Cricket Care FAQ's

Mealworm Care Information

Superworm Care Information

Cricket Care Information

Many of the materials necessary to set up their food, water, and housing can be found in your recycling bin or can be requested from your neighbors, or a neighborhood restaurant.

Download a Kricket's Kritters Cricket Caresheet  (Click Here)

Food Source

Necessary Materials:

Small plastic lid / shallow container

"Wet" foods - Certified-Organic (See table below)

Calcium-rich gut load dry food diet

Potatoes

Apples

Squash

Zucchini

Carrots

Yams/Sweet Potatoes

Lettuce (any type)

Vegetable Stems (from dragon salad preparation)

• In order to ensure that the crickets are as nutritious as possible when they are consumed, their diets should include:

• The idea is to provide hard veggies that will not degrade before they are consumed.  Otherwise your job of cleaning will be more difficult and disgusting, odor will be worse.

Do not provide too much at one time to prevent molding.

Do not provide too many moist foods, crickets are sensitive to too much moisture.

NOTE:  If bacteria or mold gets into your insect supply, the insects should be quarantined and fed clean, bacteria and mold free foods for a couple of days before feeding them to your kritters. 

Insects exposed to significant contamination and all dead insects should be discarded.

Do Not feed unhealthy or dead insects to your pets.

You don't want to risk the health of your kritters due to contaminated food sources!

Calcium-rich gut load dry food diet.

• Do not provide too much at one time to prevent mold/bacteria contamination

Many pet supply companies make cricket gut loads which are widely available, however, they contain mostly non-organic ingredients and a lot of preservatives and unnecessary ingredients.

See the Cricket FAQ's for: "What should I feed to my crickets and how often?"

Water Source (Optional)

(Note:  Usually not needed when wet veggies are provided on a regular schedule)

Crickets can not swim, and can drown in even the smallest of droplets of water.  Therefore they must be given water via "wicking" and/or by providing sufficiently moist foods.

NOTE:  Kricket's Kritters does not recommend using cricket water bites and other water gel products as they contain preservatives, dyes, sugars, and other unnessary ingredients.

Necessary Materials:

Small plastic container with fitting lid

Filtered Water

Sponge (Clean/Untreated) 

NOTE: Watch out for sponges treated with Triclosan or that have the warning "Not for aquarium use." 

Triclosan is a harmful chemical used on nearly every sponge available.

Be aware of which sponges you use to do your household dishes too!

•  Cut a one inch (1") square hole in the lid of the container.
• Fill the container with filtered tap water.
• Cut a 1"x2" section of sponge.
• Insert the sponge into the hole in the lid so that 1/4 of the sponge is sticking out, and 3/4 of the sponge is in the water.
• Put the lid on the container.
  • The sponge will act as a wick and the crickets will drink the water off of the sponge.
    • Make sure you keep the sponge clean by rinsing it out every couple of days, it can be re-used and re-used as long as you keep it clean.

Housing

Crickets need a dark, dry, clean environment to survive sucessfully in captivity. 

Crickets are hardy insects that are easy to gutload and therefore can be quite nutritious for your pet reptiles and amphibians, as long as they are given a well balanced calcium rich diet.

Crickets are sensitive to overcrowding, stress, temperature, moisture, bacteria, mold, and chemicals. 

Necessary Materials:

Large plastic/rubber bin with lid

Egg Crates/Flats

• Place clean dry egg crates in the bin.
  • The egg crates create surface area for the the crickets to live on.
  • Provide enough egg crates in a large enough bin to allow the crickets to live without being overcrowded.
    • Cricket overcrowding leads to stress, stress can lead to cricket deaths.
      
    • Do not build more than halfway up the height of the bin; this limits the amount of escapes when the lid is removed.
• Scatter the chopped up "wet" foods throughout the bin.
  • Do not provide too much wet food, you want it to be consumed before it goes bad.
    
• Place the water container in the bin, if you're using one.
  • Ensure that the container is well balanced
  • Ensure that the egg crates are not touching the sponge.

    • Note:  If the egg crates get wet, the crickets will eat them.
      

• Place the gut load - dry food lid in the bin.
  • Ensure that the lid is well balanced to prevent spillage.
• Add a few small sections of egg crate near the top of the bin, in order to collect the crickets and feed them to your kritters.
  • Remember to ensure the egg crates are not touching the sponge.
• Dump the crickets into the bin.
• Place the lid on the bin.  (Note:  You'll probably need to provide ventilation through the lid.
  • Cut a large hole in the lid, and hot glue wire window/door screen to the lid.
    • This will prevent escapes of all but the tiniest of crickets.
    • Do not use vinyl door/window screen.  Crickets can chew through it!
• Keep bin at room temperature (65*F-75*F)
  • Crickets are sensitive to extreme cold and heat, keeping them at a moderate temperature works best.
    

Maintenance

• The cricket bin should be cleaned about one time per week or as needed.
• This includes removing all carcasses, old food and waste, as well as cleaning of the bin, lid, food, and water dishes.
• Vinegar and baking soda mixed make a great cleaner and it's safe for the environment.
  • Do not use bleach or other cleansers.

The bin should be set back up according to the instructions above, and water and all food sources should be replenished as needed.

This schedule keeps crickets healthy, die-off numbers low, limits bacteria and mold, and also helps with odors.

Remember:

• Crickets need a dark, dry, clean environment to survive successfully in captivity. 

• Crickets are hardy insects that are easy to gutload and therefore can be quite nutritious for your pet reptiles and amphibians, as long as they are given a well balanced calcium rich diet. 

• Crickets are sensitive to overcrowding, stress, temperature, moisture, bacteria, mold, and chemicals.

If you're having trouble with your crickets, check out the Cricket Care FAQ's!

Cricket Care FAQ's

Mealworm Care Information

Superworm Care Information