Nowadays, feeder crickets are becoming a popular pet in the household. These crickets are usually kept to feed the reptiles in the house or as a regular pet. The time when they are born to the time they mature into an adult is the most critical since the chances of crickets not surviving are high. There are a few things that should be kept in mind before keeping the crickets in your house.
Where to keep them?
Crickets that you plan to breed or keep in your house are compassionate and fragile creatures. They get easily exposed to the type of climate they are held in, and hence it becomes necessary for them to keep the temperature and humidity level in control.
Once you bring crickets from a store, you should be clear as to where to keep them. The boxes should have tiny air sacs to allow the passage of air. This will keep the supply of fresh air in the box, but these holes should be small enough so that no cricket flies away. The quantity of oxygen should be regulated in the box.
What is the ideal environment?
The cricket that you plan to keep a pet is a creature that lives in dark and dank places. Thus, it should be kept in mind before placing them in the box or tank because they like to live in dark places.
The table should be big enough so that the crickets have enough space to roam and fly in the box and are not cramped in one place. The crickets are creatures that can handle high temperatures and are generally found in tropical climates. Thus, they should be kept in an environment with a temperature range of 25-27 degrees Celsius.
Cleaning the cages
Although crickets are animals that are found in the wild, yet keeping them in the house requires proper hygiene and cleaning. They can be kept for a long life if the cages are kept neat and clean, with adequate attention given to the quality of food and water used to feed them.
It is often noticed that crickets tend to dirty the boxes in which they live. Hence, it is advisable to clean the box or container in which the crickets are kept and also change the water daily. The food should not be left in the cage for a prolonged period because such food can acquire fungus, which can cause severe illness and diseases to your pet and you.
What to feed them?
Once you have set up the container for the feeder crickets and have decided the place to keep them, then comes the question of what to feed them. The diet of the crickets is very diverse, which helps them to be alive in jungles. Therefore, the food of crickets can be anything dry as wet food has the danger of contamination.
Dry foods like oatmeal, cornflakes, and small vegetable bites can be given to them. Water is also an important component, and to a surprise, some cricket cages may require as much as 2 liters of water in a day. The water kept in the cage is not only used by the cricket for drinking but also to keep their bodies fresh.
There are functional foods available in the market that can be bought from stores and are popularly known as water bites. These are a mixture of dry food and water.
Cleaning and maintaining your cricket tank
Once you have set up the container and have made the cricket acclimatize to the new home, then most duties of the keeper become minimal. You can leave the crickets to adapt to the new environment on their own without having to bug them every now and then.
The first two things that need to be kept in mind are checking the cage of crickets so that they are healthy enough and also to keep them clean every fortnight. The cages should not be cleaned with any chemicals, as the residual form can be harmful to your creatures. The tank or container box should be cleaned with pure water or very mild soap solution soaked cloth. This cleaning process must not be dangerous for your crickets.
Checking on the health of the crickets is also crucial so that you can judge the health and fitness of your pets. Crickets are marvelous creatures when they are left in the wild. They display behaviors that are quite common to other insects, but domesticating them is not an easy task. The children at home usually like the crickets as they are not harmful to small children like any other insects but only require care.
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