Breeding crickets is a fun and inexpensive way to feed your terrarium friends. There are a few things to consider before deciding to start a cricket farm. Location is a critical factor when deciding if a cricket farm is for you. The ideal place is an outside closet or barn, where the sound from the crickets or their smell won't bother anyone. Though an inside site is possible, it may require a little more cleaning.

Startup

Most of your money and time is spent on the initial startup. The number and size of the critters you are feeding will determine the size of your cricket farm. There are a few essential items you need for startup. You can find all of these supplies at a general store near you:

2 medium/large sized plastic containers 
2 small/medium rearing containers (you can get away with just 2 large and not the small)
lids 
3-4 jars (sour cream, yogurt, etc.)
3-4 paper egg cartons aluminum screening (must be metal)
duck tape
razor blade or wire cutters (used to cut plastic) 
cotton 
dirt
heating pad (optional)
2 dozen adult crickets
2 dozen teenager crickets

The tupperware containers can be any plastic container that has a lid. Keep in mind that it will need to be large enough to put multiple egg cartons in along with a few jars. So maybe something that is around 12 x 12 x 24( inches)in size. The small rearing containers will also need to hold a small jar or two. Extra jar lids can be used for holding food. The jars will be used for a the breeding and water. These jars can be plastic or glass and should be at least 3 inches deep. A surplus of paper egg cartoons would be beneficial. Aluminum screening is used for ventilation. Don't use regular screen, the regular fiberglass screen will last a short while before a cricket will chew right through it. Escapes are unpreventable but following these simple rules will minimize them. You need enough adult crickets to start your egg laying and the teenaged crickets to replace the adults when they are gone. The life span for the adult crickets is only 2-3 weeks if that long, depending how long they have been at the pet store.

Housing

Once you have all the necessary supplies you are ready to go. We will start out with the medium/large plastic containers. Cut a 4 x 4 (inch) square at opposite ends of the containers. This creates a good cross breeze for air through the containers. Cutting these holes is harder than what it seems. You would figure it would be easy but the plastic containers are thicker than they look. Be careful when cutting the plastic, sometimes they will crack instead of cutting and may cause undesired results. But you can fix any cracks with a little duck tape action. Once the holes are ready, cut the screen big enough to fit over the holes, overlapping maybe an inch on each side. When duck taping the screen to the container try not to leave any exposed sticky side of the tape for small crickets may get stuck or larger crickets may lose there legs on it. You may think of tricks as you go along to improve the way you do things. Do not put any kind of covering (dirt, paper etc.) on the bottom of the containers. For the rearing container cut the hole in the lid. Most plastic surfaces are to slick for the crickets to climb. They will fit through the holes in the screen if they can get to it, that is why you don't put the holes on the sides. Though in most cases crickets won't try to escape from the warmth and food. Place the egg cartons in each of the containers. The crickets use these for hiding and normal living. Replace as needed, when they become covered with cricket waste.

Feeding/Water

You have an option for the water container. Just a lid of water won't work for the crickets will drown. You can fill a lid and put cotton in it to soak up the water. You could also cut an "X" in a lid of a yogurt container and fill that with water and have a piece of thin clothe coming out the lid. Which ever way you prefer will work. For feeding use a jar lid and put the food in it. Tropical fish food is a good source of food but can get expensive when feeding a large colony. There are other options such as cat food and fresh vegtables. You may have to experiment with the different brands of cat food to see which one works best. Keep in mind you want the crickets to have a good diet. Essentially what you are feeding the crickets is also feeding your terrarium pets, just in a different form. Supplements such as calcium powder and other viatamin powders can be added to gut load the feeder crickets. The calcium powder is highly recommended for your terrarium pets for stronger bones, prevent deformities and maintain health.

Breeding

Loosely fill a sour cream container with top soil. Watch using some planting soil, the fertilizer may effect the hatching of the eggs. A container with a wide opening at the top, such as a sour cream container, is preferred to allow more female crickets to get in the container to lay eggs. It is better to use a container at least a few inches deep so that the crickets have plenty of space to lay eggs without distrubing other eggs. If the dirt is not deep enough the eggs already laid may be disturbed. You will have some eggs around the water source even with multiple egg laying containers present. The number of containers you put with the colony is dependent on the number of adult crickets and how fast you want to produce crickets. Once a batch or two have hatched your cricket population will grow considerably. You can regulate the birth rate by adding or removing egg laying containers. If you see more females laying eggs around the water source than in the containers this may be an indication that you need more egg laying containers. A female has a long, straight tube behind them between their legs, males do not. Place the containers near the egg cartons or even stack the egg cartons on top of the egg laying container. Depending on the container the crickets may not be able to climb up into it easily. It is very important to keep the soil in these containers moist. If the soil dries out the eggs will not hatch. Leave a container in with the colony for 5-7 days, that should be enough time to saturate the soil with eggs. Place the lid back on the container and place it on a heating pad. Do not put holes in the lid, this will keep the moisture in the container. It takes 7-10 days for the eggs to hatch. Every couple days check the container to make sure the soil is staying moist and check for newborns. After about 7 days check it everyday for newborns, if you let them stay in there long without taking the lid off they may drown from the condesation that collects on the lid. Once the eggs start hatching place the sour cream container in the rearing container (see above Housing section for rearing container). The adult crickets will eat their young if you keep them together. You can remove the lid from the egg laying container now and add water as it is needed to keep the soil moist. It may take up to a week for all the eggs to hatch. During this time you must keep the soil moist. In the rearing box just put the food on the bottom of the container, the babies may not be able to climb into some lids. To speed up the hatching process it is better to place the hatching containers on a heating pad until the eggs start hatching. You can place the heating pad on top of the colony container and then stack egg laying containers on top of the pad. The heating pad will increase the egg laying process in the colony and incubate the hatching containers. The crickets like a warm environment and will be more active when kept warm. Applying and taking away heat can be used to control the population growth. Once the babies are 1/4 - 1/2 inch you can start using them for food and moving them to another container. Make sure you keep the colony going, always put some of the new batches into the colony to keep a steady population. During the winter months you may need to move the colonies inside or to a warm place for keeping. Otherwise the population may not be able to support their use.