I purchased a breeding batch of these "super crickets" from Bassett's Cricket Ranch back in July. At the time, they were not being marketed as a separate species and I had no idea they would be different from the usual house cricket. I did notice that they were much darker than acheta domesticus, especially the younger morphs. I figured that perhaps they were simply a darker strain of a. domesticus. But over time, I got the nagging feeling that they were actually a different species, or perhaps a hybrid between a. domesticus and a bigger, meaner breed. It wasn't until after finding this article - Attack of the Feeder Crickets | Gecko Time - that my suspicions were confirmed.

Since I've had a few months of working with them, I can personally attest to some of the differences mentioned in the article. This species, gryllus assimili (aka Jamaican field cricket), is certainly bigger, more robust and more resilient to any of the usual factors that kill off house crickets. In fact, they're increasingly replacing a. domesticus in many cricket farms precisely because they're immune to the virus that has been killing off populations of the latter). Between this and their voracious cannibalistic tendencies, I have witnessed very few casualties. They also don't chirp as loudly or jump as far as a. domesticus. Quite surprisingly, a few adults of both sexes have developed the ability to fly short distances.

Most significant though, is their ability and willingness to bite. G. assmili are much more aggressive than a. domesticus and adults have vicious jaws capable of breaking human skin. In fact, even the immature ones can inflict considerable pain. I know this from personal experience and now I wear gloves when handing them. Now, I can deal with a little personal hazard for the sake of my frogs, but I'm beginning to get worried that these things might be unsafe for feeding something so delicate as a tree frog. I keep gray, red-eye, clown tree and pacific chorus frogs; and yes, I have been feeding them these crickets without issue so far, but maybe I've gotten lucky (I do feed from a bowl most of the time so maybe that's a factor). The writer of that article lost several geckos to these crickets, so it's entirely possible that they could hurt a frog just as badly.

Has anyone else have experience with these "super crickets?"