What should I do with my old crickets?
You will start to notice that your crickets are nearing the end of their life when they begin to become slower and darker in colour especially when compared to the younger adults. If they begin to smell bad it may also be a sign that their time is almost up. You may also see that there are some dead ones in the bottom of your container before noticing the other signs. If this is the case you should remove the already dead crickets by taking everything out of your container, shaking your crickets into the bottom as you go. When everything is out place one egg carton in and allow a few seconds for the live crickets to crawl onto it and then shake the egg carton into a clean bucket or box. Repeat this process until nearly all of the live crickets are gone from the bottom of your container. You may need to catch the stragglers. Throw away the dead crickets that are left at the bottom of your container.
DID YOU KNOW: You can feed your dead crickets to animals such as chickens and ducks rather than just throwing them away.
Fill a microwave containers live crickets and then place them in the fridge until they stop moving. Then place them in the freezer for storage. This is a humane way to kill your crickets as they will just get cold, go to sleep and then die. Your frozen crickets should be good to use for about 3 months.
- Becoming slow moving or darker in colour are signs that your crickets are nearing death.
- Be sure to remove any already dead crickets before freezing crickets for later use.
- Frozen crickets can be kept in the freezer for about 3 months.