Roots 'n' Shoots: April 2012

Why is RnS Moving to whiskerflowers.wordpress.com?

Google had brought out an algorithm update in May 2017. With previous updates like Panda or Penguin, Mr G had penalized blogs or websites with low quality content and those more focused on aggressive adverts (including multiple ads or pop-up ads in articles). However, many blogs/websites that weren't shady got penalized beyond recovery too and a lot of people lost their income. The May 2017 update has had wide-scale effect on blogs and websites, but without any explanation from Mr G as to why or what it does. RnS has been hit by it too and hard. RnS organic search stats (i.e. users from Google) have dropped by 75% since. Even though RnS is not a source of income, I tried to figure out why RnS is being culled. It seems that it doesn't really have anything to do with RnS per se, but likely because RnS is FREE and not paying for page ranking (via AdWords or Ad Ranking). Now it is likely being aggressively shoved to lower page rankings to accommodate the paid ads.

I cannot rely on Mr G anymore to get RnS' content where it is needed. So I am busy moving RnS to Wordpress where you can find me as Whisker Flowers @ https://whiskerflowers.wordpress.com/

I am also imposing 301 redirects from already moved posts and pages!

- The Shroom - (AKA Whisker Flowers)

Sunday 1 April 2012

Parktown Prawn aka King Crickets - Garden Critter of the Month:

King Crickets at a glance

Occupation:
Generalist
Value to Gardener:
?    -  Depends on personal opinion
Danger to Humans:
0/5 - None (Gross factor 5/5!)
Availability:
5/5 – If you live in northern SA, they're all over the place!

Libanasidus vittatus, King Cricket,
Wikipedia, Paul Venter

Quick Intro

These are my least favourite insect! And likely the bane of SA gardeners. Since they have this reputation, I thought I’ll feature them in a garden critter of the month discussion.

Science Stuff

The scientific classification is Libanasidus vittatus, under the insect order of Orthoptera. This includes all insects related to the cricket body-type, grasshoppers, katydids, locusts and crickets.

It is basically a large cricket, hence it’s called the King Cricket (common name parktown prawn). They can grow larger then 10cm with a red head and thorax, orange and black striped abdomen and large spiky orange legs. They have large mandibles which are capable of devouring just about everything. They are found in northern South Africa and in Angola.


Basic Cricket Morphology
Orthoptera

Their strong legs allow them to jump a meter easily; although their directional control is lacking and when threatened they eject black foul smelling faecal liquid (eew!). This makes very entertaining scenes when you watch someone trying to catch them when they’re in the house J - they jump unpredictably and squirt nasty stuff all over the place! This is usually accompanied by equal amounts of 'eeking' and jumping of the person trying to catch the prawn. J

I think they are absolutely disgusting, but I understand their important role as both a predator and prey in the ecosystem. They also help with decomposition.

Habitat

They like gardens with rich soil and lots of burrowing places (especially in your shoes!). As long as there is food they’ll move in!

Prawn burrowing under the logs - I ain't getting closer than this!

Diet

They are generalist in every way, from being predators to being prey themselves. They are omnivores and eat insects, snails, rotting plant and animal matter, pet food and sometimes wooden flooring. They are prey to Hadeda Ibis ('noisy big birds', I remember a French family, who visited the same guest house as we did, wrote in the comment book J), Fiscal Shrike (we have always had a dominant male that claimed our property as its territory) and Helmeted Guineafowl (we have 3 flocks living in the open areas around our neighbourhood).

Hadeda Ibis,
Wikipedia, DawidI
We call it Hadeda - it makes a haa haa de dah noise
Fiscal Shrike,
Wikipedia, Jerry Friedman

Helmeted Guineafowl,
Wikipedia, Bod

King Cricket 101

It is a true generalist and the opinions on whether it is useful or not varies. Some consider it a pest, while some gardeners consider them a friend as they perform natural snail control (maybe that’s one of the reasons why we do not have snails?), but they in turn will munch away at your vegetables! I just do not want them in the house! They always seem to be in my bedroom for some reason, being nocturnal they make clicking noises when they walk, which make it impossible to sleep – also they are not easy to find!

Libanasidus vittatus, King Cricket

Here is a quick 3 second video of one running across our lawn: The Insect from Hell






- Update 09 Feb 2013 -

Found a site with hilarious comments - check it out @




- Update 13 Nov 2013 -

For all of those who are here to find out whether parkies are dangerous: Don't stress, they are not dangerous or poisonous or going to rip off your legs. They just have a massive gross factor -even when their dead! One drowned itself in one of the buckets that we use to collect rain water, we scooped it out and dropped it on the floor - and its head came off! So gross... K

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