# Breeding and Raising Crickets for Beginners



## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Well, I'm a beginner, and I think the time has come to breed me some crickets, so I figured I'd post my method and some pictures for anyone else who is interested.

Before we get started, I highly recommend breeding mealworms or dubia roaches instead of crickets because:
-Mealies and roaches don't smell much
-They don't make a ton of noise
-They're overall "easier" to maintain

If for whatever reason you don't want (or already have) mealworms or roaches, crickets are next in line. That being said, crickets are noisy, smelly, messy escape artists. Expect a few strays no matter how securely you have them contained, and be willing to listen to the song of their people all night every night if you keep them anywhere near you.

That being said, crickets are an excellent source of calcium, omega-3s, protein, and fiber for humans, let alone for hedgehogs. Lucky for us, our hedgehogs seem to enjoy the taste of them a lot more than we do. I also keep dart frogs, and can't keep a fruit fly culture alive for the life of me, which is why I've chosen crickets as my feeder insect. Also keep in mind that a variety of insects are good for hedgehogs, so you may still want to buy another type or two of bugs to go along with the crickets. I will still be buying mealworms, snails, and waxworms.

A basic outline of the technique I plan to use can be found here: Breeding and Raising the House Cricket at Anapsid.org. This seems to be the most common and most successful method. However, I will be making a few modifications so I'll provide a complete rundown of everything here for simplicity.

*Supplies:*
-Two large plastic bins (50 gallon) with tight fitting plastic lids
-Two smaller plastic bins (6 gallon) with tight fitting plastic lids
-Several tupperware containers, small to medium size
-Textured cardboard (ie egg crate. I'm using take-out drink holders)
-Several jar lids for food
-Poultry waterer
-Drill with 1/16 drill bit.
-Sterile soil with no added fertilizer (ie reptile or amphibian branded soils)
-A heat source (heat pad, CHE, etc)

-Decent quality dry cat food
-Powdered calcium supplement for reptiles
-Fruits and vegetables (table scraps, peels, leftover salad, old fruit)

-200-400 Crickets of various ages

*Step 1: Prepare Lids*

Drill small holes all over the lids of your 50 gallon and 6 gallon tubs. I prefer to drill with the bottom/inside of the lid facing up, so if any sharp plastic edges get stuck they're on the outside of the bin and not the inside. Drill about every 2". If you find humidity building up inside your bins during use, add more holes. The small drill bit size should help prevent escapees.

*Step 2: Prepare the Main Bin*

It's easiest to use no substrate in your main cricket bin. That way when they want to lay eggs they'll do so in your soil bin instead of everywhere. So. Add your cardboard to 3/4 of the bin, positioned so that there are open hiding spaces all over the cardboard. In the remaining 1/4 of the bin, place your poultry waterer, along with one of the tupperware containers. You can add pebbles, sponges, cotton, quilt batting, all sorts of things to the bottom of the waterer to decrease the depth of the water so that the crickets don't drown. I'll be adding a bit of left over aquarium gravel. You can also scrap the waterer altogether and buy the cricket gel from most pet stores, and it works exactly the same way but takes up less space. This will have to be replaced as it dries out. In the food bin, add a cup of cat food and a tablespoon of calcium. Shake gently to mix. There is no need to add fruit or veggies to this unless you plan to feed these crickets directly to your hedgehog. Fill another tupperware container with soil about 2.5 inches deep, and don't pack it down. Moisten this so it is wet but not dripping or badly clumping. Check this often and moisten again as needed. I'll be using a spray bottle to distribute the water evenly. I'm positioning my egg tub on top of the cardboard, but you can place it anywhere as long as it stays warm.

*Step 3: Add Crickets*

Dump your pet store crickets into the main bin. I'll be using 200 4 week crickets and 100 2 week crickets. The variance in age should provide a consistent supply of eggs.

*Step 4: Wait*

Monitor your food and water levels, along with the moisture and contents of your soil container regularly.

*Step 5: Eggs!*

At the 4-7 day mark, remove your egg tub and replace it with a fresh one. Take your filled tub out of the bin, put the lid on, and place it near your heat source. Crickets like 80-90 degrees F. When the eggs start hatching, loosen the lid and shift it so there's a small space for the baby crickets to escape, and place this inside one of the 6 gallon bins.

*Step 6: Caring for Babies*

In this 6 gallon bin, add a jar lid full of the cat food/calcium mix, and supplement regularly with fruit and veggies. Once these babies are half an inch or more, they can be fed to your hedgehog. Remember to add 60 or so young crickets back into your main bin to keep your breeding colony active. Feel free to throw these into the freezer for a less hoppy hedgehog treat.

*Step 7: Repeat!*

Using your other small bin and excess tupperware containers you can keep raising crickets until you have so many you don't know what to do with them!

*Cleaning:*

To reduce the mess and smell, occasionally set the other 50 gallon tub up the same way as the original one, shake the cardboard vigorously over the new tub to transfer all of your crickets, and clean the original tub out. Also clean the 6 gallon bins between use. This will hopefully keep the smell to a minimum. If you find it unbearable, try switching bins more often. I also highly recommend doing this step outside, as crickets never go where you want them to.

My next post will be step by step pictures of this build, and I'll add new pictures as I get eggs and baby crickets to provide a visual guide to these instructions. I learn better with pictures and I'm sure I'm not alone :lol:.

References:

Hedgehog Central's Guide to Insects

Lydia Attard's Guelph Paper on Feeding Crickets

8 Health Benefits of Crickets for Humans

Breeding and Raising the House Cricket


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Supplies (Ignore the parrot food :lol:









Lids:









Basic Set Up:









Set Up With Breeding Box:









The Crickets!









And A Side View:









Once I get eggs (hopefully in 4-7 days!) I'll add pictures of that while I move it, and then I'll take a shot of the babies when they hatch.


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

It's Day 4! I've removed the egg tub, which looks like this now:









And set it right under the heat to incubate. I should have lots of teeny crickets soon!


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Well, the eggs hatched. Into about 90 pinhead crickets! It was so full that I couldn't get a picture without having babies all over the room. I fed them once and dumped them in with the fruit flies, who ate almost all of them. So this method definitely works!

The smell is pretty bad, but only when I open the lid. Otherwise there's no odor at all. And the chirping is insane. I can hear them at the complete other end of the house. But everyone here kind of enjoys the chirping so it's not a problem at all. The parrot has started mimicking it.

So if anyone wants a cricket farm, give this method a try!


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Here's a picture of the babies at 4 days old. They're between 2 and 4 millimeters long. The farm is still thriving!


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