crickets

[cnovelli]

how do crickets have babies

[christina801]

by mating.

[New Forester]

"Cricket" can mean quite a few different insects, not all very closely related. However most are in the grasshopper group of insects, the Orthoptera (true crickets, grasshoppers & true locusts, termites, coc*roaches, bush-crickets etc). "Proper" crickets are field crickets (Gryllus) and similar insects such as house crickets and wood crickets -- I think the ones sold for pet food are house crickets or something very like them. Other noisy insects get called crickets, such as cicadas, which are actually true bugs (hemipterids). Crickets mate, then the female lays eggs. In some orthopterans (not sure about proper crickets) the male produces the sperm in a package called a spermatophore, which is then attached to the female -- I think this can be without direct male-to-female contact (very prudish -- should suit the answerbank censor...). Coc*roaches do this, as well as some other animals such as newts and scorpions. Where they lay eggs depends upon which species. The female has a long spike (ovipositor) on the rear which inserts eggs, usually into the soil. Eggs hatch into tiny crickets, without wings (so no caterpillar or grub stage). Babies grow, changing skins regularly as their skins don't stretch. Eventually, they hatch into adults with wings (though not always big enough to fly with) and able to sing.