How to Raise Crickets for Frog Food

If you're lucky enough to get your pet frogs to breed, you're going to need very tiny food for the new offspring. One of the best kinds of food is just hatched crickets, called pinheads. If you've got the space to keep a decent number of adult crickets, try breeding them yourself.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Adult crickets
• Cricket food
• Plastic bins or fish tanks
• Wire lid for adult cricket tank
• Soil or vermiculite
• Heating pads or strips
• Plastic containers with lids

1. Order adult crickets from a supplier or buy them at a pet store. Get the largest number you have room to house in a fish tank or plastic bin without overcrowding.
2. Set up a bin with a wire lid for the adult crickets. The crickets need to be kept at a temperature of 80-85 degrees F. If the spot you're keeping them is not warm enough, use an under-cage heating strip or mat that's sold for pet reptiles.
3. When the crickets arrive, empty them into your bin or tank. Keep the cardboard egg crating that they are packed with--they need it to have room to climb.
4. Feed the crickets powdered cricket food in a shallow dish. They also need water, but they drown easily. A sponge kept quite wet in another dish will work, and you can also give them pieces of fruit and vegetables for moisture and additional nutrition.
5. Every day, fill a plastic container with the dirt or vermiculite and spray it with water so it's just slightly moist. Put this container in the bin so the adult crickets can lay their eggs in it. The container does not have to be very deep--they will lay just below the surface.
6. The next day, remove the egg container. Cover it with a lid. Write the date on the lid. Set the container aside in a warm place--you may want to set up another box with a heating strip under it.
7. Set up another bin with a heating strip under it if necessary for the newly hatched crickets, very shallow food dish, and wet sponge for water.
8. Every day, check the egg containers to see if they have begun to hatch, starting when they're about a week old.
9. When you see crickets start to hatch in an egg container, remove the lid and set it in the new bin. Provide pieces of cardboard egg crating that will allow the crickets to climb out of the egg containers.
10. Remove the old egg containers when they are completely done hatching. Don't reuse the dirt, to avoid problems with mold and disease.

Tips & Warnings

• You will need to clean the adult cricket bin every day. Push crickets out of the way and scrape the bottom of the cage with a spatula, old credit card, paint scraper, or similar tool, and scoop out the debris.
• You can try leaving the egg containers in for more than one day if you have a small enough number of crickets so that the containers don't get too crowded with eggs. This is more economical of materials and space. However, it's crucial that you don't let the dirt dry out completely. You may need to experiment to see what schedule and what size of container makes sense for your setup and the level of humidity.
• Adult crickets only live for a few weeks, so you'll have to replenish your supply regularly to keep breeding pinheads until your baby frogs are big enough to eat other kinds of food.
• Make sure you're using plain dirt or topsoil in the egg dishes, not potting soil with chemicals in it.
• Remember that the adult crickets will chirp almost constantly--it's a nice sound but maybe not one you want to hear all night. And they do have an odor. So think carefully about where you're going to keep them.
• If you're using plastic bins for your crickets, make sure the sides are completely smooth so they can't climb up them. A mesh lid will keep the adults in but the pinheads will be able to get out any tiny opening if they can climb to the top.