What do Crickets Eat

What do Crickets Eat – Many people may wonder what do insects eat, especially the smaller ones. There are various small insects in this world, and one of them is cricket. Cricket is a small insect that usually produces an iconic sound when nightfall. 

In an area, there could be hundreds of crickets produce a loud sound during the night. But, is the sound related to what they eat?

The question of what do crickets eat is still haunting the minds of many people. Therefore in this article, you will read what crickets eat.

What do Crickets Eat and Tips to Keep Them

Many people believe that crickets are insects similar to a grasshopper. But the truth is that this insect is more related to the bush crickets and Weta. The crickets are very famous because of their noisy, chirping sound during the night. 

The sound is produced by rubbing the wings together. Also, many people are curious about what do crickets eat. Therefore, here is more about the crickets.

The cricket belongs to the class Insecta under the order Orthoptera. The color of this animal is usually brown and have front wings of various length.

The wings cover can cover half of the entire abdomen. The antennae are so long that they can reach the end of the abdomen. The wings usually stay in a flat position. 

This animal also has hind wings hidden under the leathery front wings. Its natural habitat is around logs in pastures, meadows, and roads. There are four types of chirping sounds made by crickets, also known as the song. 

They are calling, courting, copulatory, and aggressive song. As for the natural enemy, the crickets are usually eaten by spiders, small rodents, ground beetles, lizards, and various birds.

As an important part of the ecosystem, crickets help with breaking down plants. Most of the time, the crickets are also used for bait or as feed for bigger animals that eat the insect. In some regions, especially the Chinese, crickets are used for medicine. 

In some other regions, people use cricket similar to a cockfight, especially around Southeast Asia and Mexico. Some people are also using crickets as their pet because it is considered a good luck charm in many countries across the world. 

Food and Drink for Crickets

Generally, crickets are omnivorous animals. They can eat almost everything given to them. It could be plants, animals, or anything as long as it is available to them. But, their favorite food is a rotting plant, although they did enjoy eating tender leaves, fungi, and fruit too. 

In their natural habitat, crickets usually bury themselves down in wooded areas. This is necessary to avoid predators and get food at the same time. If lucky, they may find smaller insects as their meaty snack. The fact is that crickets may turn cannibal and eat their own kind if the food supplies are dire.

As you can see, the crickets eat almost everything given to them. They are not very picky about choosing the diet. If you see crickets swarming your house, you may see them eating paper or cardboard boxes. 

Even they can cause a hole in your clothes. If you are decided to have crickets as your pet, then it is a different matter. You should treat them better and not give them any available food to avoid unhealthy cannibalism.

Feeding Store-bought Crickets

As mentioned before, you have to treat your crickets differently if you are using them as pets. When it comes to buying crickets, you can easily buy them from the market. But, the crickets on the market are usually used as feed or bait; therefore, their diet is horrible. 

You can use these store-bought crickets for various things aside from keeping them as pets. Since these kinds of crickets have a bad diet, you should change it gradually and consistently.

You can start feeding your crickets with a slice of apple. If you have an over-ripe fruit, then you can give it to your crickets. After several days, you can change the food with grits or leftovers oatmeal. 

The crickets will gladly eat all of the mentioned food. This will avoid cannibalism, so your crickets will have better nutrition that goes into their body.

If you want to give them more natural food, then you can try to feed them with rotten branches or other detritus available on the forest floor.

Tips in Keeping Crickets

There are various ways to keep your crickets in a healthy condition. The first thing is to keep them in a darker place. Naturally, crickets love to do everything in a dark place. Therefore, you can place the cage in a dark spot in your house. 

You can also create a shade inside the cage so that there is an additional dark spot inside the cage. If you want to create a shade, make sure that they have enough space to move inside the cage.

Another thing is to pay attention to the temperature of the room where you place your crickets. Crickets need a healthy room with good airflow and a slightly lower temperature than the room temperature. 

You can place them in a 22 degrees Celsius room so that they will get a good supply of oxygen in the cage. This temperature also allows the crickets to stay cool and prevent them from death by overheating.

The cleanliness of the cage is also mattered if you want your crickets to live longer. Make sure that you occasionally check the inside of the cage to see any waste, leftovers, and dead crickets.

A clean cage will make the crickets have better airflow and prevent them from being a cannibal by eating corpses of their own. Aside from that, the place or spot where you place the crickets will also be cleaner if the cricket’s cage is clean.

The last thing to do is to avoid using chemicals as much as you can. Because crickets are insects, they are very sensitive to almost any chemicals that you have.

So, you have to be extra careful when you want to clean the cage. It is best to use a very mild soap and water mixture rather than a cleaning solution.

Crickets are insects that can be used for various things such as bait, feed, or even you can use them as your pets. Basically, you can give them anything as their food, but detritus and slightly fresh ingredients are good to keep them alive longer. 

Keep the cage clean and placed in a dark place so that they will enjoy their time inside the cage. After knowing all the things about crickets above, you don’t have to ask what do crickets eat.