Housing for Live Crickets

Above: Start collecting old egg cartons to use as cricket housing.

It is important to provided plenty of housing for your crickets not only so that you can store more crickets but it also provides them with somewhere safe to hide from other crickets.. As mentioned earlier, crickets are usually solitary creatures when in the wild so when they are too crowded they can become aggressive, causing them to fight and even eat each other. Crickets also need somewhere to hide when they are molting as during this time they are at their most vulnerable. A cricket is unable to move until it has fully broken out of its exoskeleton and will try to remain in a secluded spot until its new exoskeleton has hardened.

Once you have decided what you are going to store your crickets in, it's time to add some housing. Using egg cartons is probably the easiest way to house large amounts of crickets so start saving them up when you have eaten all your eggs and ask family and friends to do the same as you will go through quite a few.

A single normal sized egg carton can comfortably hold about 125 large crickets so the more crickets you have, the more egg cartons you will need to use at once*.

Above: Wrong way to stack egg cartons as poo gets stuck

*DID YOU KNOW: In the wild crickets are usually solitary creatures so it is important not to over crowd them in your container or they will start to fight and even eat each other.

When you put your egg cartons in your container, stack them on their side (like in the picture below) so that any poo, excess food etc will fall to the bottom of your container making it easier to clean and preserving the egg cartons for as long as possible. If you stack your egg cartons flat and on top of each other cricket poo and excess food can build up and when combined with the moisture produced by the crickets body heat, it can make your egg cartons fall apart and your container difficult to clean. Toilet rolls or paper towel rolls can be a great alternative. No matter what you use the point is to make sure poo and food is able to easily fall to the bottom of your container and remain dry. You should also shake off your egg cartons each week and remove any that have too much poo/food build up or moisture as soon as possible.

Above: A taped container with egg cartons on their side.

Above: Egg Cartons stacked correctly after being cut in half

Summary:

• Egg cartons, toilet rolls or paper towel rolls are the best option for cricket housing.
• About 125 large crickets can comfortably fit on 1 egg carton, so the more crickets you have the more egg cartons you need.
• Stack egg cartons on their side to allow poo/food to fall to the bottom of your container.
• Shake off your egg cartons each week to remove any poo/food build up.
• Remove egg cartons that have become wet and/or are starting to fall apart.