September 21, 2011

Crickets in our Classroom

We have crickets in a tank in our classroom. Our tank is filled with soil and grass. The crickets like to eat plums, grapes, oranges, and tomatoes. They don't like apples. We put in a wet paper towel so they have water. 
There are boy crickets and girl crickets. The girls have a long ovipositor to lay their eggs.  They lay their eggs in the ground.The eggs are too small to see. They will hatch around January. Baby crickets are smaller than ants. They are the size of a pinhead. 
 We have some big crickets and little crickets. The small ones are black and brown. The big ones are black. The little ones jump around a lot. It's fun to watch them eat. We like listening to them chirp. Do you know how crickets chirp?





7 comments:

Dr. Mathes said...

This looks very interesting, and you are becoming experts on crickets. Are there any entomologists in your class?
Dr. Mathes

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that your crickets are black and dark brown. Here in Arizona our crickets are a very light brown - just about the color of the light brown on your blog sight.

Do you guys have any ideas why Arizona crickets and Maine crickets might be colored differently?

Rick in Arizona

Our Classroom Family said...

Dear Rick,
Our guess is that your crickets need to blend in with sand and ours don't.
Your friends,
The Starfish

Professor S. said...

Eeeewwwww!!!and wow. Crickets are a little creepy. You are all very brave to get to know them and learn about how they live. If crickets only eat fruits and veggies do you think we would call them herbivores? It's a big word but ask your teacher if it is the right one. Keep on learning - even about the creepies.

Anonymous said...

I think you guys figured it out!

Our dirt is very light colored and our crickets are almost the same color as the dirt. That makes our crickets very hard to see on the desert where they live.

Rick in Arizona

Jenn Hunter's Mom said...

I like the little crickets because they hop around alot, and I like the big ones because they don;t hop aroung alot.

Hunter

Anonymous said...

crickets are fun i had them last year in my class[mrs.mayberry]and we had a frog it was fun taking care of them!!!!!!!!:-)

Emily Daniels sister