Crickets

Dear David ,

Inline with what u hv advised on the buffalo chewing away Jeffery's fish stomach.

The shop /tokoh owner Pak Amin hv this to comment on Crickets.

While feeding crickets to our birds , on some aggressive crickets , sometimes we do experience being

cramped n bitten by the crickets front two sharp fangs.

He strongly advd that before feeding the live crickets to birds , advisable to nip the head of the crickets

not to kill it but to disable the front fangs as once swallowed by birds that are not dead yet

n can actually do what the buffalo did to Jeffery's fish.

The two back jumping legs have to remove as they are sharp as well n can choke our birds.

Perhaps this piece of info u had alrdy knew n is nothing new to bird owners at Sin

I just felt the need to share n remind.

Bst Rgds

Hi Sunny,

Thanks for the information. Its always useful to know what others are thinking and doing with regard to bird care.

There are 2 types of crickets that are readily available in Singapore. One is black and the other is a light brown.

The black grows much faster and bigger than the brown. It is also fiercer and the legs, especially the rear ones are sharp and should be removed especially if the cricket is an adult. The brown is smaller and softer and there is no need to remove the legs. It also does not sing as much or as loudly.

Both types are sold by the cricket farm from which I buy my crickets weekly. Since the crickets are from a farm, I can choose the type and size that I want.

Needless to say, I only feed the browns to my birds. I also buy only the sub-adults. Previously, when I fed the blacks to my birds, I would remove the hind legs but not the head although as Pak Amin notes, the fangs are sharp and may bite us. I feel there is no need to do so. Unlike the buffaloes that are small and may be swallowed live by the bird with the danger that they may do harm, a large cricket is too big for the bird to swallow. It will always kill such a cricket before attempting to eat it.

Best regards,

David