What does it mean if there is a cricket in the house?
As the popular saying goes, if
a cricket
appears in
the house
, this promises happiness and prosperity for the owners. Only people who have this “happiness” for some reason are looking for a way to quickly get rid of it.
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How does a cricket sing?
The difference in structure between the male and female allows the former to make chirping sounds. The fact is that only male crickets have a special acoustic apparatus that allows crickets to sing, and serves them for certain purposes.
How do crickets make sounds? The insect's musical instrument is the elytra, and the mechanism of their operation during singing is reminiscent of playing the violin. They have veins, small wrinkles or folds. Their distribution over the surface is uneven, so when a certain area is exposed, a sound corresponding to it is produced. This makes the cricket's repertoire much richer than that of similar grasshoppers. The second elytra acts as a bridge with a jagged vein. The insect rubs its elytra against each other, creating vibration, and due to this, chirping appears. The intonation and nature of the “music” produced by the winged “singer” depends on the frequency of vibrations.
The sound apparatus of crickets is much more complex than that of grasshoppers. Therefore, it can produce a variety of sounds, each of which is suitable for a specific situation.
House cricket
The house cricket, a type of insect, often gets into the house and lives in secluded corners. They used to live behind the stove, but today they can hide behind furniture or in cracks. According to popular belief, the appearance of this insect in a home indicates a peaceful and calm atmosphere in the family, and is a favorable sign. Moreover, the cricket does no harm. On the contrary, it feeds on other insects: parasites and pests. There is no need to worry about an increase in the number of individuals: a male who has settled in the house will definitely drive other contenders into the territory.
Captivity
In the East, insects that produce beautiful melodies, such as the cricket and the cicada, were kept in special cages in homes, just like songbirds. And today, some exotic animal lovers keep crickets to enjoy their sounds.
To do this, use an aquarium, terrarium or special insectarium. Insects need systematic care. It is especially important to change the soil every 3 days, otherwise the unusual pet may die. Although crickets are predators in their natural habitat, when kept at home they are also fed plant foods: vegetables, fruits, and herbs.
The singing of crickets is very beautiful and varied. It's worth a trip out of town.
Why is he doing this?
Of course, nature tried for a reason. The complex structure of the elytra is given to crickets in order to simplify one of the most important purposes of the existence of individuals - leaving behind offspring. Therefore, males sing only during the mating season.
Why do crickets chirp? Musical abilities are given to them for communication with each other and for solving three problems at once:
- The most important purpose of singing is to invite females to take part in procreation. The mating song of a cricket is the most ear-pleasing “work” in the insect’s repertoire. It sounds unobtrusive, but at the same time very melodic. The male either makes ringing sounds or begins to crackle or buzz. It is not limited to singing alone: the trill is accompanied by a mating dance, in which even the mustache is involved. Several females may live on the territory of a male or in the neighborhood, and with his melodies he tries to keep them around him.
Female crickets are not always loyal. If a new male who has settled nearby begins to emit a special and loud singing, then she may change her gentleman.
- Marking the boundaries of your site. Crickets are characterized by solitary living, and each male has his own territory, in which he can allow several females to live. To make it clear to strangers that the area is occupied by it, the cricket emits shrill signals warning possible rivals.
- If a skirmish could not be avoided, then the male tries to influence the enemy with sharp but loud sounds. Crickets are very aggressive. If two individuals get into a fight, then there is a high probability of the death of one of them. In this case, the winner can eat the loser. In the best case, the fight ends with the loss of antennae, legs or wings. In such a fight, the chirping is a kind of battle cry, designed to suppress the opponent and frighten him.
Only sexually mature individuals are capable of making sounds. Young males learn to do this by imitating their adult neighbors.
Where can you listen to cricket?
To get acquainted with the singing of crickets, just go out of town in the summer. These common insects are found almost everywhere. Their mating season begins with the onset of warm weather, and at this time ringing trills and threatening chirping are heard in the air. Crickets sing almost all day long. True, it is very difficult to get closer to the insect: it is very shy, and when a person approaches, it hides in its hole, from which it does not move far.
If it is not possible to meet a cricket in the wild, then there are many audio and video recordings of their sound on the Internet. They are pleasant to listen to, have a calming effect and promote relaxation.
Where does sound come from?
The answer to the question of how a cricket makes sounds lies in its structure. Grasshoppers and crickets chirp according to the same principle, but the apparatus for producing sounds is more advanced in representatives of the cricket family. The sound of the acoustic apparatus of crickets is more diverse and polygamous than that of grasshoppers.
The sound quality and volume are directly affected by the ambient temperature. Insects are classified as heat-loving, and if the thermometer drops below +21 degrees, they hibernate.
The acoustic apparatus that makes a cricket chirp is found only in representatives of the strong half of insects. It is not for nothing that the chirping of a cricket resembles the sound of a violin, since it has a special vein under its wings. It is its beating against the fender liners that helps produce melodic sounds. From the point of view of the correct sound, there is no difference in whether crickets are crickets or chirps. Therefore, both words are equally applicable to representatives of the order Orthoptera.
Reproduction and lifespan
There are usually several females per male. They were all enticed by the serenades. It is interesting to watch their mating dances, after which the female is ready to lay eggs. Depending on where the crickets live, the female lays a certain number of eggs. Mostly there are a very large number of them.
Crickets choose hard-to-reach cracks to store their future offspring. They usually contain 40,000-70,000 eggs. For their normal development, the temperature must be at least 28 degrees.
After 1-2 weeks, larvae begin to emerge from the eggs, which need to go through a maximum of 11 stages in order to become juveniles.
In this form, they already strongly resemble adult crickets, only they differ in their parameters. 6 weeks and several molts during the cricket breeding season are necessary for insects to become sexually mature.
The lifespan of insects depends on their habitat. House crickets live for about 4 months. Tropical insects last 2 months longer. And field crickets can live up to 15 months.
Crickets are orthoptera insects, the family of which includes 8 subfamilies and 2300 species. Males make loud sounds using their elytra.
The most famous species is the house cricket. These insects live with people for many years, so they are considered practically pets. People do not feel the same hostility towards house crickets that they feel towards flies, moths, cockroaches and bedbugs.
Stem cricket (Oecanthus longicaudus).Crickets are native to North Africa and the Far East. But these insects spread throughout Europe, later they settled in North America, and then came to South Australia.
The cricket is a heat-loving insect that lives at temperatures of at least 20 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is lower, the cricket becomes inactive and stops feeding. Cricket larvae behave the same way; at low temperatures they stop growing and forming.
How do cicadas make sounds?
Cicadas use a special sound membrane that is vibrated by muscles. The resulting metallic sound resonates in special cavities inside the body, reaching great volume. The South American cicada is capable of making a sound similar to the whistle of a steam locomotive.
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When they chirp
Crickets usually start making sounds after dark. These musicians leave their hiding places in complete darkness. In nature, where human activity does not have a negative impact on crickets, it is not a problem to hear these insects even during the day.
Day and night can also be heard during mating season. This “musician” can be silenced quite easily, just approach him at a certain distance. Sensing danger, the cricket immediately hides in its lair.
Interesting fact! Crickets feel safe at night, so they mostly make sounds after dark.
The structural features of the acoustic apparatus of grasshoppers do not allow them to make sounds at night. Once dew begins to fall, the wet organ cannot make sounds. Therefore, grasshoppers chirp exclusively during the day.
The Japanese simply adore these little “musicians”, so many raise them at home to always enjoy this melody.
