Running a Cricket Farm

Oh the joys of being a “repti-mom” are endless.  I must say that when we signed up for a reptile, I went in rather blindly, who knew how expensive one little critter could get?  He’s grown so much that last week I had to upgrade his aquarium, restock it with calcium sand ($$$) and rearrange Trevor’s room to accomodate more furniture to house the thing on.  The cause of his rapid growth?  His appetite.  Since he’s eating about $2.25 worth of crickets and meal worms A DAY and he’s still a baby I figured there must be a better way.  So…… I order 500 (bulk) crickets on line, eliminate countless trips to Petsmart and save myself over $35.00-you know the saying “if it sounds too good to be true”?  Well, I unknowingly signed up to be a cricket farmer. Further research shows that you only need @30 crickets to start a colony, and since they lay 50-100 eggs per female/per day, we’ll be totally infested in about 2 weeks.   Oh yes, I’m becoming an expert on crickets-who could ever have guessed?  I’ve even learned a life lesson along the way…when you order 500 crickets, open the box VERY carefully!  But THAT’S another story!