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Cricket Frequently Asked Questions:

1)  What size cricket should I feed to my pet?

2)  What is the lifespan of a cricket?

3)  Why are my crickets dying? Why do my crickets smell so bad?

4)  What should I feed to my crickets and how often?

5)  Where is all of that noise coming from?  How and why do crickets make noise? 

 1)  What size crickets should I choose to feed my pet?

Feeder cricket size should be determined based on the amount space between your lizards eyes.  This is true for nearly all amphibians and reptiles, not just Bearded Dragons.

Do not feed crickets that are too large, this may cause impactions and potentially death.

NOTE:  See Kricket's Kritters Bearded Dragon FAQ's for more information regarding this topic. 

2)  What is the lifespan of a cricket?

The lifespan of a cricket is 6-8 weeks.  Female crickets lay about 10 eggs per day for the last 10 days of her life, therefore producing approximately 100 eggs.  Hatchling crickets come out of the egg at approximately 1/8" and will grow to about 1" over the course of their lifespan.

3)  Why are my crickets dying?  Why do my crickets smell so bad?

(This is my #1 cricket question!)

Generally, cricket die-off occurs due to moisture or mold/bacteria issues.  

• If you crickets are dying on their backs with their legs twitching and are quite crunchy, or they are eating each other, then they are likely not receiving enough moisture. 
  

• If your crickets are dying and they are quite dark in color, and smell bad, you are probably providing too much moisture.

  • Too much moisture often makes the crickets smell, poor ventilation also causes odors to accumulate.

  • Try providing less food each time you feed them, or try using foods that aren't as moist, such as potatoes, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, and vegetable stems from dragon salads.

     

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4)  What should I feed to my crickets and how often? 

• Use a calcium-rich gut load dry food diet, as well as certified-organic carrots, potato, and sweet potato/yams, and stems from the dragon veggies or your family meals.
  • Note:  These particular vegetables mentioned provide moisture, but to not mold and decompose quickly.

• Crickets should be fed 1-2 times per week depending on how many crickets you are housing and how much and how fast they consume what you provide.
  
  • Do not feed more than can be consumed before the food dries out or goes bad as this can cause mold and bacterial contamination.  Allowing the foods to go bad can also lead to mites, maggots, ants, and other unwanted insects.
    
    • Make sure you do not feed any insects that have eaten moldy foods to your lizards, this could cause health issues in the lizard.

       

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 5)  Where is all of that noise coming from?  How and why do crickets make noise? 

• Female and male crickets begin to develop their wings around their 4th week of life or around 1/2" in length.

• Male crickets create their "songs" by rubbing their wings together.  Male crickets wings have a special "pocket" in their wings that resonates and chirps when the wings vibrate together.

• Female crickets do not sing.
• Male crickets make these songs in order to establish territory and to communicate with females and let them know of their location.
  

• Songs are abruptly stopped when a predator is present

• You may notice that many of the crickets will go silent when you open the lid or disturb the cricket bin.

• Crickets do not rub their legs together to make noise, this is a myth.

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