Effects of Poison Concentration to the Common Cricket

Presented by Erin Hill

Acheta domesticus

Adults are 3/4” long

3 dark bands on the head

Body is light yellow-brown

Omnivorous

Destroy silk, wool, paper, rubber

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Grylloptera (Orthoptera)

Family: Grillidae

Genus: Acheta

Species: Acheta domesticus

Photo courtesy of University of Florida

Photo courtesy of University of Nebraska

ovipositor malefemale

Pictures

Troublesome Pests?

More annoying for their chirping than for their destruction

BUT – representative of insects in general which include: Ants Bees/wasps Cockroaches

Small Sacrifices

Available at most pet stores (food)

Inexpensive

Easy to raise

Just as susceptible to pesticides and bug sprays as other insects

The Question:

Which type of chemical is the best killer? Spray Foam Jet

Materials

About 80 crickets

12oz. Jar cricket food(at right)

2 gallon holding tank

Small plastic cups for testing

Pesticides

Chemicals

Raid House & Garden

Hold can 12” away from surface

NOT used of edible crops

Active Ingredients: D-cis, trans allethrin 0.239% 3-phenoxylbenzyl d-cis and trans 2,2-

dimethyl-3-cyclopropanecarboxylate 0.096%

Chemicals (con’t)

Repel Sportsmen Formula

Hold can 6-8” from skin

Active Ingredient: N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) and

other isomers 29%

Chemicals (con’t)

Ortho Hornet & Wasp Killer

Jet carries 6-8 feet

Cancelled 1987

Active Ingredient: Pyrethrins .10% - (carcinogenic) Piperonyl butoxide .20% N-octyl bicycloheptene

dicarboximide .33% (possible carcinogen)

Procedure

Capture single cricket in plastic cup

Cover cup with paper towel, leaving a hole for spray application

Deliver one quick spray to cup interior

Register amount of time from spray to cricket death

Procedure (con’t)

“Death” was accepted to be the time when the prone insect stopped twitching

Repeat for 10 crickets with each chemical

Place plastic cups/dead crickets in plastic bag for city disposal

Results

Foam Spray JetTest Time (s) Test Time (s) Test Time (s)Cricket 1 135 Cricket 1 29 Cricket 1 13Cricket 2 117 Cricket 2 16 Cricket 2 21Cricket 3 50 Cricket 3 16 Cricket 3 24Cricket 4 40 Cricket 4 12 Cricket 4 15Cricket 5 20 Cricket 5 22 Cricket 5 27Cricket 6 51 Cricket 6 21 Cricket 6 21Cricket 7 63 Cricket 7 10 Cricket 7 18Cricket 8 100 Cricket 8 15 Cricket 8 18Cricket 9 57 Cricket 9 13 Cricket 9 15Cricket 10 98 Cricket 10 40 Cricket 10 15Average 73.1 sec Average 19.4 sec Average 18.7sec

REPEL INSECT BLOCK ORTHO HORNET & WASPRAID HOUSE & GARDEN

Conclusions

Raid House & Garden Produced a thick, sticky foam that trapped the

crickets Crickets twitched for quite some time before

finally dying Death took almost 2 minutes in some cases

Conclusions (con’t)

Repel Sportsmen Formula Produced fine mist in whole cup Relatively short time to die, but lots of

struggling and twitching Dead were highly contorted and twisted

Conclusions (con’t)

Ortho Hornet & Wasp Killer Produced thin jet of chemical Almost instantaneous death with few

exceptions Crickets didn’t have time to twitch

In The End …

It was concluded that while the Ortho Hornet & Wasp Killer was the most harmful to humans and non-target organisms, it was definitely the most effective of the three chemicals tested

In close second was the Repel Sportsmen Formula though it was not meant for killing insects, only repelling them

Resources

“DEET”. Deet Website. 2003 http://www.deet.com.“ePestSupply.com”. PestSupply. 2003 http://www.epestsupply.com/crickets.htm.“PAN Pesticides Database”. Pesticide Action Network. 2003 http://www.pesticideinfo.org/index.html.“Urban Integrated Pest Management”. University of Arizona. 2003 http://ag.arizona.edu/urbanipm/insects/cricketmanagement2.html.