What to Feed Crickets: Diet and Rearing Guide
Feed captive crickets a dry, nutritionally mixed staple with small portions of fresh vegetables or fruit, and give them a safe source of moisture. Prepared cricket food, poultry feed, or an appropriate dry pet food can provide the staple; carrot, leafy greens, or apple can add water and variety. Remove wet leftovers before they mold, and never rely on a deep open water dish.
Which Cricket Are You Feeding?
House crickets, field crickets, camel crickets, and mole crickets do not have identical natural diets. This guide fits small groups of house or field crickets kept briefly for observation, bait, or animal feed. A wild species with a specialized habitat may need different care and may be regulated.
UF/IFAS Extension identifies the house cricket, Acheta domesticus, as the familiar commercially raised species. Confirm the animal before setting up a long-term colony. Do not collect protected wildlife or move wild crickets across state lines.
What Is a Good Dry Staple?
A commercial cricket diet is the easiest measured option. For modest educational colonies, finely ground poultry feed or a dry dog food with a broad nutrient profile is commonly used. Texas A&M AgriLife specifically lists poultry laying mash or dry dog food for raising field crickets.
Keep dry food in a shallow clean lid so nymphs can reach it. Replace it if it becomes damp, clumped, moldy, or contaminated with droppings. A mountain of old feed creates hiding places for mites and makes consumption difficult to judge.
Which Fresh Foods Work?
Small pieces of carrot, apple, squash, or pesticide-free leafy greens provide water and plant material. The Smithsonian Institution lists lettuce, fruit, moist bread, and dried dog food for field crickets. I favor firm produce over wet bread because it is easier to remove before spoilage.
Offer only what the group can use within a day. Wash produce, trim decayed areas, and keep it away from household pesticide sprays. Citrus, onion, or other strongly scented foods are not necessary. Variety should improve husbandry, not turn the enclosure into a compost bin.
How Do Crickets Get Water?
Fresh produce supplies some moisture, but a warm colony may need a dedicated source. Use a commercial insect watering gel or a very shallow container protected with clean pebbles or a tight sponge that prevents a cricket from falling into open water. Change it often.
Small nymphs drown easily. A soaked enclosure is also dangerous because persistent humidity encourages mold and mites. Moisture should be reachable at one station while most surfaces remain dry and ventilated.
How Much Food Should You Offer?
There is no single serving size for every age, temperature, and population. Start with a thin layer of dry food that remains available, then give a small fresh portion. Check the enclosure at the same time each day. Increase food if it disappears rapidly without fouling; reduce fresh food if pieces remain wet or moldy.
Record deaths, feeding, temperature, and cleaning. That simple log separates a true food shortage from losses caused by overheating, crowding, escape, or poor water access.
What Kind of Enclosure Do They Need?
Use a smooth-sided container with a secure, finely screened lid and generous airflow. Add clean cardboard tubes or egg-carton sections for surface area and separation. Keep food and moisture stations accessible without forcing crickets through one crowded opening.
How Do You Limit Odor and Disease?
- Remove dead crickets, wet feed, and spoiled produce each day.
- Use separate tools for new arrivals until they appear healthy.
- Do not crowd adults and tiny nymphs into the same shelter.
- Wash hands after handling the enclosure, feed, or waste.
- Keep the colony away from food preparation surfaces.
- Discard a badly moldy batch instead of feeding it to another animal.
Persistent odor means waste or mortality is accumulating. Cricket colonies have a natural smell, but sharp ammonia, visible mold, or swarms of mites call for immediate correction.
What If the Crickets Are Pet Food?
Match cricket size and nutrient preparation to the receiving animal. A reptile, amphibian, bird, or fish may need professionally formulated gut-loading food and mineral supplementation under species-specific veterinary guidance. This general feeding plan is not a replacement for the pet’s diet plan.
Buy feeder insects from a reputable source, avoid wild-caught crickets from treated ground, and never offer visibly ill or mold-exposed insects. For context on the environments different groups use, read where crickets live.
