Another reason to NEVER feed your leo crickets...

as if we didn't have enough reasons already... apparently with all the damage to the domestic cricket trade from the AdDNV disease, the breeders and suppliers have been looking for a way to raise a AdDNV immune cricket... please read this article... it could save your leo's (or other herps) life!

http://www.geckotime.com/jamaican-field-cricket-gryllus-assimili/

If you have no choice but to feed crickets PLEASE be aware of what to look out for with thie Jamacian black cricket and use the utmost of caution.

:O omg they are scary bugs :O
I'm scared of normal crickets.. but those Jamaican ones are horrible :O :O

OMGGGG.
Kermit, you were definitely right about warning me about the crickets earlier...
I don't think I'm feeding Miracle anymore crickets. Mealsworms, superworms and other worms from now on. O_O

Thanks for letting us all know!

Youre welcome folks...anything to help our lil herp friends out

I had the misfortune of an escaped Jamaican monster setting up house in a pile of laundry. I put on a pair of pants when OUCH!!!! That nasty monster bit the bejeezus out of my inner thigh. I couldn't get my pants off fast enough so I could catch the cricket and kill it.

I won't buy them anymore. If they hurt ME that bad, I can't imagine the damage they'd do to my geckos.

Even the lady at the pet store where I got them hates them. She's happier now that I'm buying mealworms instead.

That had to hurt Svashtar... OMG I couldn't imagine how that must have felt. Glad that you decided to go with a different feeder after that event

sounds very painful

i just thought i'd post about the crickets i believe to be Jamaican Field Crickets which bit my step mum, they seem very agitated, trying to escape the box, and quick. i have managed to seperate two of them which i am going to continue to feed until they are full adults, but i can already tell that they have grown from 'Medium Black Crickets' supposedly, to what appears to be the vicious crickets. i believe i have captured both a male and a female too! i'm not 100% sure on this but its just a heads up for anyone buying 'Medium Black Crickets', possible any black crickets, from World of Water in Blackpool.. not sure if they come from the same breeder as the rest of the WoW's though, just be wary!

Here is the Female:





Here is the Male:




Like i said these are still young and yet to develop the colour and size like in the article from the first post.

the top one is very likely a jamaican field as it has the tell tale verigaed head pattern. The bottom pic looks like a regular ole black cricket to me to me. If you looked at the article they did include pictures of the Jfc. Did those 2 in the top 2 pix start out looking like the last pic then changed colors as they matured?

Yeah I've been looking at the article and checking them, they started out completely black, and within 12 hours it had changed to that, the top 2 pics are both the same cricket, and with the bottom one, it has the same tail/wings as the male in the article, but I'm still waiting to see if the colour variation occurs in it's head like the first 2 pics. I'M gonna keep them all and inform WoW of these crickets so I can hopefully help other reptiles feeding on the same crickets, I'd hate for people to be unaware and lose their reptiles

After speaking to WoW, they informed me that they order the crickets from one of the major UK cricket providers! they're going to look into the situation though so I'll keep you updated and hopefully this will help to rid of the JFC from one of the leading UK suppliers I'll continue research on these crickets and if anyone can provide some good links to more information it would be appreciated

That's awesome. You should print the article and take it to WoW so they know what to look for. Hopefully they get this resolved before too many of those buggers get into peoples vivs.

After another bite, my step mum got rid of the crickets.. thats the end of that one. But WoW are aware so hopefully they'll check them better

Hopefully they do...it would be a shame to see them getting into the hands of unsuspecting herpers.

I have tried feeding my Leo's all the different types of edible worms but they will only eat crickets. Are crickets an issue if I buy them from Petsmart?

Crickets can be an issue no matter where you buy them from because its the HUGE wholesale breeders that sell to places like petsmart, petco etc. That are the problem. Best thing you can do is know what the jamaician field crix look like and avoid them like the plague.

I know somebody who feeds her leapord geckos these crickets with no problem does this mean there unsafe

Yes they are unsafe. Just because her leo hasn't had any problems thus far doesn't mean all leos will be like hers. That leo could be a very aggressive eater but a shyer leo could suffer many bites.

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I have not seen one yet and neither has any of my friends. IMO this is really exaggerated. Just buy from a healthy place and buy the smaller size. You can always breed your own.

Kermit,
I didn't know crickets were bad!
We feed Herbie crickets a lot.
Can you identify this cricket for me?:http://www.google.com/imgres?q=petco+crickets&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=WF3&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&biw=1440&bih=694&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=KxAHSNiFGy3u8M:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/30989519%40N03/3368836520/&docid=QhM4PUydRnpxyM&imgurl=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3546/3368836520_73aa035412_z.jpg&w=640&h=509&ei=tWT6Ttu1FpL9iQLZh-ipDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1149&vpy=330&dur=661&hovh=200&hovw=252&tx=179&ty=122&sig=112343663745934190984&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=184&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0
Are these ok?