Crickets

Crickets

Crickets are one of the staple livefoods being used to feed reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates in captivity today. They are highly nutritious when properly gutloaded, low in chitin so easy to digest, easy to keep for long periods of time, quick moving so will always catch your pets interest and initiate hunting behaviour and are cheap to buy in bulk.

By following our cricket caresheet, we will guide you through crickets’ essential housing and feeding requirements and will show you how to maintain and breed a successful colony which can be used as livefood.

Housing:

First things first, crickets require a suitably sized container in which to live. Depending on the amount of crickets you wish to keep, there are several options available for you. If you are only looking to house 50-100 crickets which come in pre-packed tubs from the pet shop or online, you will only need a 5 gallon bucket or medium sized plastic faunarium 12" x 10". If however you wish to breed and keep more crickets, or you buy your crickets in bulk bags online with 500-1000+ crickets you will need a larger container. A 10 gallon fish tank m or large plastic container measuring 20" x 10" can work well. If you are managing a big breeding colony large garbage cans are often more suitable. It is essential that your crickets have enough room to be spread out comfortably and are not overcrowded. Each cricket requires its own space to sit and rest. If you notice that crickets are sitting on top of each other then they are overcrowded and do not have enough room. Overcrowding is one of the major causes of deaths in cricket colonies, so you will need to acquire a larger container to house your colony or reduce the number of crickets you house.

Substrate:

The substrate which will form the bedding material of your cricket colony is another consideration to make. Some of the best cricket substrates available are sand, wood shavings, coconut fibre or peat moss. However, some experts have suggested that using a substrate increases offensive odours and smells and as such recommend using no substrate at all for your cricket colony. This decision is up to you and you should experiment to see which you prefer. Personally I find that using a substrate (even if just paper towel) allows easy cleaning.

Although crickets don’t require a substrate, they do need suitable hiding places and locations to perch. The most common way of achieving this is by placing egg carton in piles and along the walls of the container. If you are unable to obtain egg carton, then old toilet roll tubes or crunched up newspaper can make suitable perch and hide locations.

Food:

Crickets will pretty much eat anything that is edible and as such are one of the easiest livefoods to feed in captivity. You should aim to provide a mixture of both dry food and fresh food to ensure your crickets have a healthy balanced diet. There are many types of dry food available to buy such as poultry mash, cornmeal, dog or cat food, rabbit food, tropical fish flakes, pond fish pellets, cereals or even stale bread. You should aim to provide a high protein diet (25-30%) as without an adequate diet your crickets will prey upon each other.

This dry food should then be supplemented with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables such as apple, orange, banana, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes or anything else juicy enough to provide water. If providing a regular source of fresh foods you do not need to provide any additional water. If however, you feed mainly dry foods you should include a small drinking dish filled with sponge or cotton wool to prevent drowning. If you want to be really fancy you can purchase water gel crystals which crickets can drink from. Dirty/mouldy feeding trays and drinking dishes are the leading cause for offensive odours so they should be cleaned regularly.

Temperatures:

Crickets prefer temperatures warmer than your average household room temperature so you should aim to maintain the temperature of their enclosure between 80-90°F (26-32°C). Crickets kept at the top end of this range mature much more rapidly than those kept at the lower end and as such often die much quicker too. If you are looking to keep a large number of crickets for as long as possible you should aim for the lower end of the scale 80F but if you are breeding and aiming to produce lots of crickets with different sizes you should aim for the slightly higher temps. If breeding, with separate containers, We recommend keeping temperature between 88-92°F for the first 3 weeks of development, then lowering to 80-92°F when 1/2 - 3/4 inches, before finally dropping temperatures to 75-85°F for the adult stage of their lives.

Humidity:

Humidity is a very important aspect of cricket keeping. They require humidity to ensure they shed and grow correctly, however excess humidity will quickly lead to mass die offs within the colony. Humidity levels within most homes is usually sufficient, however you should ensure that their enclosure is well ventilated to allow for constant air exchange. High humidity levels, even if only subjected to crickets for a short period, will cause permanent damage through humidity stress, and will often still kill off large numbers of crickets within the next day or two.