Today I ventured out to get a better container for my cricket friends. I needed to get some vermiculite to layer the base of said container. I popped into B&Q and having found the product, I noticed right beside it some decent sized propagating trays with lids. The lids had sliders inset into them to vary the amount of air that gets in and that was perfect because I was worrying about how I was going to make the relevant holes in the top of a clear plastic container for the crickets. Too big and they will get out, too small and they won’t get enough oxygen. Plus, there’s always a worry using that method, about cracking the lid.
I then walked into the garden centre part of the store and they had dozens of flowers and plants which were being sold off reduced in price. I thought it was because they had already flowered however they hadn’t. Most will flower through to August and a few into October. I bought some Impatiens, the regular variety and ones from New Guinea, some Petunias, some Marigolds, some Bidens (which I had never heard of before), some Sweet William, some Snapdragons and a few others besides. I’m glad I went there now.
I returned home and in transferring the crickets, 2 escaped. I managed to recapture one and put him into the container while 1 is still at large. I lost 1 last night, who ended up going behind the refrigerator. I hope they’re not a male and female because that could result in a house filled with crickets endlessly multiplying. I think it’s unlikely as they need regular food and water and without that sadly they will perish. That and the fact there are numerous large spiders walking about the house, so I think they’re doomed in reality. I’m keeping an eye out for them in case they crawl up the walls. I can then place something clear over them, slide a thin coaster between that and the wall/floor and bring them back home again.
5 crickets have died since yesterday. I don’t know whether it was the shock of being transferred initially from the smaller container to the interim container and then moving to the bigger and better one today. I was ever so careful. It might not be that though. The lifespan of crickets is about 90 days and I don’t know how old they are, where they were bred and how far they have travelled to get here. I will be broken when my little waving friend dies however. She has sat atop one of the egg crate spikes today, just looking across at me. She’s lovely.
Anyhow, here they are in their more salubrious surroundings:-
Water gel in the top left of the screen in the orange lid. Powdered food packed with vitamins and minerals in the bottom left which is one half of an egg carton. Cardboard inserts from toilet rolls in the centre which they love walking about in. Raw carrots beside those. The small round bowl in the top right is moist and will serve as a place for them to breed. In the bottom right is the remainder of the egg carton which apparently crickets also love walking about in. My only concern is how I’m going to be able to access the tray to add/remove things without them jumping out. That would be a concern however whatever the size of the container though as they can jump up to 3ft in the air.
I found a really good Jimmie Vaughan album to listen to today, which I have included below. Jimmie can sound a bit plink-plink-plink tonally at times and almost like he’s phoning in his performances however this album has a beefier guitar sound, I can hear his commitment to the music and I’m really enjoying it. The crickets really love Clair De Lune by Debussy! My girl cat went and laid out in the garden this afternoon. It was a lovely day weather wise however it got cold very quickly. The garden birds have enough food out in the various feeders until tomorrow and the snails have been tended to so their container is moist, clean and tidy, with a fresh supply of food inside for them to munch away on.
I can’t believe we’re already 3 weeks into May. It’s my Stepdad’s birthday today. Had he lived, he would have been 106! He’s been gone 26 years and I miss him more than ever. He would have loved the world as it is now, with all the technological advancements, especially the immediacy of recorded music as he played drums proficiently and was something of a music aficionado.
Anyhow, this has been my day. A good one all in all.
Jay's Journal 
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