Enjoy the nightmares.
It's a horsehair worm. They actually don't kill the crickets they infest. They make them seek out water so the mature worm can escape. The crickets have been known to live a semi-normal life afterward in many cases. Fascinating article on them in Wired:These are actually a beneficial creature as they kill invasive species. They go in through the nose, lay eggs in the hosts head, which then hatch and eat through the brain on the way out ridding the local ecosystem of an invasive human.
It's a horsehair worm. They actually don't kill the crickets they infest. They make them seek out water so the mature worm can escape. The crickets have been known to live a semi-normal life afterward in many cases. Fascinating article on them in Wired:
Absurd Creature of the Week: The Parasitic Worm That Turns Crickets Into Suicidal Maniacs
The some 350 known species of horsehair worms invade insects. After developing for several months, the worms mind-control their hosts to make a kamikaze dive into water, and then escape through holes bored in the insect's exoskeleton. The parasites end up in a tangled knot that can be as heavy...www.wired.com
Check your peehole, I heard they swim up there sometimes
You think it's a coincidence that you swim in my pool and the next day I find this?:shudder: Definitely NOT going swimming at Dank's place again.
What if it thinks your peehole looks like a cricket nostril?