Re: Black field crickets.

[froggymatt]

ok, i live on a farm where we grow alfalfa hay. recently we have been noticing a lot of small black field crickets when we do our harvesting. since i've had luck with cricket traps, could i feed these crickets to my cubans? we don't use any pesticides or fertilizers that could contaminate the crix.

[Sublime]

I've read a lot of bad things on black field crickets, the chitin that makes up their body is a lot harder including spinier legs. Low nutritional value, aggressive (bite). Sounds like a good opportunity, but if it were me I would stay away from them. Maybe get some advice from people who have actually dealt with them. These are only comments from what I've researched.

[John]

They're quite suitable as food (as much as the house/brown crickets sold commercially in the US). However, I would be hesitant using wild crickets because they could be carrying parasites that could be passed on to your pets.

[froggymatt]

i was thinking about starting to breed them and use the new bred crix as food

[kueluck]

I was able to breed the black crickets, but when hatched they are smaller than the little black ants and they took forever to grow. I guess if you have the time go for it. For me it's easier to buy 1000 crickets for $20 from the reptile guy down the road, I only have 2 Cope's frogs and 2 Fowler's toad.

[BG]

I have a silly question. Were the brown crickets bred from the black crickets. Are they from the same speicies.