Collecting and Raising Crickets

Hello, I'm curious to know if there’s an appropriate method to collect crickets. I live near water and among rocks at the waters edge are many individuals. There seems to be two species but I could be mistaken; I know little about insects. I plan to use the crickets as food for aquarium fish and bait for panfish. I've also considered setting up a rubbermaid container to raise the crickets and harvest 'pinheads' to feed smaller fish. I researched a bit and found the breeding set-up to be more complicated then expected. Does anyone have experience collecting or raising crickets? Is there a simple rearing process which one can follow. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

When I was into the herp hobby i went thru 1000 crickets every 2 weeks, I began raising my own due to the cost. My recommendation is to get some egg crates, not the foam kind, buy 50 or so large crickets at the local pet store, put them into a rubbermaid or other suitable secure container and wait. Thy are easy to breed. I dont know about humidity levels but mine where very low, I usually misted the containers on a daily basis. Feed them various fruits and veggies and you will have baby crickets in no time. I would recommend removing the larger ones to another container as mine seemed to be cannabilistic. I would not other trying to catch them from the wild as they could be contaminated with ferts,pesticides, etc. Also if you keep them in the house be prepared to deal with chirping and there are always going to be some escapees. You will still have alot of fatalities but each female can produce alot of eggs.

I think if you go to FLUKER's website they may have info on breeding. They are who i purchased my crickets from. http://www.flukerfarms.com/

Edited by brian1973, 10 August 2008 - 01:02 AM.

I forgot about substrate in my previous reply...I have used both sand and topsoil/forest mix..i didnt use any special lighting or heating..the room temp varied from mid 80's in winter to 90's in summer.

Edited by brian1973, 10 August 2008 - 12:13 PM.

Crickets can be collected by placing a shallow dish with pieces of apple under a board laying on the ground near grassy areas. Scoop out a little hole for the dish so the top edge is even with ground level. Lift the board in early morning when temps are cool and the torpid crickets are easily collected from the dish. This is labor intensive and low yield.
Far better is raising your own. I never found it complicated at all/ I just kept them in a 20 gallon aquarium with about four inches of clean sand. Keep them warm, clean and well fed and they breed very well.
Having said that, I ultimately decided neither method was worth the effort and switched to ordering online by the 1000. Very economical and easy. A fish tank with close fitting cover and small heat lamp is all the equipment needed. Give them grain or commercial foods and pieces of apple for moisture. 1000 would last me weeks with a medium sized collection of lizards and frogs.
The one problem I never overcame was the noise of the males when the weather was warm. That plus the escapees which found their way upstairs into the house. Wife is not a big fan of large noisy insect running wild in the living room.

The crickets that are raised for bait and feeders are house crickets- Acheta domestica; wild crickets, such as the big dark field crickets (Gryllus species) only breed seasonally and don't do well in a home setup.

You might also consider roaches- they're a bit less smelly than crickets and are silent. There are some tropical species available that cannot survive long-term at temps below 80 degrees, so they are very unlikely to become pests if they escape. Their care is pretty much like that of crickets, but you'll need a heat source to maintain the proper temperature.

Use house crickets!

Although fish seem to relish the field crickets better

The crickets that are raised for bait and feeders are house crickets- Acheta domestica; wild crickets, such as the big dark field crickets (Gryllus species) only breed seasonally and don't do well in a home setup.

You might also consider roaches- they're a bit less smelly than crickets and are silent. There are some tropical species available that cannot survive long-term at temps below 80 degrees, so they are very unlikely to become pests if they escape. Their care is pretty much like that of crickets, but you'll need a heat source to maintain the proper temperature.

I believe they are actually an african species that has become established worldwide..here is a link to caring and raising them.
http://aqualandpetsp...d, Crickets.htm

also before using any cricket as food you should gut load it to provide maximum nutrition for whatever your feeding

Brain, Mike, Nathan and Gambusia- Thanks for taking the time to share information. Also, thanks for the links.

Crickets can be collected by placing a shallow dish with pieces of apple under a board laying on the ground near grassy areas. Scoop out a little hole for the dish so the top edge is even with ground level. Lift the board in early morning when temps are cool and the torpid crickets are easily collected from the dish. This is labor intensive and low yield.

Hey Mike, I'll definitely have to give that a try. A few dozen would be all I need to capture panfish for the frying pan or to treat fish which are kept in aquariums.

The crickets that are raised for bait and feeders are house crickets- Acheta domestica; wild crickets, such as the big dark field crickets (Gryllus species) only breed seasonally and don't do well in a home setup.

I figured there would be a reason not to use Gryllus but rather domesticated species. Though it seems the species near the water are a mix of both. Is this possible?

also before using any cricket as food you should gut load it to provide maximum nutrition for whatever your feeding

Yes, this was the reason why I thought to start feeding them to my fish. I figured a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, and grains would provide more nutrition than other live foods available.

It's quite possible that you have a house cricket population. Put up some photos of your crickets and I should be able to tell you if they're Acheta or not.

I used to collect and keep crickets for my geko. I just caught them with my hands or a small net. To keep then just use a rubbermaid container with some peices of egg carton in them. Put in a few baby carrots for food. The carrots and egg carton should be changed every week or so. Hope that heklps you out.

We have the black field crickets and tan camel crickets. The black ones are everywhere, but the camel crickets are very shy. I see the brown/black pinheads for the field crickets about Jun 1 here in Michigan (zone 5). They will eventually lose their brown thorax and become all black.

Raising crickets is easy. Take a plastic garbage container, about 3g in size, fill with 4-5 inches of beach sand. Place ripped cardboard or sawdust in there and make it damp but not wet. Crickets eat cellulose, which explains why I have so many in my garage which has lots of sawdust. Keep the material damp but not wet, that's also where they get their water.

The males will chirp, then the females will eventually lay eggs in the sand. Crickets will hatch a few weeks later.

Edited by bulrush, 07 July 2010 - 12:13 PM.

I have a care sheet on raising crickets. Anybody who wants it should PM me with your email addy.