What do crickets eat?

[Opcn]

Ive got some critters that I need to feed crickets. I would like to raise crickets or at least keep them alive for 2 weeks or so.

 

[leck85]

they can eat fish food, or potatoes.. if you're gonna keep a bunch, throw an egg carton in there for them to climb on, if they are all on the bottom, sometimes they will eat each other

 

[MasterDrummer]

and they smell really bad

 

[plecoperson]

i have two years experience of keeping the nasty little things on the college course I was doing.

make sure the box you keep them in escape proof - you dont want the little darlings escaping all over your house. and breedingand generally multiplying into their hundreds. put a wet paper towel or similar in there so they can suck the moisture off - crickets are very bad swimmers. we used to feed them chicken food ground up, but I suppose any pellets or something would do anything high in calcium- they need extra calcium if you are keeping them to feed reptiles as they dont generally have enough. in the UK we used to use something called "Cricket Diet Plus" you sprinkle it on the crickets just before you feed them to the critters and then they get their calcium that way. good luck, any more questions just ask!!!

p.s crickets do smell but if you put newspaper in and change it when it starts to smell or when you get new crickets it should help to negate that. also, do put the egg box in but you can put their food in that. remember, the food has to be ground up small enough so the crickets can get it in their nasty little mouths. sorry, crickets leave me cold, personally! but the reptiles were lovely. especially the bearded dragons. and leaopard geckos

 

[Ron]

I learned the hard way when I bought the crickets at the LFS and left them in the bag when I got home for about 15 minutes untill I could get around to get them situated. They chewed a hole therough the plastic bag and I had crickets all over the place!!

 

[MAM]

i haven't tried raising them, though Worm Man's site (do a search), has instructions for it i believe. i just order mine in bulk, keep them in a spare 10 gal tank with screen top. i keep cardboard egg crates in there to maximize space. i use lids from plastic containers to keep the "water" on, its similar to this: http/www.petsmart.com/global/product_det...D=1093630016639
as was stated, crickets can't swim, so even a shallow dish of water could drown some.

i also use the cricket food flukers makes, its looks like grain pretty much. that i put in shallow dishes. i coat them with calcium dust just prior to releasing them into my lizards' enclosure.