The Cricket Personality

While it may come as a surprise to some, each cohort of crickets that has made a home within my home has its own collective personality. Some are more hesitant to touch me, some jump at the opportunity, and some remain in corners completely.

I have noticed that when the crickets are starved overnight, they tend to approach me faster. However, if they are starved for too long, they are too weak to do so. This would indicate that the cricket personality is highly influenced by instinct. It is also important to state that my own view of a certain cricket’s personality depends on where I myself place the cricket on the cute to hostile spectrum.

Younger crickets tend to be more skittish, and therefore more difficult to befriend. As they age, they increase in intelligence, and it is my impression that their food drive increases as well. I recognised that crickets tend to be more audacious when hungry, due to a certain cricket attempting to eat my ring finger during one of my sessions. When I fed the crickets oats, I watched him carry an entire oat across the acrylic box, so he could keep it to himself. He was hungry, and thought perhaps that I was food. (I was not.)

Some crickets are observers, often watching me through the clear panels of the box when I sit and watch them too. These crickets are more likely to remain away from me, and less likely to mistake me for food. This could very well be coincidence, but I have never seen an injured cricket do this.

Lastly, crickets share a trait with sharks. Specifically, when scared or hunting (I have not been able to distinguish the two), they will circle my still hand. They enjoy leisurely walking around the live object, sometimes merely grazing it with their antennae. The crickets who circle seldom approach.