Ideal food for a cricket colony?

TheShrubbery

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
62
I've had a cricket colony for little over a year now, and I'm wondering what the best food material is.

Right now I have a dry powder mix which is made from: Dried Mealworms, Fish flakes and some Hamster food. Is this food ideal? (I've seen a lot of other people on here use mixes like this for their invert colonies)
The reason why I don't use lettuce, (or hardly any of it) is that it quickly rots and starts killing my crickets. Anyone else recommend a cheap mix I can do? (I use that water gel stuff as their source of hydration)
 

Ghost56

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 28, 2016
Messages
443
Pretty much about anything they'll eat. I fed mine dog food, oatmeal, or chick starter when I was breeding some. Chick starter would be my recommendation, it's super cheap. Just DON'T let it get wet, you'll have an insane grain mite outbreak. And of course the occasional gut load like vegetables and fruits.
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
Chick starter would be my recommendation, it's super cheap.
I can second this. I've never kept a colony of crickets, but my roaches get nothing but a mix of chick feed and pig feed. They're both around $15 for a 50lb bag, and they're both very high in protein and fat. Make sure that the chick feed is unmedicated, and also that it's not just normal chicken feed.

But yeah, beyond the mites, this stuff molds like no other. In fact, I sprinkle a small amount into my isopod culture just so I get an outbreak of mold for them to eat.
 

Aquarimax

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
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Mar 1, 2014
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1,086
Mine also get non-medicated chick crumble as a staple, with Fruit and veggies to supplement. I never leave fresh foods in quantities they can't eat fast.
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
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Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
I've had a cricket colony for little over a year now, and I'm wondering what the best food material is.
Dry fish flakes. Simple, easy to find, reasonably cheap (here anyway), and dry which avoids the mold issue.
 

Nephila Edulis

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
201
I've had a cricket colony for little over a year now, and I'm wondering what the best food material is.

Right now I have a dry powder mix which is made from: Dried Mealworms, Fish flakes and some Hamster food. Is this food ideal? (I've seen a lot of other people on here use mixes like this for their invert colonies)
The reason why I don't use lettuce, (or hardly any of it) is that it quickly rots and starts killing my crickets. Anyone else recommend a cheap mix I can do? (I use that water gel stuff as their source of hydration)
Mine get leftover chicken food, carrot and Lilly Lilly fruits when they're available
 

CyrusP

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 12, 2017
Messages
6
Crickets are known to pounce on anything really, well in the wild that is. :D

But at home, from my experience I've search far and wide for the most cost effective feed type that won't compromise nutrition and ended up with a home mix of Wheat middlings, Corn Meal and the cheapest fish pellets money could buy. I live in the US and for a 50lb bag of Wheat Midds. costs me $11.50, 40lb bag of corn meal costs $13.00 and the fish pellets were $14.99 for a 10lb bag. I do a 3/2/1 ratio beginning with the cheapest (wheat). The fish pellets (un-medicated) are for all the extra nutrients that the wheat and cornmeal didn't provide like calcium and other vitamins and minerals. Just a little goes a long ways since the majority of the weight of the feed is from the wheat and cornmeal.

For water source, I just use one of those commercial cricket feeder (for water). It comes with the inverted bottle, base dish and the donut sponge used to soak up the water in the dish so the crickets can stand on it to drink and not drown. I really like this setup because I don't need to worry about mold growth or any bacterial catastrophes. The feed is all dry and water source is just water, but me mindful of the water dish as algae can grow on it (if exposed to IR or UV light), I wash out the dish once a week and never had a problem.

I'm not sure how much these things are in your area but here in CA, the cheapest place to get these kinds of things in bulk are either Livestock feed suppliers or Grain Millers that specialize in wholesale. If you're willing to dish out a little more money, just go for the bulk chicken feed, I don't use it because it's almost $30 for a 40lb bag here.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
I feed mine apples, oranges, fish flake, porridge oats, peas, sweetcorn and carrots.

You get out what you put in. The goodness is passed to your pets.
 
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