Caring for Field Crickets

Hi!



Field crickets are very common food for all those creatures you might like to catch in your backyard. They are easy to care for and are often very nutritious for them. If your creature (salamanders, toads, frogs, and even mice and voles!) likes these insects, you will find that keeping them is very handy. First, you will need a container with a secure lid, such as one of those plastic cages used for keeping small creatures, or a fish tank, depending on how many you want to keep. Another good cage idea is this. Take a 5 gallon bucket and also some packing tape (packing tape is the only tape that works because it is wide and smooth) and place the tape in a circle around the top or the bucket, about an inch down. The tape is so smooth that the crickets are unable to climb out of it. Or you can take a five gallon bucket and cut a piece of netting and put it over the top and secure it with either a big rubber band or a stretchy headband. But don't expect to use the head band again since it stretches it out. The bottom should be sand, dirt, or oatmeal. I would use sand because oatmeal ruins quickly and they need some sand, so even if you had dirt, or oatmeal, you would need to put some sand in bottle caps. One advantage of oatmeal is that they can eat it, but it isn't the most nutritious thing for them. Also you can use grass piled up, they love hiding in it. Experiment to see what works best for you! Put in a bottle cap and then fill with water for drinking. Also you need food, they will eat almost anything. Tomatoes, apples, soggy dog or cat food, and hings that are softer are their favorite. Remember to feed them good stuff, because this is what your creature with be eating. Put in either toilet paper tubes or a cut up egg carton for hiding, and then you can use it to shake the crickets in your creatures cage. As for catching them, you can either use a net, your hands, or the like. I find that my hands are the easiest. Find them near fields or grassy areas, also all over yards and in mulch, pretty much anywhere! Walk your normal speed looking at the ground and if you see something move, it is probably a cricket. Remember to catch field rickets, these are the usually smaller black ones that make the chirping sound you hear. I usually make sure to have at least 20 crickets, although you may want more if you have the time to catch them. Another way to get them is to buy them at a pet shop, or at an online pet store. These are usually a lot more expensive in the long run, though.

Have fun cricket catching!!

A Girl