So I went to my usual cricket buying place recently (Danny's been getting tired of dubia) and the large were normal colored but the medium sized ones were VERY black. I wondered about this but bought some anyway. But now they're growing and staying super black. I'm looking at one right now specifically that is actually so black it's shiny and made me think "ninja cricket!".
I dont know who you purchased through, but Mulberry farms usually sends a mix of brown & black crickets. The black ones are bigger & grow bigger than the brown. Miss always enjoyed them more when she was into crickets. They crawl more like spider & the brown ones hop. The black were tougher shelled so they crunched more & kept her full longer. I know that in the past people said that the black crickets were more aggressive but i never had a problem with them. I always made sure to do a double sweep of the take each night before i turned her lights off...
So I went to my usual cricket buying place recently (Danny's been getting tired of dubia) and the large were normal colored but the medium sized ones were VERY black. I wondered about this but bought some anyway. But now they're growing and staying super black. I'm looking at one right now specifically that is actually so black it's shiny and made me think "ninja cricket!".
Sounds like it is just a different species...a type of black field cricket. They are fine to use...they do tend to be a bit more aggressive but not necessarily in a bad way..perhaps "assertive" is the better word to describe it. In my experience, the black crickets try a bit harder to escape and seem to be more street smart lol. This just makes it more fun for the beardie to chase though.