Cricket Care
Crickets begin their life as eggs, hatch into nymphs then grow into adults in about 6 weeks. When the nymphs grow too large for their exoskeletons they will molt a series of 5 times. After the final molt, the wings are released and the male can then "chirp". Crickets chirp by rubbing their two upper wings together, but only the male has the special rough vein on its wing that makes the sound louder when the other wing is rubbed against it.
Male crickets will grow to approximately 1 inch long and females can grow even larger.
Crickets Home
Your crickets home container should reflect the size of colony you plan on having. Smaller colonies can be housed in small container such as wide-mouth jars, ice cream pails (4 lit plastic), but do not over crowd. Over crowding can be a major cause of death in your colony. Each cricket needs to have it own surface to lay on instead of another cricket. For larger colonies glass aquariums, large garbage cans, 5 gallon bucket or large plastic tote that can be bought at any Wal-Mart or comparative product distributor.
You can cover your cricket home with aluminum screen only. The soft screen used in most windows is made of fiberglass and would not be adequate for this use, the crickets are capable of chewing through this type of screen.
Crickets Home Decor
No bedding is recommended for your crickets home, however they do need places to hide. Place some paper egg crate dividers, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls or similar material into the container.
Food and Water
Feeding crickets incorrectly can have a direct effect on your animal health. The nutrition from the crickets will be passed on to your reptiles or amphibians making it extremely important to keep them healthy.
Crickets require a high protein diet to keep them healthy. Without an adequate diet, they will prey upon each other. Crickets eat most edible foods such as stale bread, cornmeal, tropical fish flakes, pond fish pellets, rabbit chow and many other similar foods. Supplement the dry food with raw vegetable or fruit scraps and greens vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce of leafs from vegetables.
Your crickets food should be placed in a small, shallow plastic container. Discard any uneaten food on a regular basis, this will help promote cleanliness, no mold growth and eliminating offensive odors.
To water your cricket place a piece of moisten sponge in a shallow dish. No standing water should be present in your waterer, small crickets can easily drown in the smallest amount of water. Be sure to clean the waterer and wash or replace the sponges at least twice a week. This will help in eliminating offensive odors in your cricket's house.
Crickets like to be kept clean and dry. Proper care of your cricket will directly reflect there health. You should scrape or sweep your container at least once a week. This will also help in reducing odors.
Temperature
Cricket prefer 26-32 degrees C ( 80-90 degrees F), they do however seem to live longer at somewhat lower temperatures - but no lower then room temperature. The smaller cricket, require warmer temperatures.
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Pinheads do best at 31-33 degrees Celsius ( 88-92 degrees F).
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1/2 to 3/4 inch doing best at 26-33 degrees Celsius (80-92 degrees F).
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Adults at 23-29 degrees Celsius (75-85 degrees F).
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Cricket nymphs (smaller than pinheads) held at 28 degrees Celsius (80 degrees F). require up to 60-65 days to mature, while those kept at 90 degrees F. require only 30-35 days to complete development.
Other Cricket Uses
Crickets make an excellent food for many small birds such as finches, hummingbirds and warblers, freshly killed are recommended. Place the crickets into the freezer and they will slowly cool down, their metabolism will lower until they are asleep and they will then die from the cold.
Caution!
Crickets are very susceptible to insecticides so you should avoid any type of insecticides such as sprays, "no-pest strips" or anything that might give off fumes - even if not in the same room. Crickets found dead on their back have most likely been poisoned.
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