CRICKETS

Raising your own crickets is really quite simple as long as you get started the right way with good information. This is a step by step guide to starting your very first cricket colony.

STEP 1:  First you will need a large tote like the one in the picture below. You want to cut a hole in the lid as shown and hot glue a piece of screen like you have on your windows over the hole you cut out. This will provide air to your crickets and also prevent them from escaping. I got the one you see from the Dollar General store for $12.50.

STEP 2:  You need to install a light to help keep your crickets warm. I bought a basic light fixture and attached an extension cord to plug it into the wall. I hot glued the light kit onto the inside of the tote. You also want to place either some egg flats or the bottom half of egg cartons to give your crickets something to climb on and hide under.

STEP 3: Buy some of the small sandwich size plastic containers with lids. The containers will be filled with dirt. I bought a bag of potting soil, a bag of perilite, and a bag of peat moss and mixed the dirt so it is fluffy and doesn't clump together. The lids will be used in the next step.

STEP 4: Use the lids from the sandwich containers for food and water dishes. I use water crystals and wet sponges as you can see below. For food you want to use a variety of greens like collards, carrots, potato, and pretty much any other fruits and veggies your crickets like.

 

STEP 5: Finally, you are ready to add your crickets. You can obtain crickets from any local pet store or bait shop. I bought mine from the bait shop and started with 2 tubes which is about 200 crickets.  You can also order crickets online if you don't have somewhere local to get them. Make sure you have a mixture of male and female crickets. The males have two spikes sticking out of their bottoms. The females will have the same two spikes but also have a third dark colored tube sticking out the middle called an ovipositor. This is the tube the stick into the dirt to lay their eggs.

 Once your crickets are all set up, all you need to do is make sure they have plenty of food and water. I keep food and water in my cricket colonies at all times. I change out the veggies usually every day or every other day depending on how fast it starts to change colors.

The other thing you need to do to maintain your colony is remove your nest boxes about every week and a half to two weeks. The nests will need to be placed into a "Hatching" tote set up exactly the same as your breeding colony. Be sure to replace the nests with new ones so your crickets will continue to lay. Before you know it you will have baby crickets hatching every week.

Crickets prefer temperatures of around 80 to 90 degrees. We try to keep our around 85 degrees and they seem to be doing great. Keeping these steady temps ensures your crickets are producing at a good rate. They will survive at lower temps and will even breed but the yields of eggs hatched will be much lower.

And there you have it. It is really as simple as that. There are lots of websites with tons more information about raising crickets, and they all have their own opinions about things. This is just the easiest way we have found to do it so we thought we would share it with your.