I've always thought of crickets as among the cutest of the insect world. To me they were friendly little fellows who liked nothing better than to sit on a tree stump, play fiddle and chirp. I believe that in Japan people even keep pet crickets in tiny wooden cages.
There has been a huge population explosion of crickets in Austin lately, and now these friendly little fellows are reduced to living in cricket shanty towns. There is one colony, numbering probably in the thousands, underneath a Citgo nearby. I have to report that a cricket's cute factor can be greatly reduced when it lives in a sewer.
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I have a cricket story for you: Ten years ago I had a pet tarantula named Romulus. I fed him crickets, which I purchased by the dozen at the local pet store. They would last about a week. Romulus hardly moved, tricking the unsuspecting crickets into thinking he was a rock, or something. So they would eventually, one by one, wander over to the statuesque Romulus, whereupon they'd each get pierced by Romulus' huge fangs and then get their insides slowly sucked out. Very few things since have brought me as much pleasure or entertainment as feeding my spider, which was just one brief window onto the epic and eternal war against the plague that are insects. I have cast my lot with the spiders, the bats, frogs and the members of the Anti-Insect Front. One day, we WILL prevail.
I agree with the chu. I had an alligator lizard (my roommate found him wandering in our apartment complex parking lot) who loved little crispy crickets. It was one of the few times that the little fellow moved super fast.
Also, I agree crickets are cute as long as you don't know they're moving about in the darkness of your cabin at church summer camp. We would flick on the lights in the evening and scores of crickets would run/jump/fly for cover. Made you want a night light real bad...
My cousin, Tom, worked as a lighting coordinator for the Pixar film, A Bug's Life.
One night, the sounds of New York City--the rumbling of subway trains, thrumming of automobile tires, hooting of horns, howling of brakes, and the babbling of voices--is interrupted by a sound that even Tucker Mouse, a jaded inhabitant of Times Square, has never heard before. Mario, the son of Mama and Papa Bellini, proprietors of the subway-station newsstand, had only heard the sound once. What was this new, strangely musical chirping? None other than the mellifluous leg-rubbing of the somewhat disoriented Chester Cricket from Massachusetts. Attracted by the irresistible smell of liverwurst, Chester had foolishly jumped into the picnic basket of some unsuspecting New Yorkers on a junket to the country. Despite the insect's wurst intentions, he ends up in a pile of dirt in Times Square.
Mario is elated to find Chester. He begs his parents to let him keep the shiny insect in the newsstand, assuring his bug-fearing mother that crickets are harmless, maybe even good luck. What ensues is an altogether captivating spin on the city mouse/country mouse story, as Chester adjusts to the bustle of the big city. Despite the cricket's comfortable matchbox bed (with Kleenex sheets); the fancy, seven-tiered pagoda cricket cage from Sai Fong's novelty shop; tasty mulberry leaves; the jolly company of Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat; and even his new-found fame as "the most famous musician in New York City," Chester begins to miss his peaceful life in the Massachusetts countryside.
Mose will give you a prize if you correctly guess the name of this book!
P.S. I changed one thing about the cricket. If you can guess what that is I will give you a prize.
The book is "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden.
What's my prize, Mose?
Sissy, the thing you changed about Chester is that he is, in fact, from Connecticut, not Massachusetts. Tah-dah!
Wait a Second!?!?!?
I didn't authorize any contest. What will the prize be? What has the Chu won? How does he claim his gift. Sissy, you have some explaining to do.
The prize is a dumpster of crickets, overnight delivery, shipped to your dharma.
I was promised a prize, and by Jove, I demand it be delivered to me--post haste! You won't get away with spurning me again, Mose. Mark my words.
Kidding. I'll simply bask in the glory of finally winning a contest.
I just read that the crickets are such a problem in Austin, they no longer light the UT tower all night due to the cricket carcasses piling up!
My friends,
I have been told it is not simply the cricket corpses piling up that has caused the tower to go dark. This is hard for me to say, but I have been told on some authority that it is also THE SMELL...
Truly Gross.
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