Are crickets beneficial insects or pests? This article explains their merits and faults clearly

The scientific name of the cricket is ququ; it is an invertebrate of the family Gryllidae in the order Orthoptera of the class Insecta. It does not chirp, but the male can produce sound by rubbing its wings together, and it is distributed over an extremely wide area, found almost everywhere across the country. Male crickets are aggressive, so people like to keep them for viewing and cricket fighting. So, are crickets beneficial insects or pests? Let us take a look together below!

Are crickets beneficial insects or pests

Crickets are pests. Crickets are important agricultural pests in China's Northeast region, North China region, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and South China region. They destroy the roots, stems, leaves, fruits and seeds of various crops, and the damage to seedlings is especially severe. In the south, peanut seedlings damaged by crickets reach 11-30%, and they also harm corn, jute, tobacco, cotton, soybeans and cassava, often causing missing plants and affecting the harvest.

What food do crickets eat

Crickets living in the wild generally feed on tender buds, tender leaves and roots, while crickets kept by people are given not only various fresh vegetables and fruits, but keepers also choose some foods and combine them in proportions to make a rich, nutritious meal. Feeding them at fixed times and in fixed amounts every day encourages the crickets to grow healthier and fiercer.

The living habits of crickets

1. Crickets like to live in burrows, often dwelling on the ground surface, under bricks and stones, in earthen holes, and among grass. They rest during the day and go out to move about at night. They are omnivorous animals, and various crops, saplings, vegetables and fruits can all become their food. In agriculture, people classify crickets as pests.

2. Crickets are solitary by nature, and generally live independently, never allowing themselves to live together with other crickets. Only during the breeding and mating period will a male cricket live together with another female cricket. Otherwise they cannot tolerate each other. If they come across each other, they will not hesitate to bite and fight. Hence the folk activity of cricket fighting.

3. Reproduction and mating among crickets is not accomplished through “falling in love” with each other. Instead, male crickets engage in exceptionally fierce struggles, and only the winner can have a mate. In the world of crickets, there is also a “polygamous” system. However, because of the survival-of-the-fittest breeding method, most of the offspring bred by crickets are very healthy.

4. The chirping of crickets is not unfamiliar to humans at all. But only male crickets can produce the loud chirping sound; female crickets have no ability to make sound. Male crickets produce sounds of varying strength and length by vibrating their wings, thereby representing what they want to express.

5. At the end of September each year, the female cricket inserts her ovipositor into the ground and lays eggs underground, about 0.5cm deep from the ground surface. Between May and June of the following year, the eggs begin to hatch. After hatching, the 1st-instar larvae molt into 2nd-instar larvae after a few days. Each time a cricket molts, it grows a little. Generally in late August, it molts for the last time and emerges as an adult. 23 days after emergence, it can begin to chirp.