Do you have a snake or a house spider and are tired of constantly going to the pet store to get the insects you feed it with? If you are an enterprising person, you may be interested in learning how to raise your own colony of crickets in order to have a large number of them available; all at no cost and without leaving home!
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Preparations
Step 1. Purchase large containers or jerry cans
You will need these containers to house your crickets. Better to have two containers available: one to reproduce the adult specimens, the other to make the young ones mature. Decide how many crickets you want to buy and buy a suitable sized bowl.
- You will need to make sure that you have a container large enough to house your colony. A fairly common mistake made by beginners in the industry is to buy vessels that are too small. When crickets are forced to breed in a confined space, they begin to devour each other for competition reasons. Not exactly our goal, is it? Make sure you have a large enough container available!
- Purchase a clear container with a lid. Tall, smooth-edged pans are the best choice. A 50 liter container can house a colony of over 500 crickets!
Step 2. Make the crickets breathe
Cut out one or two holes of 15 cm in diameter on the lid and cover them with a mosquito net. Use hot glue to secure the mesh. If you want more control over the internal heat of the bowl, you can drill multiple holes of various sizes.
Step 3. Sprinkle the bottom of the container with vermiculite
Spread a 2.5-7.5cm layer of vermiculite on the bottom of the bowl. This will give the crickets a bottom to walk on and will help keep the humidity inside the container constant, preventing the formation of bacteria and bad odors. The fund must be changed every 1-6 months, especially in the presence of very populous colonies.
Step 4. Place a smaller plastic container inside the container and fill it with moist soil
Females will use it to lay eggs. Position it so that the edges are almost level with the vermiculite layer, so that insects can access it comfortably. Make sure the soil is free from fertilizers and pesticides.
To prevent crickets from digging into the soil or eating the eggs, you can place a net over the smaller container. The females will still be able to lay eggs by means of their ovipositor
Step 5. Purchase at least 50 crickets
Make sure you have enough crickets available to feed your pet, and set aside 30-50 for them to breed. The numerical ratio between males and females must be balanced but it is always preferable to have more females than males within the colony.
- Females have three long backside extrusions, the main of which (the ovipositor) is used to lay eggs in the soil. Furthermore, female specimens have fully developed wings.
- Males have two backside extrusions. They have shorter wings, less developed than those of females, which they use to emit the characteristic nocturnal call.
Part 2 of 3: Making the Crickets Play
Step 1. Put your colony together and feed it
Place all the crickets in a single container and place a flat saucer filled with cricket food or a substitute inside the container (shredded cat food is especially good).
- You can feed the colony with fruit, potato slices, vegetables, and any vegetables that can supplement their diet. Remove leftover food before it spoils and starts to rot.
- More extravagant choices can include: tropical fish food, farmed fish pellets, rabbit feed (alfalfa pellets) and, more generally, any food with high protein content.
- Alternate different foods to provide your crickets with a balanced diet. Insect health will only affect that of your pet. Alternate dry foods with fruits and vegetables, especially lettuce. This will make your crickets the ideal snack for the house snake or spider.
Step 2. Give your crickets the right amount of water
Crickets need a constant supply of water to stay healthy. Here are some ways to keep your cologne properly hydrated:
- Place an upside down reptile dispenser in the bowl with a sponge tucked into the tank. The sponge should prevent any liquid leaks.
- Cut out a roll of construction paper (like those of toilet paper) and unfold it to get a rectangle. Line the rectangle in absorbent paper (a paper towel may work), soak it in water and hang it in a corner of the bowl.
- A saucer of jellied water (also sold as a substitute for organic fertilizer, as in the case of polyacrylamide gel) or tasteless jelly placed in a corner of the container.
Step 3. Keep your crickets warm
Crickets need a warm environment to reproduce and incubate their eggs. The heat inside the vessel can be provided by a reptile heater, a heat pad or an electric light bulb. Placing one of these heat sources in a closet will provide your crickets with the heat they need to perform their reproductive functions.
For crickets to mate, they need a temperature ranging from 13 to 37 ° C (the ideal one is from 26 to 32 ° C)
Step 4. Give your crickets time to breed
If crickets are healthy, they should breed in abundance. Give them two weeks to mate and lay their eggs in the potting soil. Females lay their eggs underground at a depth of about 2 cm. After a couple of weeks, the topsoil will be filled with tiny oblong eggs. Take the soil and place it in a container for the incubation of the eggs.
Keep the soil moist. The eggs tend to dry out and it is therefore necessary to periodically humidify the soil by spraying it with filtered water. For this purpose, use a bottle equipped with a vaporizer
Part 3 of 3: Finishing the Playback Process
Step 1. Keep the eggs incubating
Eggs need heat to hatch. Place the saucer in a larger container with an airtight seal and place it in a heated area where the temperature reaches 30-32 degrees Celsius. After a couple of weeks or so (or longer, depending on the temperature), the eggs will begin to hatch and a flood of tiny crickets, the size of a pinhead, will begin to emerge from the soil over the next two weeks.
Step 2. Pick up the small crickets and place them in a new container
The container will need to be stocked with food and water, so that the young grow strong and healthy before being placed in the adult container.
- Remember to periodically moisten the bottom of the third container so that the little crickets have enough water available.
- Consider placing the third container on top of a heat pad set at a temperature of 30-32 ° C.
Step 3. Repeat the process
By following the above steps all over, your colony will reproduce quickly, spawning enough specimens to feed not only your pets, but your friends as well. In time, you will become a true cricket breeder! If some die, consider the following:
- Lack of space. Crickets need a lot of space to breed. If your colony becomes too populous, the stronger specimens will start devouring the weaker ones to eliminate possible competitors within their habitat.
- Shortage or excess of water. Crickets need more water than you might think. Moistening the bottom of the container and refilling the water tank every two days is of fundamental importance. At the same time, avoid "drowning" your insects: a regular water change is more than enough.
- Insufficient heat. Crickets need heat to breed. The optimum temperature is 30-32 ° C.
Advice
- Sponge strips commonly used for door sealing can be used to seal container lids so that the crickets do not escape.
- Change the cotton inside the water container every two weeks to prevent it from becoming dirty; this will prevent the formation of bacteria.
- Remove dead crickets. Better to avoid that crickets devour the corpses of their own kind: this could favor the spread of bacteria and infect the entire colony.
- Learn about the habits of crickets and their diet: it will help you to raise them in the best possible way.
- Lining the inside of the container with clear tape will make it more difficult for your crickets to climb walls, thereby reducing escape attempts.
- If you are momentarily short of food and water for your crickets, you can give them a slice of potato.
- Every six months, you should purchase new crickets to renew the reproductive process. This will avoid inbreeding problems and will allow you to change the vermiculite layer at the bottom of the container.
Warnings
- Watch out for organisms that could harm your colony (molds, mites, flies, bacteria, etc.) and take the right precautions to get rid of them.
- Males make a lot of noise when they are in love. Place the colony in an area of the house that is not within earshot!
- There is the possibility that some crickets manage to escape. If the idea of having free runaways around the house doesn't appeal to you, set traps.
- Keep the humidity level low. Keep the humidity inside the container low: this will reduce the mortality of crickets and prevent the spread of mold, mites and flies.
- Use a soil free of fertilizers and pesticides: this will avoid cases of intoxication.
- 50 adult specimens are expected to guarantee more than 2000 new births in their lifetime. At some point you may no longer know where to put your crickets!
- Newborn crickets do not exceed the size of a grain of sand; they shouldn't be able to climb up the walls of the container, but be careful they don't escape.
