Born and raised in Northern China (2hrs drive from Beijing), my parents bought me crickets & taught me how to catch grasshoppers when I was in early school age. They have short lifespans, so they are quite affordable and low-maintenance pets for families who aren't yet sure about (or can't yet afford to) keep pets that lives for years (cats, dogs, ...). Plus, they teach young children lessons on caring, feeding, life and death, just as well as the latter. I like it.

My partner had a jumping spider as a pet for some time in a terrarium. It was really interesting because he would jump out onto my partners arms when we opened his terrarium and then climb around and then go back after doing some wandering. Pet beetles are also pretty common (and something that I really want tbh). There are a lot of animals that you wouldn't think can be pets, but honestly, if you're helping a critter survive you'll create some attachment to them and maybe they will too. A lot of pet insects can live for 5-7 years too if done right.

The clothing patterns of the Japanese cricket vendors in the article are awesome [1]. By a "Torii Kiyohiro" [1] who seemed to have a thing for drawing/carving intricate clothing [2][3].

1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Torii_Kiyohiro_-_Thr...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii_Kiyohiro

3. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?artist=Torii...

4. https://www.artic.edu/collection?artist_ids=Torii%20Kiyohiro

As a child, I lived in Firenze (Florence, Italy) and had a pet cricket. All the kids had them, in little bamboo cages, for the Festival of the Cricket:

https://www.italymagazine.com/forums/do-see/6010-festival-cr...

I tried to take good care if it, but it died after a couple of months. I probably didn't know what to feed it (but then again I was only 5 years old).

Fits in pocket, chirps for attention, low lifespan...

It's an analog Tamagotchi.

I haven't looked into whether this happens in other countries, but in Turkey, when kids ask for a cat or a dog, parents will often buy them a baby chick from a local market instead. Sadly, within a week or so, once the child loses interest, the chick is often gotten rid of somehow by the parents.

Apparently cricket fights are also a thing. I find this part intresting (from the cricket fight wikipedia article:

> Studies done indicate that the sense of "flying" encourages a cricket's fighting spirit. In one such study, a losing cricket put back into the ring will only go back to fight one out of ten times. If crickets are shaken and thrown in the air repeatedly, they will fight again six out of ten times.

Stick insects are a common “starter pet” for infants school (kindergarten) kids in England

Tried to keep crickets as food for a bearded dragon. Never had any luck. I'd end up going outside to catch some or buy them from a pet store or bait shop.

Didn’t most people keep stick insects (which aren’t quite crickets, but similar) as pets when they were kids?

I thought that was a near universal experience for nerdy academic families, along with hatching frog spawn and having a chemistry set and causing minor explosions in the garage.