Cricket Breeding Instructions

Breeding the common house cricket, or Acheta domestica, is a simple way to earn extra income or keep a steady supply of nutritious live food on hand for pet reptiles. Finding small crickets in local pet stores can be a challenge, so most reptile breeders or enthusiasts choose to keep a cricket breeding tank at home. It's also easy to control the nutritional value of the crickets you raise, and you avoid relying on local pet stores for your pet's food.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 10-gallon or larger clear plastic tubs with lids
  • 3 3-gallon or larger clear plastic tubs with lids
  • 10 or more adult crickets
  • 3 pint-sized plastic tubs
  • Jar lids and other shallow plastic dishes
  • Cardboard egg cartons
  • Various fruits
  • Commercial insect moisture gel
  • Reptile turf substrate
  • Cat food
  • Drill with a 1/16-inch drill bit
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a location for your cricket breeding containers. Crickets are very noisy, and can create an offensive odor if the containers are not cleaned regularly. They require warmth and light to breed, so don't place them in a drafty space or a dark closet.

    • 2

      Prepare the main breeding containers. Drill holes with the 1/16-inch drill bit in the lids of all of the containers. Place a few empty cardboard egg cartons in the 10-gallon containers, as well as a few empty jar lids.

    • 3

      Create the hatching container. Add several egg cartons and two jar lids to one of the smaller 3-gallon tubs. Fill one of the pint-sized plastic tubs with reptile substrate. Ian Hallett, in his guide to breeding crickets on Melissa Kaplan's Herp Care Collection website, explains that this material must be soft and light enough for the cricket to deposit its eggs in. Add water to the container until the substrate is completely and evenly wet.

    • 4

      Add at least 10 adult crickets to the breeding container. Chirping crickets are fully grown and ready to breed. Place a cube of insect moisture gel on one of the jar lids. If you do not want to use gel, a piece of fruit such as an orange will work, but it will need to be removed after a few days to avoid mold. Add some crushed cat food to another jar lid.

    • 5

      Place the substrate-filled pint tub into the breeding container. Any females ready to lay eggs will deposit them in the soil. Leave the container in the breeding tub for a week or so to give the male crickets time to fertilize the eggs as well. The experts at the ChamOwner's website say that cricket eggs look like small pieces of rice, and should be visible just under the soil.

    • 6

      Remove the egg-filled tub from the breeding container, and move it to one of the hatching containers. Keep the substrate routinely moist. Cricket eggs need moisture and temperatures around 75 degrees to hatch. Within a week crickets should begin to hatch. Place a piece of fruit or cube of gel in the container, and crush some cat food into fine powder for these small crickets to eat.

    • 7

      Allow the newly hatched crickets to mature to at least half the size of your fully grown crickets before adding them to the breeding container to avoid them being eaten. Your adult crickets will likely lay another batch of eggs while the first group is maturing. Use the second hatching container for this set of eggs.

    • 8

      Clean the hatching containers between batches of eggs, and change out the egg cartons as well. Use the second breeding container to transfer the adult crickets every two months or so, and thoroughly clean the used container. Discard uneaten cat food or fruit within three days to avoid mold that can harm the animal that will be eating the cricket.