Hobbies And Interests
Oviposition Dish
Put an egg-laying container in a 25-gallon glass aquarium, which allows light to enter. The oviposition (egg-laying) dish or container is a 12 to 15 cm dish that you fill with clean soil or sand or fine vermiculite. Keep the vermiculite moist but not soaking wet. The female crickets lay their eggs in vermiculite, but if it's soggy the eggs will drown. If it is dry the eggs will dry out. In approximately 10 days the egg-laying dish will be full of eggs. You can put more than one oviposition dish in the aquarium if you want to increase production of eggs.
Once Hatched ...
Once the cricket eggs are hatched you may wish to raise the young crickets, which are called nymphs, in a separate container. Adults can inhibit the growth of young crickets.
Water
Make sure that young crickets have easy access to water because they are apt to dry out if they don't keep hydrated. Put a test tube that is plugged with cotton and
filled with water into the aquarium and check it daily, clean it out and keep the cotton moist. You can also put some water into the oviposition dish.
Food
Feed the crickets cat chow (Purina is reportedly the best) or any kind of dry pet food. Purina also makes cricket chow. Place a few dry pieces in the bottom of the aquarium. The aquarium is humid, so the food will get moldy if it is not eaten quickly. Remove the old food and replace it with fresh food. You can also feed crickets lettuce, potatoes and apples.
Environment
Cover the top of the container so your crickets can't get out. Put some empty egg cartons into the aquarium so the crickets can hide, which they like to do. As crickets are growing and developing, temperature is critical. Their environs should be a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. You can use a 60-watt bulb to produce this temperature.