How to Make Crickets Live Longer Than 3 Weeks

Common house crickets are perhaps one of the most widely used and readily available food sources for pet reptiles and amphibians. Though the house cricket has an average life span of six to eight weeks (about three weeks of which remain when purchased as adults from chain retailers), when well-kept and properly fed, some members of the species have been known to live several months or more. The best way to ensure a fresh and lasting food source for your pets is to breed the crickets at home, and provide optimal care and nutrition.

Things You'll Need

  • Small aquarium/terrarium
  • Cricket chow or dog food
  • Terrarium heater
  • Thermometer
  • Newspaper
  • Egg crate
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up a housing and breeding cage by lining a small aquarium with several layers of old newspaper. Provide plenty of hiding places in the way of egg crate, paper towel rolls or wadded newspaper.

    • 2

      Maintain a steady temperature in the cricket enclosure; like most invertebrates, crickets' lifespans are directly affected by the temperature at which they are kept. Higher temperatures, around 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, are preferred, but cricket life spans can be almost doubled by dropping the temperature to 75 degrees.

    • 3

      Place breeding areas in the cage by filling a petri dish or small plate with moist coco fiber or ground peat. Female crickets look for damp places to lay their eggs, and providing easily removable locations such as these will allow you the option of removing eggs to separate growing cages for multiple life stages of crickets.

    • 4

      Provide your crickets with optimum nutrition in the form of a high-protein commercial cricket chow, or ground pieces of dog or cat food.

    • 5

      Supplement this base diet daily or every other day with an assortment of fresh fruits, vegetables or canned pet food. Good fruits and veggies include apples, carrots, spinach, bananas, oranges and almost any other vegetable scraps you may have on hand. Remove uneaten fresh foods daily to prevent spoiling and bacterial growth.

    • 6

      Provide clean, fresh water every day in the form of a few wet cotton balls or commercial "cricket water," which is a mineral-loaded gel formula for crickets.

    • 7

      Clean the cricket enclosure at least once per week to remove droppings, shed skins and dead crickets.