How to Care for Crickets for Pet Frog Food

Most pet stores don't carry crickets that are small enough for small frogs like dart frogs. You may need to buy them on the Internet in larger quantities than you can use up quickly. Fortunately, they are simple to care for.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Large plastic box or small aquarium
• Shallow dish
• Sponge
• Cricket food
• Crickets

1. Order 1-2 week old crickets from a supplier.
2. Set up a box for the crickets. You can have a screen top if you like, but if the box is deep enough and the sides are too smooth for them to climb-- such as a ten gallon aquarium--you don't need a top.
3. When the crickets arrive, they will be packed with cardboard egg crating. Put both the crickets and the egg crating into the box--they need it to climb on.
4. Supply water--but be careful, as crickets drown easily. They can get enough moisture from pieces of produce added to the box regularly, or from a sponge kept moist.
5. Provide cricket food in a shallow dish. While you can keep crickets alive on almost anything, commercial cricket food is designed to make the crickets more nutritious for your frogs.
6. Keep the box in a spot that is warm and not drafty.

Tips & Warnings

• You can keep adult crickets alive for larger frogs in the same way, but crickets begin chirping when they mature, so place your box where the noise won't be disturbing.
• If it's cold when your crickets are delivered, they may appear to be dead, but they might not be. Let them warm up before throwing any out.
• The bin will need to be cleaned of cricket droppings every few days. Gently scrape the bottom of the cage with a spatula, old credit card, paint scraper, or similar tool, gathering all the debris into a pile. Wait till the crickets have climbed out of the pile and then scoop it out of the bin.
• Never feed more crickets than your frogs will consume at one time. Crickets can be annoying to frogs and can even damage their delicate skin.