We have had a couple of very cold, windy and rainy days here. I got crickets from a local pet store because I was afraid to wait until today. The martins were looking miserable with their wings drooping. I tried flinging the crickets toward the martins, but they just flew away. I was very worried, so I took the crickets, which I had frozen to death, and put them in the gourds that I knew the martins were sleeping in. Today when the martins went off to feed, I checked the gourds. Only one gourd had a single cricket in it. The rest were all gone.
Question: Did the martins eat the crickets, or do crickets revive after temperatures are above freezing, and could they have jumped out of the gourds?
Sue P
CRICKETS
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KathyF
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 1:57 pm
- Location: Missouri/Licking
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As of 2018 - 84 cavities offered, max # of pairs hosted - 82.
Sue, in the future, flip the crickets in front of (not at) the martins. About 2-3 ft. in front of them will be fine. Get them up high. But then again, if they're eating them out of compartments, maybe you don't have to worry about flipping!
"Sometimes", said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
2023 - 82 pair
2022 - 80 pair
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http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com
2023 - 82 pair
2022 - 80 pair
2021 - 75 pair
2020 - 78 pair
2019 - 80 pair
http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com
I appreciate your suggestions. I certainly hope the martins ate them in the gourds. I am not too good at flipping! 
I may put some more in when it gets cold and rainy again to see if they really eat them. The crickets are in the freezer and should be good and dead by now. I really thought they were dead when I was flipping them, but they could have nine lives like a cat, I guess 
Sue P
I may put some more in when it gets cold and rainy again to see if they really eat them. The crickets are in the freezer and should be good and dead by now. I really thought they were dead when I was flipping them, but they could have nine lives like a cat, I guess Sue P
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John Miller
- Posts: 4866
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Sue
I put crickets in compartments and gourd tunnels and almost all are eaten -- kept 9 martins alive for a week in March this way with no temps above 45. If martins have to nearly walk through crickets, or sit in them, they slowly get the idea. Crickets that have been frozen don't revive -- not even on Good Friday -- but when first day feeding crickets on porches some folks have tried just severely chilling them -- if they move a little it may get martins to take notice more quickly.
A place called Reptile Food (do a google search) will over night crickets to you; I also use a place called Premium Crickets, better shipping there by two to three days. I order 3/4 inch for comartments -- I think slightly smaller are eaten more readily; they may pick up and then drop larger ones. Try one inch for flipping; and maybe one inch after several day of supplemental feeding when the martins are used to them -- you probably get more cricket for the buck.
A little long winded, but I know a cold front is moving across the country -- hopefully short lived here in Missouri. It's always good to stock up. We've had martin killing weather in the past right up through Mother's Day.
John M
I put crickets in compartments and gourd tunnels and almost all are eaten -- kept 9 martins alive for a week in March this way with no temps above 45. If martins have to nearly walk through crickets, or sit in them, they slowly get the idea. Crickets that have been frozen don't revive -- not even on Good Friday -- but when first day feeding crickets on porches some folks have tried just severely chilling them -- if they move a little it may get martins to take notice more quickly.
A place called Reptile Food (do a google search) will over night crickets to you; I also use a place called Premium Crickets, better shipping there by two to three days. I order 3/4 inch for comartments -- I think slightly smaller are eaten more readily; they may pick up and then drop larger ones. Try one inch for flipping; and maybe one inch after several day of supplemental feeding when the martins are used to them -- you probably get more cricket for the buck.
A little long winded, but I know a cold front is moving across the country -- hopefully short lived here in Missouri. It's always good to stock up. We've had martin killing weather in the past right up through Mother's Day.
John M
Sue
The white crickets don't revive when they warm up.Unlike black yard crickets they require a higher temp to live. Thats why they keep a light on them in a bait shop. I bought some on Monday to fish with, but since I was catching so many crappie I never got around to using them. That night I sat them in my carport and the temps dropped to 43. It killed them all. There were a few still moving the next morning but they died from the thermal shock.
The martins ate your crickets!
The white crickets don't revive when they warm up.Unlike black yard crickets they require a higher temp to live. Thats why they keep a light on them in a bait shop. I bought some on Monday to fish with, but since I was catching so many crappie I never got around to using them. That night I sat them in my carport and the temps dropped to 43. It killed them all. There were a few still moving the next morning but they died from the thermal shock.
The martins ate your crickets!
Tony
2007 --- 0 2011---0 2015---4
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2007 --- 0 2011---0 2015---4
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Guest
I never was able to teach my dumb PM's to catch a cricket so I started putting them in the cavities.The pm's will eat them for sure and it sure saves on the arms and fingertips.I can put out a couple hundred crickets while a flipper is getting ready 
dick
dick
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
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hee hee, John Miller Shall we hold a cricket revival meeting next?
Shall we hold a cricket revival meeting next?-
John Miller
- Posts: 4866
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Louise
Actually..I guess Good Friday is next week, April 22, so a little ahead of myself.
My grandpa in Kentucky used to say his martins came on Good Friday -- wasn't one of grandpa's more accurate things to say, but some years he got lucky.
John M
Actually..I guess Good Friday is next week, April 22, so a little ahead of myself.
My grandpa in Kentucky used to say his martins came on Good Friday -- wasn't one of grandpa's more accurate things to say, but some years he got lucky.
John M
Last edited by John Miller on Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:42 am, edited 1 time in total.