I had to head to the pet store this afternoon because my girl cat is out of her preferred bag of food. It has to be ordered in. While there, I wandered about and heard the unmistakable sound of crickets.
At first I thought it was on a CD being played in-store however it happened to be live crickets, insects there for the express purpose of being eaten alive by other critters. I couldn’t have that so I grabbed a pack, bought a receptacle for them to be housed in alongside a tub of Bug Gel which are basically gel bubbles of water for them to drink from without risk of drowning and some Bug Food in powdered form which is sprinkled into their tub once daily.
There wasn’t any substrate for them to use to line the container with as it was sold out so I will look about tomorrow for some of that. I will also buy various artificial logs, sticks and tubes for them to play on/in.
I discovered crickets enjoy Classical music so I am currently playing Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op.25 (Thibaudet) for them. That’s good because I have always wanted to get into Classical music and now I have no excuses not to.
Anyhow, here are my new friends:-
They jump about like mad. The container is about 10 times larger than what they were originally housed in however I want to spoil them so tomorrow I will get them a similar container to the one my snails are housed in. I shall also find out what they love to eat outside of the generic bug powder and ensure they get plenty of that. Apparently, they chirp loudly at night and I would estimate I have about 50 or so of them so that should make for an interesting nocturnal experience from now on. Some will die while others will mate and produce more crickets so it should balance out.
Anyhow, I am already the proud owner of some snails and now crickets.
Jay's Journal 
Fun! I don’t see them as creepy. Earwigs and slugs are creepy🥴. Anyway, I look forward to seeing how things develop with your newly adopted creatures!
I performed and listened to A LOT of classical music in my tweens, teens, twenties, and thirties. I bet the crickets will love Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky, two of my faves!
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Hi Sharine. They don’t live very long unfortunately, just a couple of months which is sad however I am saving them from being devoured alive so I figure it has to be better for them than that.
I will check out Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky for them. Thanks for the tip. I am currently playing the album Grace and Danger by John Martyn for them. They seem to enjoy the song Sweet Little Mystery from that album. Have you heard it at all? It’s beautiful.
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Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are very popular because they are so well-written with different motifs for each season. Tchaikovsky has so many wonderful concertos and symphonies, it’s hard to choose, so just dive in wherever you land in your search!
I just listened to a little bit of Martyn’s “Grace and Danger” song. He has a unique style. Not my cup of tea, but people who like Robin Trower might like him as well.
I’m heading into the back yard to move a huge potted vine that needs a trellis. So I’m going to put an old white-painted iron garden gate up against the wall above the pot and watch it twine over the coming months. I think it will die off at the first freeze in November/December, and then we collect the pods full of seeds and replant in spring. Supposedly it will produce trumpet-vine-like flowers throughout summer.
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I don’t like the song Grace and Danger much either. Just the more ballad-esque songs like Sweet Little Mystery, Baby, Please Come Home and Hurt In Your Heart. He does that kind of thing brilliantly.
I will introduce my new friends to Vivaldi Four Seasons later, thank you. I will look into Tchaikovsky too but don’t want to frighten them with anything too heavy as they are very sensitive to heavier sounds.
The potted vine sounds wonderful. I love watching plants twine. We had a glorious Honeysuckle in our house before this one. It grew like nobody’s business and its fragrance delightful. Ain’t nature marvellous? 🙂
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Long night, short on words. I made a serious summer roadtrip booking error and I’m crossing my fingers that I can fix it tomorrow morning! I will be camping this weekend and pretty much off the grid, which I really need, haha! Sending lots of love to you, my dear friend, and to your mum and all the creatures!💖
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Have a great weekend Sharine. Please send my love and best wishes to R and N xx
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