than it might normally be due to the incursion of a new genus of locust, something with a hook or a beard or something, which is coming from the north. Apparently the newcomers will be twice as big as the usual locusts. The plague which is currently making life a little miserable in Mildura at the moment, though, is crickets.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about crickets: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_cricket
Here is what is happening in Mildura:www.sunraysiadaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/phew-we-stink/2101174.aspx
My house usually has only around eight to ten crickets flying or hopping about at any given time but others I know have had to block cracks under doors with towels, spray surface spray on every floor and window surface, keep light to a minimum of night, just to keep their house from being inundated.
Last night we went to the cinema (Black Swan - well worth the Oscar for Natalie Portman, great movie) and the poor girls behind the candy bar had to hold the tops of their uniform shirts closed with one hand to keep the crickets from getting friendly. A couple of boy were having a competition to see who could stand under the streetlight outside and get covered in the most crickets.
Here are some interesting things I've learned about crickets in the last few weeks:
1 Crickets STINK. As you would have read in the link above, businesses in town are having to cope with the physical stink of the things as well as the sheer number. This surprises me. Although locusts are horribly destructive in agricultural areas, they are, by and large, much less offensive. In case you wondered, crickets smell like teenage boy BO and feet.
2 Crickets are juicy. Locusts are dry and not at all meaty. Crickets go splat when you stomp them and can leave smeary bits of goo and entrails on the floor. Cars driving around at night sound like they are driving on bubble wrap because of all the splatting of crickets on the roads.
3 Girl crickets have three spikes out the back. Boy crickets have two. You might think this makes the boy crickets suffer from ovipositor envy but they seem to have everything worked out okay.
4 Crickets seem to be a little like turtles in that they are often to be found on their backs with their pale little bellies pointing to the sky, kicking away, unable to turn themselves back over after whatever catastrophe caused them to flounder in the first place. This is the best time to stomp.
5 Crickets defecate. Unfortunately, they seem to vastly prefer shitting in the containers of gelato laid out in 48 Flavours, somehow managing to get into the freezer cases in order to leave soft specks of dung like garnishes on the very flavour of sorbet I was most looking forward to eating.
6 Crickets may be juicy like a jube, but they mummify within hours of death. Then they fall apart until all that is left is legs. Lots and lots dry little mummified cricket legs. All over the place.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about crickets: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_cricket
Here is what is happening in Mildura:www.sunraysiadaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/phew-we-stink/2101174.aspx
My house usually has only around eight to ten crickets flying or hopping about at any given time but others I know have had to block cracks under doors with towels, spray surface spray on every floor and window surface, keep light to a minimum of night, just to keep their house from being inundated.
Last night we went to the cinema (Black Swan - well worth the Oscar for Natalie Portman, great movie) and the poor girls behind the candy bar had to hold the tops of their uniform shirts closed with one hand to keep the crickets from getting friendly. A couple of boy were having a competition to see who could stand under the streetlight outside and get covered in the most crickets.
Here are some interesting things I've learned about crickets in the last few weeks:
1 Crickets STINK. As you would have read in the link above, businesses in town are having to cope with the physical stink of the things as well as the sheer number. This surprises me. Although locusts are horribly destructive in agricultural areas, they are, by and large, much less offensive. In case you wondered, crickets smell like teenage boy BO and feet.
2 Crickets are juicy. Locusts are dry and not at all meaty. Crickets go splat when you stomp them and can leave smeary bits of goo and entrails on the floor. Cars driving around at night sound like they are driving on bubble wrap because of all the splatting of crickets on the roads.
3 Girl crickets have three spikes out the back. Boy crickets have two. You might think this makes the boy crickets suffer from ovipositor envy but they seem to have everything worked out okay.
4 Crickets seem to be a little like turtles in that they are often to be found on their backs with their pale little bellies pointing to the sky, kicking away, unable to turn themselves back over after whatever catastrophe caused them to flounder in the first place. This is the best time to stomp.
5 Crickets defecate. Unfortunately, they seem to vastly prefer shitting in the containers of gelato laid out in 48 Flavours, somehow managing to get into the freezer cases in order to leave soft specks of dung like garnishes on the very flavour of sorbet I was most looking forward to eating.
6 Crickets may be juicy like a jube, but they mummify within hours of death. Then they fall apart until all that is left is legs. Lots and lots dry little mummified cricket legs. All over the place.