William F. Lyon
| Common Name | Scientific Name |
|---|---|
| Field Cricket | Gryllus spp. |
| House Cricket | Acheta domesticus (Linnaeus) |
Crickets make excellent fish bait during the hot weather of summer. Fishermen know the value of crickets as bait. Small fish called "pan fish" found in lakes, ponds and streams are often easily caught. Bass, pickerel and trout often feed on crickets when other lures fail to attract these fish. When baiting the hook, fasten the cricket to the hook with a small rubberband for best results.
Field cricket adults are dark brown, gray or black with a robust body about 3/4 to 1 inch long. House cricket adults are light yellow-brown or straw-colored and about 3/4 inch long.
Field crickets can be trapped alive by cutting a push-in type door in the end of a shoe box. Place the box in a grassy area at night baited with bread or raw vegetable slices. Crickets will enter the box and not get out. An unsliced bread loaf cut in half with the inside scooped out hollow is effective bait. Use string to tie the two halves together after making a 1-1/2 inch hole in one end. Place this loaf in the grass during the evening; the next morning, shake crickets into a jar or box.
House crickets can be obtained from someone with a colony, biological supply houses or fish bait dealers.
Use wide-mouth glass jars, plastic containers or five-gallon cans. Treat the smooth inner surface with mineral oil, vegetable shortening, vaseline, varnish and furniture polish or floor wax. Cover with wire screen or muslin. A simple wooden frame may be built and covered with ordinary window screening about three feet square and two feet high. Use galvanized sheet metal for the box bottom, extending eight inches up all four sides to prevent spiders and ants from entering the box. Crickets are natural food for spiders, ants, centipedes, lizards, etc.
Place four inches of clean, dust free, damp sand (good brick sand) in the cage bottom. Cover sand with six inches of coarse wood shavings to protect small crickets from being eaten by adults. Some use a small plastic container of moist sand placed on top of dry sand in the cage for an egg-laying site.
Begin with about a dozen pair of male and female crickets. Female crickets have an egg-laying tube extending from their rear end that is inserted in the soil for egg-laying. Many begin cultures in late spring as temperatures must be 80 to 90°F for breeding. Some people use artificial heat from a light bulb suspended in the breeding cage. Cover with cellotex to keep the heat in. Each female will lay between 50 to 100 eggs that hatch in about two to three weeks. (Be sure to keep the sand damp at all times with a fine mist garden hose nozzle.) Newly hatched young are the same size as the eggs, and blend in with their surroundings. Remove adult crickets to prevent young from being eaten (cannibalism). Also, it is normal for some adults to die naturally after mating. The remaining eggs will continue to hatch for 10 to 15 days.
Crickets are easy to raise. House crickets eat most edible foods such as stale bread, poultry mash, cornmeal, powdered dog food, etc. Slices of apple, banana or pieces of lettuce or cabbage are a treat. Place food in a shallow container, discarding unused portions for cleanliness and freedom from mold. A feeder can be any open vessel pressed into the sand. Dog food provides a simple, well-balanced diet sufficient in protein, and also poultry laying mash. A water supply is very important. Place cotton or similar material in the water container to keep small nymphs from drowning. (Cotton will "wick" water from a small bottle by capillary action.) Bury the bottle in the sand with the wick out to keep smaller crickets from falling in and drowning.)
Provide resting or hiding places using paper containers with punched holes, excelsior or folded corrugated cardboard. Crickets need warm temperatures of at least 80°F. Nymphs held at 80°F require up to 60 to 65 days to mature, while those held at 90°F require only 30 to 35 days to complete development. Purchase a cheap thermostat and heater such as used for small chick brooders. Keep the cricket container in subdued light since, in nature, crickets are most active at night. Artificial light is acceptable, but direct sunlight should be avoided.
All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.
Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.
TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868