How to Make a Cricket Colony Without a Heater

Many popular pets, such as spiders and snakes, eat small insects, such as crickets. Many of these pets refuse to eat dead crickets, forcing you to purchase new crickets on a regular basis. If you want to avoid the cost and annoyance of visiting the pet store on a weekly basis, create your own cricket colony. Though you can make a colony without a traditional heater, your crickets will need some source of warmth, whether it is a sunny window, a lightbulb or a heating pad.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 14-gallon plastic containers
  • Ruler
  • Knife
  • Thin mesh
  • Scissors
  • Hot glue or superglue
  • Vermiculite
  • 2 small plastic containers
  • Damp soil
  • 2 inverted water bottles
  • Sponge
  • Cricket food
  • 2 small dishes
  • Lightbulb or heating pad
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Instructions

  1. Build a Box

    • 1

      Place the lid of one 14-gallon container on a table. Cut two holes in the lid of this container. Each hole should be 6 inches long by 2 inches wide.

    • 2

      Glue thin mesh grating to the lid. Cut the grating to the exact size of the lid using scissors and glue it to the lid using a hot-glue gun or superglue.

    • 3

      Pour about 2 cups of vermiculite, a special soil, into the container. The vermiculite should be about 2 inches thick.

    • 4

      Remove the lid from the small plastic container. Pour damp soil into the small plastic container. Push this container into the vermiculite, so that it about 1 inch of it is exposed. This damp soil provides a place for crickets to lay their eggs.

    • 5

      Place an inverted water bottle in your container. Use an inverted water bottle designed for reptile or hamster cages. Place a sponge in the reservoir of the water bottle. This helps control the flow of water and prevents flooding.

    • 6

      Place a dish of cricket food in the container. Place this dish away from the damp soil. Change the cricket food and water every few days.

    • 7

      Create a second container, container 2, for maturing the cricket offspring. Use the same process, except this container does not need a small container of damp soil.

    Assemble the Colony

    • 8

      Insert about 50 crickets into container 1.

    • 9

      Heat your crickets using any available source. Place a lamp with a 100-watt bulb next to the cricket container, place the container next to a sunny window, or place a heating pad on top of the container.

    • 10

      Allow your crickets to breed for about 14 days. Change the crickets' food and water every few days.

    • 11

      Remove the container with damp soil and replace it with a new small container with damp soil.

    • 12

      Place the original container with damp soil in container 2. Heat container 2 using a lightbulb, sunny window or heating lamp. Incubate this container for 2 to 4 weeks. The lower the temperature of the heat source, the longer the incubation of the cricket eggs.