Two-spotted cricket: keeping and breeding

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Exotic animals are gaining more and more popularity, and therefore the question of choosing food objects for them is acute. Two-spotted cricket is one of the most common and sought-after fodder crops. Crickets can be a he althy and balanced food for birds, various types of lizards and tarantulas. Unfortunately, they are not always available at pet stores, and therefore we will consider the basic rules for keeping and breeding two-spotted crickets at home.

General information

Two-spotted crickets are one of the most popular forage crops. These are large black insects. Their body length can reach 3 cm. Two-spotted crickets grow faster than crickets of other species. In addition, they are more tolerant of low temperatures. In nature, they live in the Mediterranean.

Two-spotted crickets are considered more aggressive than banana and house crickets. They can bite strongly, and therefore there have been cases when they injured the reptiles to which they were fed with their mandibles. ToIn addition, almost all types of crickets are cannibals. In the absence of water, enough food, or under the wrong conditions, crickets begin to actively eat young animals and kill each other. In addition, they are very sensitive to sudden changes in conditions of detention. In the event of a change in the microclimate, pestilence begins. Crickets often make very loud noises at night. Two-five crickets are considered one of the loudest species, and therefore their trills can interfere with sleep at night. That's why many exotic pet owners prefer to keep less demanding and more tenacious cockroaches as an alternative to crickets.

A photo of two-spotted crickets will be presented below.

However, crickets have their own advantages. Unlike cockroaches, they practically do not have an unpleasant odor. Many exotic pets consume them with more appetite than cockroaches, which they can refuse altogether.

Equipment required

Two-spotted crickets are kept in tall aquariums or plastic containers with smooth walls. The size of the containers must be at least 60 x 40 cm, height - at least 30 cm. The container wall is smeared from the inside with vaseline 15 cm from the top. Crickets are able to jump quite high, therefore, if the height of the container is insufficient, it should be covered with a metal mesh from above. Crickets can chew on plastic.

When breeding, you may need several containers to keep young and grown-up individuals separately. Toto avoid fights, egg trays should be placed in the container. This will give the crickets plenty of hiding places.

Crickets may need to be heated when the room temperature is low. You can equip it with a thermal cord or thermal mat. The terrarium should have bowls for dry and wet food. As a soil, you can use a mixture of sand, bran, oatmeal and fish food. Cleaning should be done at least once a week. Severe contamination can lead to the death of the colony. Crickets need 16 hours of daylight. For lighting, you can use incandescent lamps, which will serve as additional heating.

Conditions

Unlike other species, two-spotted crickets need a relatively low air temperature - about 23 degrees. The warmer the temperature, the faster the crickets will grow and breed. However, food consumption will also increase in this case.

Humidity in the terrarium should be around 50%. Cricket eggs must be in moist soil, otherwise they will dry out. However, high humidity in a shared container can lead to colony death.

Feeding

The diet of crickets should consist of plant and protein foods. And it is important to give both wet and dry food.

Suitable for wet plant foods:

• grated carrots;
• finely chopped fruits and vegetables;
• baby formula;
• lettuce, dandelion and burdock.

Animalprotein is very important in the diet, because with its deficiency, crickets begin to eat each other, females lay non-viable eggs, insect growth slows down. How protein feed can be used:

• dry hamarus and daphnia;
• quality food for cats and dogs;
• boiled egg white;
• boiled chicken without spices.

Dry food can lie in the feeder around the clock. But wet food should be removed after a couple of hours to avoid rotting.

It is also important that crickets consume enough moisture. To do this, you can put a drinker. However, some individuals may drown in it. You can spray one of the walls of the terrarium with a spray gun, but the humidity will increase so much. You can put a cotton pad well moistened with water in the terrarium. Or give a fairly large amount of wet food, then you can do without a drinker.

Breeding

Two-spotted crickets breed while maintaining optimal conditions for their maintenance. To avoid fights and self-mutilation, there should be four females per male in the container. In a terrarium with two-spotted crickets, you need to put a small container about 4 cm deep. You need to fill it with moist soil: peat, sand or coconut substrate. Periodically, the container must be sprayed from a spray bottle. The female's oviduct is thin. She lays eggs several times smaller than a grain of rice.

A small metal mesh can be put on top of the container to avoid eating eggs. At the same time, it should be ensured that crickets have free access to a lot of animal protein, otherwise they can eat young animals. After laying eggs, the cage can be rearranged into another container, then cannibalism can not be afraid at all. Once the crickets have reached the desired size, they can be deposited in a common container.

Thus, two-spotted crickets are not particularly easy to keep and breed, but they are still very popular among exotic lovers due to their high nutritional qualities. The negative aspects of keeping crickets include cannibalism, sensitivity to conditions of detention, and noise. The positive side is that it is a balanced and he althy food for exotic animals, which has good taste.