A Detailed Guide to Cricket Farming Techniques and Rearing Management Methods
Dried cricket bodies are used as medicine; they are warm in nature, pungent and salty in taste, and toxic, with a diuretic function, chiefly used to treat edema and difficult urination. Farming crickets artificially is by no means a bad offbeat way to make money
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1. Rearing equipment. Crickets can be raised in large cages. The large cage uses metal or wood for the frame, with iron window screen as the enclosing cover; length, width and height are unrestricted, and the larger the flat area, the greater the capacity and the higher the survival rate. One meter outside the lower edge of the rearing cage, a water trough 20cm wide and 20cm deep must be built and filled with clear water to prevent ants and other natural enemies from intruding and injuring the young larvae. A large cage of 10 m x 5 m x 2 m can support 3000—5000 crickets developing from larvae to adults; crops such as soybeans, peanuts and corn are planted inside the cage to serve as natural feed.
2. Trapping breeding stock. Crickets have very strong jumping ability and the ability to squeeze into cracks, build burrows and hide, so collecting them in large numbers is really not easy. Their habit of moving toward light and seeking food during the adult stage can be used to trap them.
3. Breeding. Each cage can hold 100 male and 100 female crickets; after mating, the crickets lay eggs in the ground. After the plant stalks in the cage wither and die, do not pull them out; leave them as ground cover to help the eggs survive the cold winter. When the temperature rises to around 20°C the following year, large numbers of hatched small larvae will be seen emerging from the soil.
4. Daily management. When raising crickets in cages, the natural feed in the cage alone is far from enough to meet the needs of the larger crickets; artificial feed that is easy to store, small in volume and high in nutrition can be used as the main feed, supplemented with a small amount of natural green feed, for a better rearing result. Artificial feed formula one: 20% soybean powder, 35% coarse wheat flour, 20% corn flour, 15% skimmed milk powder, 5% liver powder, 5% dry yeast; formula two: 25% corn flour, 20% soybean powder, 25% coarse wheat flour, 15% skimmed milk powder, 5% dry yeast, 10% fish meal. Put the ingredients into a container at the same time, mix well and grind fine, then spread it on a wooden board for feeding; do not put out too much at one time, and it is best to feed only as much as they will finish.
The suitable rearing temperature for crickets is 25°C. When it is dry, spray some water appropriately in the morning and evening so that the ground surface humidity inside the cage stays at 75%—80%. Rainy days do not affect the crickets' normal life, but a cover should be added over the feeding board, and green feed can be given sparingly or not at all. If water accumulates on the ground in the cage for 1 hour, it can cause the crickets to die, so drainage should be done promptly. If there is 12 hours of light a day, the nymph development period will be shortened; when natural light time is insufficient, supplemental lighting should be added.
5. Harvesting. After the adults have emerged in large numbers, they must be harvested promptly before mating and egg-laying (enough breeding stock should be retained). Harvesting method: hang a lamp inside the cage, place a water basin with smooth walls underneath, and when the adults fly toward the light and tumble into the water basin, scoop them out with a strainer.
⟧6. Processing. There are two processing methods: after killing them by boiling in water, air-dry them to prepare for medicinal use; after suffocating the crickets to death, lay them out one by one on a wooden board (belly facing up), sun-dry them, then pick out impurities and stray insects and broken limbs, and finally put the large, intact whole crickets into plastic bags and store them in a dry place for sale. Dried crickets are generally purchased by all pharmacies.