What do crickets eat? (Serious bug question.)?

Question

ds(6yr) going through phase, wanted crickets for pet. I gave in... now I need to know what they eat. (please)
Do they need water?

We started with celery.. seems to be working.
(( Note: I do not want to spend money on cricket food.))

Son would like to know " do crickets like to play in water. "

I could not locate any info. on-line, other than crickets are feeders.

Thanks for your support. We are laughing about this one too.

Answer 1

Well, I did a cricket thing for a science fair project. What I did was put a slice of potato in every other day, on the off days I did wet cat food. This will provide both food and water. These arent going to last very long(just warning you) they only live about 2 months, and chances are your pet store sells htem at one month of age

Answer 2

They will eat pretty much any fruit or veggie. Also, we feed ours fish food flakes, and yes they need water, very shallow tho so they dont drown, otherwise I would go to the pet store and buy water pillows. You let them soak in water they fill up and you can place them right in with the crickets and not worry about them drowning.

We have leopard geckos that we feed live crickets to and have to be sure they are nutricious and well alive for the lizards. Hope this helps

FYI : crickets smell really bad so make sure you keep them where air can get to them and keep the habitat clean.

Answer 3

There is specific food you need to feed them. Gut Load and Flukers brands sell the proper foods for crickets. We use Gut Load drink with calcium (yellow gel looking) and Flukers cricket complete diet (orange cubes in jar), refrigerate this one after opening. We keep crickets to feed out tarantula and to give as a treat to our Dwarf hamsters. We get our products from Petland. Water is not needed if these products are used, but if you five them any use a shallow lid with a water soaked piece of sponge in it also available at pet store. Don't use kitchen/household sponges. Also keep cardboard egg carton pieces in with them.

Answer 4

Go to your local petstore and in the lizard area they actually sell these little "pillows" that soak up water and then store it for the crickets to drink. They also sell this tiny food that looks like multi colored specs...these are designed to keep your crickets alive before you feed them to your lizard, but it will work just as good for you and it is really cheap!

Don't put water in the cricket house! They are possibly the dumbest insects ever and will immediately drown themselves in it, buy the little pillows they should be about a dollar or two.

Answer 5

They do need water, but they can get it from fruit. Actually I have a jar of "Cricket feed" in my refrigerator. I used to feed them wheat bran, and mix in vitamins...They vitamins were designed for the next leg up in the food chain though. My chinese water dragons, but in order for the dragons to eat well, I have to feed the crickets well. So I bought a jar of cricket feed, it has lasted over a year for a 32 oz. jar. I also have a jar of 'Orange Cubes' they are orange in color, smell citrus-like, and I don't know exactly what they are made of, but it provides water for the crickets. You can use any moist food for cricket water. I used to have a water dish with cotton balls in it as crickets will drown as said in a drop of water. I have seen crickets swim though after accidentally getting into water. They love going near water, and if I am not careful, a dozen crickets will drown in my water dragon swimming pool every time I release the crickets into their cage.

Answer 6

Crickets are omnivores and feed on almost anything-usually organic materials, plant decay, grass, fruits, seedling plants, fungi and even meat. Crickets need good diet otherwise they tend to feed on each other. Cricket foods are commercially available in the market at feed shops. There are specific brands of cricket feed also.

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Do-Crickets-Eat?&id=138516

Answer 7

I like raising crickets from time to time. I don't much like bugs, but crickets I consider to be higher spirits than your average brainless bug. Any dog/cat food works. Here's an excellent website to get you and your daughter started:
http://skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/

Answer 8

I house them on oatmeal, and put a cut up potato, cut up orange, and a few baby carrots in the cage. They get all their food and moisture from that. Rolled TP tubes are a must also. Mine have NO problem living for two weeks.

Crickets DROWN in water.

Answer 9

wash a potatoe and quarter it..
let it sit in their tank
they eat rotting..old fruits and veges.
we have a salamander that lives in a tank with a mililpede
the milipede loves decaying foods and the decaying foods feed the crickets and the salamander stays fat and sassy too...

Answer 10

Cut a potato in half. Soak it with a little water. Place in whatever container you have it(them) in and they'll live until they die.

This is used by fishermen and people that raise them for sell.

Just change the potato out about every 4-5 days.

Make sure it's cut in half!