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Cricket Trap

intro Guess what! I got two fire bellied toads for christmas and L&L pets said that they need ten crickets a week for each toad. When I was thinking about my projects, I thought why not try to get rid of the crickets in my basement? It would solve three problems: feeding my fire bellied toads, my cricket infestation and my science fair project! When I was going to put my trap down in the basement I thought "what bait will work best?" so I did two experiments!

info on camel crickets Did you know that the camel cricket (family Rhaphidophoridae(raf i do for i day)) eats plant debris? It's not even a true cricket! Do you know why? They dont have wings and therefore they can't chirp! One field guide on google books I found said that if you have a trail of oatmeal you can lure them out! Are you wandering why they are called camel crickets? They are hump-backed just like the camel! but if you have never seen a camel don't think that camels have six legs! They are also called cave cricket because they usually live in caves or basements (if you have them in your basement they are probably "accidental" invaders). Cave/Camel crickets like dark and damp places (just like my basement!). Do you want to know how to get rid of them? they have to have continuous darkness to breed so if you keep a light on in your basement they won't breed, eventually they will die and if they don't breed you won't have a cricket infestation!

Questions: Wich type of bait will work the best for catching crickets?Will a cricket trap work better than cup and paper? Will a ramp on a jar work better than without a ramp?

Hypothesis you will catch more crickets if you use a trap than with cup and paper.

Method 1.build a jar with a ramp of cardboard. 2.put 6 different baits in 7 jars (there are two jars with orange. one is the jar with the ramp, the other one is a jar that has no ramp). 3.put the jars in my basement for four days. 4.check daily.

Materials • 2 slices orange • lettuce • cucumber • sugar • pepper • plastic cup • 7 glass jars • duct tape • cardboard

analysis Day 1 there was nothing. Day two there was 3 crickets in the jar with cucumber, 3 in the jar with lettuce 1 in the jar with an orange slice. Day 3 there was nothing. Day four there was 5 crickets in the jar with cucumber, 1 cricket in the jar with lettuce, and there was 1 cricket in the jar with green pepper. The trap with the ramp was the hardest to make, but the trap didn't work because it wasn't against the wall.

conclusion I think the traps worked because there was sixteen crickets total that I caught with the traps in five days. The ramp wasn’t necessary because the trap with a ramp didn’t catch any crickets at all. The traps are more preferable than cup and paper. Why? You just go down and take the jars up if they have any crickets in them and you spend less time in the basement. The trap with the ramp was the hardest to make, but it didn't work at all. control: cup and cardboarddependent variable : number of cricketsindependent variable : method of catching crickets total number of crickets jar with ramp: 0 jar with sugar: 0 jar with cherry tomato: 1 jar with orange: 1jar with green pepper: 2 jar with lettuce: 4 jar with cucumber: 8