Building The Cricket Farm
The Cricket Farm is compounded by a breeding container, a nesting container and a rearing container.
The breading container is where we will build a habitat for the crickets to live and breed. These are also the crickets you will use to feed your reptile or amphibian.
The nesting container is where the eggs will be laid.
The rearing container is where we will place the nesting container for the eggs to hatch, and where the crickets will stay until they can go into the breading container or are sold.
- Building the Breeding Container
You will need:
- 20 Gallon Rubbermaid tub with cover
- Aluminium mosquito screen
- Hot glue gun
- Egg flats
- Jar covers for food and water
One of the main reasons for crickets to die in farms is the lack of ventilation. The fist thing we will do is to provide the breeding container with plenty of air.
We first cut big holes on both ends of the Rubbermaid tub and on the cover. When you cut the side holes make sure to leave a 3 inch border at the top. This is so crickets don’t climb to the border and jump out when you open the container.
Then we cut a piece of aluminium mosquito screen for each hole. The screen pieces must be a bit bigger than the holes so that it can be glued. We then use the hot glue gun to fix the screens to the tub.
Check the image to see how the ventilation window should look like. (Ignore the interior of the container)
Once the ventilation is ready we will glue three or four egg flats together to make them easier to handle when needed. Leave the egg flats in the breeding container.
- Building the Nesting Container
You will need:
- Sandwich tub
- Some kind of substrate like Eco-Earth
- Something to make holes on the sandwich tub cover
The nesting container is easy to prepare, you just have to pack the substrate inside, leave about half an inch from the top of the soil to the rim of the container.
Drill holes into the sandwich tub cover.
- Building the Rearing Container
You will need:
- Medium sweater box
- Egg flats
- Something to make holes on the sweater box cover.
- Cello-tape or packing tape
- Jar covers for food and water
Drill holes on the sweater box cover, about 1 inch apart. The baby crickets should not be able to escape from the sweater box due to the slippery of the walls. But if you want to guarantee that this doesn’t happen, you can fasten a strip of wide cello-tape or packing tape around the entire inside rim of the container. This makes the wall even more slippery.
Glue some egg flats together.
