The Jerusalem cricket, potato bug, Cara del niño, etc is one of the strangest insects on earth! These bizarre subterranean relatives to crickets and grasshoppers are common throughout the southwest US and Mexico and spend their lives in burrows eating just about anything they can find. While harmless to us humans, it’s not at all uncommon for these primarily vegetarian insects to kill and eat other small animals if they find themselves in a position to. I can’t imagine being a small insect and u

Let’s set up an enclosure for a Jerusalem cricket (Ammopelmatus navajo) 🦗 Jerusalem crickets are also known as potato bugs (because they often eat rooted vegetables underground) or skull insects (because of the shape of their head) However, they are not from Jerusalem and they are not true crickets. They are large, flightless insects in the genera Ammopelmatus and Stenopelmatus, members of the family Stenopelmatini. Which sounds complicated, but basically means: “chunky bug that digs and is rel