Name: Painted Jerusalem Cricket
SKU: bic0152p
Availability: OutOfStock

Description

The Painted Jerusalem cricket is Ammopelmatus pictus. This coloration of this species is spectacular, but it is their head markings that are most interesting. Coloration and patterning is variable from specimen to specimen.

Unsexed specimens only. Size varies, but always over 1/2 inch and usually closer to an inch. $12 each

In Mexico they are known as Niño de la Tierra, which means Child of the Earth. They are known in some areas of the country as Potato Bugs which probably reflects their occurrence in areas where potatoes and other crops are grown. Potato bugs is a horrible name since it is applied to many bugs in this country, some of them native and some of them non-native (like the potato itself). That they are better known as Jerusalem crickets isn’t really much better, but the explanation if you can find it online is a better one! Words are almost as interesting as bugs. There just aren’t nearly as many of them.

J crickets are generally long-lived compared with the more familiar pet store crickets. A couple years is generally expected although ours vary in size and age and age is never known, sorry. They feed well on bits of apple, carrot, and dried pet foods (and, yes, potatoes). Is there anything they don’t eat? They tolerate dryness but like a slightly moist substrate. They will burrow if given room to.

Specimens sometimes have partial antennae and a missing toe or two may also occur. These may regenerate through subsequent molts if the specimen isn’t mature (which we can’t always tell with certainty).

Kelsey has contributed the following care sheet (she’s the one that provides care for them here…

Jerusalem crickets are in my top 3 favorite insects!! I like to give them a deep-ish substrate, maybe 4 or 5 inches. I use a mix of coco fiber and sand, but just coco fiber seems to work just fine as well. I keep it moist enough that when they dig around it doesn’t immediately collapse around them, because they will sometimes molt under the substrate, but I have seen them molt on top, too. I give them a piece of cork bark or wood or big rock to hide under as well. Sometimes you might not see your Jerusalem cricket for a week or more, and usually that is because they are under the substrate molting or just hanging out. If you see one laying on its back, don’t count it out. They will often rest in that for days as they prepare to molt! They are most active at night.

They will eat basically anything. I feed them carrots, apple, jelly, fish food pellets, blue bottle flies at any life stage including pupae, etc. I usually drop a few options in the tank for them to forage as they please, and I will feed them again when I notice them looking around for food a few days later. You can also put a bottle cap or other shallow type of dish for water. They make an absolute mess in their tank so you will probably have to dig out the water dish frequently.

They are pretty tolerant of various levels of dryness and temperature, so I don’t worry about getting it perfect. I will give the terrarium a good spray roughly twice a week or whenever I notice it getting dry but that will depend on your temps, amount of ventilation and substrate composition.