Behold My Cricket

Isn't that a katydid? That's not a cricket.

Make sure you find out what crickets eat or you will have an ex-cricket. Here, OP, I checked for you. We don't want your ripped and studly cricket to starve.

"In your garden, crickets can eat the stems and seeds of any plant such as corn, grass, barley, fruits, wheat or vegetable. In homes, crickets eat an array of things including drapes, clothing, and furniture. They have such strong jaws and teeth that they can chew through plastic bags, cardboard, and stored grains as well as cereals."

Never mind, he won't starve, but better leave out lots of hamberders for the little guy.

Those are some seriously toned legs. Name him Sondergaard.

[quote]I’m pretty sure he’s gay.

Why, is he chirping Rose's Turn from Gypsy?

That's a Katydid, and crickets can be one of the things that are part of their diet. Some species are carnivorous, and will take small insects.

This is a cricket:

A bird gonna eat him.

R2, your pic is of a cave cricket, sometimes also called a spider cricket, or camel cricket.

Can we bring “Jiminy Cricket!” back into everyday language? I miss innocent expressions and exclamations. In a world of ‘Wet Ass Pussy’ and ‘Pop That Pussy’ and ‘U Want This Pussy’ I really just need something that doesn’t give me mental pictures of a woman’s sacred flower. Maybe I’m getting old. I dunno.

DL, yes. Yes, I definitely have a katydid, not a cricket. It’s about 2 hours til sundown here and I’m waiting for tonight’s chirp. If I see him again I’ll take pictures for you when he flexes.

R9, calm. This is a katydid, not a cricket, not Jiminy. Calm. You are safe from ladyparts here. Breathe.

Think of katydids’ hot legs.

How do you handle the chirp, OP/R10? When they really let go, they can put your ears out. They're capable of up to 110 decibels.

R12 that was GREAT! Sondergaard is nowhere near that size, he measures maybe 1 inch in length (2.54 cm.) His chirp is just as sturdy, but more shy, more quiet.

DL, I need your urgent help! The OP has held me hostage in here for what feels like a week or more. He keeps trying to stroke my wings and he takes provocative pictures of me. I'm afraid he's going to rape me or worse. Please send help!

I’d name him Cyd, after Cyd Charisse and those legs.

Sondergaard works if you want him to stab your lover’s lover in the heart, ala The Letter, but Cyd Charisse has the legs.

R13, I think the one in the R12 video is a Giant Malaysian Katydid. Yours will not grow that big, thankfully. ;)

Interesting that Cyd at the OP looks like a pothos plant leaf at r12.

Can you imagine evolving to look like your surroundings?

OP, as already said, it was a katydid. They are voracious hunters and eat smaller bugs.

And you're enough of a slow-witted grub that you'd better be careful. They go for their victims' heads first. Small meal.

The hand at r16 looks like it’s been murdered. How much crap are we supposed to take, Cyd?

Ew. Grease fire.

Here my cricket. Me speshul. Me no name. Love me. Love me thred.

Ow. Ow. Ow. OWWWWWWWW.

Squish

If you’re going to speak for me, r21, at least do it well.

OP, Sondergaard might be one of these (the page offers different ways of distinguishing them). Although they're called 'false katydids,' they're not, really - entomologists just call them that in order to distinguish them from so-called 'true' katydids, which belong to a different taxon. The site remarks that some "make excellent pets."

From that same website, see also the 'Northern Bush Katydids.'

By Jiminy, OP. I have a small container garden in a large city, it's the only bit of nature that I have and about the only critters I usually see are squirrels destroying any green thing I have, or mosquitoes, flies and aphids, with an occasional butterfly. But this week while I was doing dishes with the back door open I suddenly hear the sound of a cricket. It made me quite happy.

What if Katy-didn’t!

It's a bug. Bugs are disgusting. Kick the fuck out of it until it explodes into a million pieces.

DL mocked me when I admitted to purchasing a brass cricket cage. I would never confine a wild animal for my own pleasure, though. I love listening to all the evening songs: katydids, crickets, coneheads, owls and treefrogs.

Sondergaard leg-hugs to r25.

Well this is no cricket in Times Square that’s for sure.

I realize this is not yet a thing but, I’ll vote for the name Sondergaard over Cyd anyday.

OP, I wish you and Sondergaard well.

As do I, and we, Mr. Dragon r32. You’re practically an uncle to Sondergaard.

Gay, you say? In what key does he chirp "Too Many Mornings"? Dorothy's or Imelda's?

You haven’t seen him in a top hat, r34. Trust.

Jane Fonda sent leg warmers, Sondergaard is famous!

That cricket cage at r28 is a little too reminiscent of The Wicker Man. All I see in my mind is Sondergaard rattling the cage, screaming Nooo! As the grease fryer climbs.

I think I’m gonna be sick.

We are not zee same.

But people say we’re in love...

Here’s a cricket that hung out on my car, OP:

This is a gay cricket, OP.

The Datalounge theme song

(and if this doesn't work, click your heels together and repeat 'There's no place like home')

Haven’t seen him yet today, probably at the gym.

A cricket on the hearth is a harbinger of good luck and health. Do you have a hearth, OP?

R43 Not a cricket, but a katydid, maybe it’s a katydid on a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, you got one of those OP?

He’s gorgeous. 😍

Great legs, Sondergaard.

If I had a pet cricket I'd call him Crick. If he turns out to be gay I'll call him Monsieur Cricket, pronounced "crick-ay'".

Ah- HA! I see him up high on the cupboard, he’s looking fine. Once he comes down I’ll take him outside but I have to say, I’m gonna miss his singing tonight. No hot guy ever sang me to sleep before Sondergaard.

I was wondering if it was really a May Fly whose time was up and it was dead.

CRICKET BLAKE was played by Connie Stevens in TV Series"HAWAIIAN EYE" 1959 - 1963

Other members of the cast included Robert "Wild Wild West" Conrad and Troy Donahue.

Well, I did it. I just released Sondergaard and now I feel empty. I saw him in my kitchen and caught him (gently,) in a plastic cup. Took him outside to a bunch of grass blades. I’m told he likes grass. That was ten minutes ago and he still hasn’t left the cup, I think he might like me, too.

Didn't realize I’d get attached a little. I’ll admit it, I’m sad already.

I wish Sondergaard well. Keep an eye on him. Bring him back inside if he looks stressed.

The final picture of Sondergaard finds him atop a stem of clover, I bet you can hardly see him.

That’s because he is pure stealth and solid muscle. Goodbye, little gym rat friend, don’t be a stranger.

Thank you, r52!

Final picture:

I told you he’s hard to see, it’s his JOB.

I love this place.

OP here’s 9 hours of night chirping by katydids to console you.

You did the right thing, OP.

If you love a katydid, let it go.

Now can we see your COCKLET?

R11 is a GHASTLY liar...we have never been, and will never be safe from lady parts at DL. Also, OP, you have really been spending too much time alone and this is no joke. I recently lost a friend, social and positive guy who loved his 2 kids and had found a lovely woman after 5 years of torture from a shrew, to a massive heart attack at 46. No booze, no smoking, no drugs and working out daily and only slightly pudgy. He complained of feeling isolated at home since all gyms, the office, cafes, and events closed. His kids and wife lived with her folks till the divorce came through...all his friends were now online so the isolating just killed him.

Thanks r62. I’m truly sorry that you’ve lost your friend and I wish you all the peace you can find.

Currently I’m listening to Mozart’s Requiem, in remembrance of Sondergaard. Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong, but when the music dims I hear an orchestra of crickets and katydids outside, and I know Sondergaard is one of them, and I regret nothing.

Je ne regrette rien, toots.

I mean that most sincerely.

Ok OP, you win. Crickets and roosters sure are soothing sounds, though cocks make the most delicious sounds after all.

I hear him!! I hear Sondergaard outside! I’ve learned his distinctive chirp, it’s him! It’s him!

I’m like Jane Goodall, hello buddy!

Sondergaard’s chirp sounds like a high pitched shuffling of a deck of cards. He’s close to the house still, where I dropped him off.

I’m not crazy nor am I apologizing, I like this odd footnote in my life.

You did the right thing OP. Sondergaard knows how much you love him and he's sending you his love. It warms my heart to come across such a sensitive soul. May you both be very happy.

I don't understand the name Sondergaard, but I love it.

Perhaps Sondergaard can visit us again around Christmastime, a la Christmas Mouse, if a small enough Santa toque can be obtained. <3

I had a pet cricket, Sam, in my garçonnière along Yang-ching-pang Creek, in Shanghai, the last year of the war.

That’s a charming idea, r68, especially about the hat. He strikes me more as a top hat kind of guy, though.

[quote] Bring him back inside if he looks stressed.

Oh I would just love to know how you tell the difference between a stressed katydid and a relaxed one.

Actually katydids are sometimes called crickets.

By ASSHOLES.

I'm not sure about the top hat, R70, since it will be Xmas time. Perhaps he can switch to it for New Year's Eve?

[quote]I don't understand the name Sondergaard, but I love it.

Gale?

Gale and her beautiful legs are correct, r74, well done!

Gale Sondergaard costume test from when she was originally cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz." She decided not to play the role when the decision was made to make her a traditional ugly witch instead of a beautiful witch, an idea inspired by Disney's evil queen in "Snow White."

Better yet, just Gale's part in the Shirley Temple Oz rip-off, the Blue Bird.

In TECHNICOLOR!

Think it is a secada, or cicada? I don't know how to spell it but you can not get them to shut up.

op has a Green Cicada.

Doesn't Gale Sondergaard bump off Bette Davis at the end of "The Letter"?

gross