Insect Care

Crickets (Acheta Domesticus)
Live Crickets are a fantastic live food for many types of pets, and are probably the best all-around fish bait in the world. Reptiles, amphibians and birds all fare much better when live foods are included in their diets. Live crickets provide much-needed proteins, vitamins and minerals, and enable insect eating pets to satisfy their natural predatory instincts. Ghann's offers live crickets in many different sizes and quantity configurations (see our Live Crickets page for all the options).

The species of live crickets that we produce is Acheta domesticus (House Cricket).  Our proprietary production processes guarantee them to be clean, healthy, and free of any of the "pest bugs" (roaches, beetles, worms, spiders, etc that many other live cricket producers are plagued with) which might infect your precious pets. This is also one of the reasons many customers report that the mortality rate experienced with Ghann's crickets is so much less than with live crickets produced by other growers.
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Keeping and Caring for Crickets
Live Crickets are hearty insects and do not really require any special handling, just remember that they are live creatures and need normal, common sense care. Maintain moderate temperatures (for adult crickets 70 to 85 degrees is best, for ½ inch and smaller sizes 80 to 90 degrees).  Transfer live crickets from their shipping box to a larger holding box as soon as possible after arrival. Stand the packing materials from the shipping carton inside the holding box to provide crawling space.

Things to AVOID:

  • Poisonous fumes (car exhaust, etc)
  • Insecticides
  • Ants (they'll eat the crickets!)
  • Prolonged direct sunlight
  • Cold temperatures (below 50 F can harm them - especially smaller crickets)

Your cricket holding box should be kept clean and dry - NO SUBSTRATE!  (It only provides a place for moisture to collect & contributes to odor).  With Ghann's crickets, mortality rate should be minimal.  There should never be more than a few dead crickets each day, but you are likely to see numerous "sheds" (dead skin that crickets shed as they grow - this happens 7 times throughout their life cycle).  At least twice a week, gently scrape up and remove any dead crickets and debris with a putty knife or other straight-edged object (a small piece of cardboard, or even a business card will work).  Your box does not have to be empty to do this - just be gentle and the crickets will run out of your way.

It is essential that live crickets have easy access to fresh feed and water!  To insure maximum survival rate (and proper nutrition for your pet), we strongly recommend you feed your live crickets a high-quality grain diet containing the proper amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals.  We proudly offer our own proprietary formula for sale in small quantities in our Foods and Diet Supplements section".  It also helps to supplement their grain diet occasionally with some fruit or vegetable - a quartered orange, apple or potato works good.  Fresh water should be provided with a watering kit (see our Supplies section) or our Ghann's Critterade watering gel (see Foods and Diet Supplements).  If a watering kit is used, the foam donut should be washed with soap & water & rinsed well before initial use, and the water should be changed and the kit cleaned at least twice a week.
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Keeping and Caring for Mealworms
Live mealworms should be stored in a refrigerator at 45 - 50 degrees F.  Bulk live mealworms should be stored in a plastic tray (such as a cat's litter box) containing 1" to 2" of bedding material (bedding available on our Worms page), cupped live mealworms may be stored in the cups.  Twice a week, take the mealworms out of refrigerator, let them warm up to room temperature and place several thumb sized pieces of raw fruit or veggie (carrot, apple, potato, celery, etc) or Ghann's Critterade in tray or cups.  Mealworms will become livelier and begin to eat as they warm up.  After allowing mealworms to feed for 2 or 3 hours, remove food and return mealworms to refrigerator.  When bedding appears sandy and fine, add some fresh bedding.  When cared for properly Ghann's mealworms will last for many weeks!

NOTE: If mealworms are not kept refrigerated, eventually they will pupate & turn into small beetles.
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Keeping and Caring for Superworms
Bulk live superworms should be stored in a plastic tray (such as a cat’s litter box) containing 1" to 2"
of bedding material (bedding available on our Worms page). Cupped live superworms may be stored in the cups. Store superworms at room temperature - DO NOT REFRIGERATE LIVE SUPERWORMS - IT WILL KILL THEM!  Several times a week, provide worms with thumb sized pieces of fruit or veggie (carrot, apple, potato, celery, etc), or Ghann's Critterade or Cricket Yummies (both available on our Foods & Diet Suppliments page).  When bedding appears sandy and fine, add fresh bedding material.  Superworms can withstand heat up to 90 degrees, and will not pupate or change to beetles. When cared for properly Ghann’s superworms will last for many weeks!

Nutritional Analysis of Feeder Insects
  Crickets Mealworms Superworms Phoenix Worms
Protein % 17.53 19.7 22.28 17.3
Fat % 4.79 9.78 17.1 9.4
Fiber % 1.4 2.6 2.1 N/A*
Ash % 1.28 1.55 1.15 N/A*
Vitamin D3 (IU/100g) 318 276 171 N/A*
Calcium ppm 345 133 124 8155
Phosphorous ppm 4328 3345 2320 5355
Cal/Phos Ratio 0.08 0.04 0.05 1.52

* Information not available.

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