# General Topics > Food, Feeders, Live, Frozen, Culturing, etc >  Pregnant cricket...?

## Brit

Hey guys, just had a quick question regarding one of my crickets. I don't breed them, wasn't sure it was even that easy but I've been noticing how much of you do it and started thinking it might be a good idea to save me some cash...

But anyway, off topic.

Is this cricket pregnant...?



Gross........

And if she is (I see the ovipositor on her nasty ***...>>) pregnant, would it still be ok to feed her to Bruce? I kind of have a problem with feeding a pregnant cricket who's all full of babies and such to my frog...it's kind of...an ethical dilemma? Oh geez I sound stupid...but whatever, is it safe to feed her to Bruce Campbell (Whites Tree Frog)?

Thanks.

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## Michael

> Hey guys, just had a quick question regarding one of my crickets. I don't breed them, wasn't sure it was even that easy but I've been noticing how much of you do it and started thinking it might be a good idea to save me some cash...
> 
> But anyway, off topic.
> 
> Is this cricket pregnant...?
> 
> 
> 
> Gross........
> ...


I do not know of a way to tell if a female cricket is pregnant.  However every time I purchased some crickets the larger females will begin laying egss in the container I have setup for that purpose inside the holding tub.  I would have to say if there are both larger male and females together then they will be pregnant.  The lifespan of crickets is something around 8 weeks.  So feel free to feed your older females to the frogs.  I fact right now my breeding crickets are all old and dying off.  

As for the ovipositor, ( the long thing coming out the back of the female ), you can always cut it off.  Just really depends on the size of the frog eating.

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## Brit

Oh alright thanks. She's just HUGE compared to the other crickets in the container (especially in the abdomen...) and her ovipositor is longer than any of the other females I see in there. If she doesn't have a place to lay her eggs will she just hold them in an die...? Sorry I'm new to this breeding crickets concept, though that's not what I'm doing now, I just wasn't sure if you could spot a pregnant cricket from looking at it.

For some reason I feel weird about feeding her to my frog if she is pregnant...I know I'm weird. ><

And you can cut their ovipositor off!? I didn't know that that's insane...D: It feels like torture, especially if she is pregnant...I don't think I'll do that. XD;;;

Bruce is definitely big enough to eat her or any other crickets that are in there, he's a little eating machine and big enough, about three or 3 1/2 inches long now. I'm not worried about if he CAN eat her or not, I just feel strange about feeding him a pregnant cricket. Again...sorry if that's weird. ><

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## Michael

> Oh alright thanks. She's just HUGE compared to the other crickets in the container (especially in the abdomen...) and her ovipositor is longer than any of the other females I see in there. If she doesn't have a place to lay her eggs will she just hold them in an die...? Sorry I'm new to this breeding crickets concept, though that's not what I'm doing now, I just wasn't sure if you could spot a pregnant cricket from looking at it.
> 
> For some reason I feel weird about feeding her to my frog if she is pregnant...I know I'm weird. ><
> 
> And you can cut their ovipositor off!? I didn't know that that's insane...D: It feels like torture, especially if she is pregnant...I don't think I'll do that. XD;;;
> 
> Bruce is definitely big enough to eat her or any other crickets that are in there, he's a little eating machine and big enough, about three or 3 1/2 inches long now. I'm not worried about if he CAN eat her or not, I just feel strange about feeding him a pregnant cricket. Again...sorry if that's weird. ><


Cut away if you want too.  She will be frog food anyways. Just try and gut load them first for a better meal.

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## Brit

> Cut away if you want too.  She will be frog food anyways. Just try and gut load them first for a better meal.


Oh don't worry I definitely gut load. XD I feed them Fluker's Cricket Quencher on a regular basis and then whenever I have random fruit or veggies lying around I feed them that too. Thanks for the advice!

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## Dog Shrink

Your ethical morality for all creatures "right to life"is admirable but a bit misplaced when it comes to feeling sorry for prey creatures.  After all you DID buy the crickets to be fed to the Bruces... and you've likely already fed how many pregnant females to them already with out knowing they could possibly be pregnant... I wouldn't get too upset hon with feeding this one, just because you suspect it's preggers.  They likely ALL are.  It's the nature of prey creatures, insect or otherwise, to be fruitful and multiply.  That's why they have like a gazillion babies... gotta keep the food chain moving  :Smile:

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## Brit

> Your ethical morality for all creatures "right to life"is admirable but a bit misplaced when it comes to feeling sorry for prey creatures.  After all you DID buy the crickets to be fed to the Bruces... and you've likely already fed how many pregnant females to them already with out knowing they could possibly be pregnant... I wouldn't get too upset hon with feeding this one, just because you suspect it's preggers.  They likely ALL are.  It's the nature of prey creatures, insect or otherwise, to be fruitful and multiply.  That's why they have like a gazillion babies... gotta keep the food chain moving


Hahaha I completely agree with you Kel, my moral compass can get a bit extreme sometimes. >< I just have a love of animals I guess...even nasty gross crickets and other insects. >> I know eventually I'll feed her to him without guilt, you're right I did buy them for that after all. XD; I'm just a big silly sometimes. ><

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## Tony

That cricket is not fully mature, they do not breed until they reach the final instar and develop wings.

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## Brit

> That cricket is not fully mature, they do not breed until they reach the final instar and develop wings.


Oh I see, so she can't be pregnant? Then why is she so huge? I guess she was just born that way...?

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## Leefrogs

I say start bedding them. You're going to be a new mom again, and with dome Lil guys that'll need little food! Put a to go cup in there with some dirt, 5 of each sex for 10 days, then sacrafice them to the frog god, Bruce. Atleast that way they've lived a full and complete life. But then you'll have 300 or more babies to raise!

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## Brit

> I say start bedding them. You're going to be a new mom again, and with dome Lil guys that'll need little food! Put a to go cup in there with some dirt, 5 of each sex for 10 days, then sacrafice them to the frog god, Bruce. Atleast that way they've lived a full and complete life. But then you'll have 300 or more babies to raise!


I might have to start thinking about that it could probably benefit me greatly financially in the long run...the only problem is I have nowhere else to keep them. D:

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## Leefrogs

You need 1 12" inch high Tupperware like tub, and 2 5" ones. I got square ones at Walmart. Smaller ones for hatching, rearing, larger one as they get beyond 4 weeks. I use cricket keeper for adults and as breeding station. These can easily be slid under your bed, punch some holes in the top and egg crate, some dirt and done. If u use a gravey dish and top from KFC, it's perfect for laying eggs. Or if u can fibd something like it. Put a couple holes (after the ten days) and put the lid on. To speed hatching up, put your container on top of your hood light. They will hatch in days. If u want to slow it down, leave them at room temp, takes 2 weeks.  U don't need giant tubs like in the article, that's for allot of frogs. I have like 6-800 ?? babies right now. 1st batch is 3 weeks old, another just hatching. And parents making more eggs (I hope) and keep rotating. I'll have to thin the herd, and give opal a bowl full a couple times. Because I just got too many!!!

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## Brit

Yeah that's the thing about the cricket breeding I'm worried about, is having too many. I'm only going to have four frogs, and that's after the P. Tomopterna get here next week. I don't think I'll need 600 crickets running around for four frogs. XD; The P. Tomopterna are thin-bodied too, I don't think they're going to eat that much. D:

But for the future it's a good idea. I plan in the long run on having 7 or 8 frogs, including two darts and some more monkey frogs (Idk which kind yet). So that would work out for later on, but right now I don't think I have the space or the patience. Plus I don't want crickets escaping and running around in the house, that would just be bad. >< I don't have a basement or anything where I can contain them unfortunately.

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## Leefrogs

Theyre right in my loft style house. No basment no eacapes. For less crix use less adults. Maybe 2 of each would make 200, and that would have to last u 3 weeks while the others grow up.

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## Brit

> Theyre right in my loft style house. No basment no eacapes. For less crix use less adults. Maybe 2 of each would make 200, and that would have to last u 3 weeks while the others grow up.


I see...I guess I could do it on a smaller scale...hmm...maybe I'll just take two from my existing bunch and throw them in a seperate container with some wet dirt in a cup...but how do I know when they've laid eggs...? O:

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## Froggiestyle

i got told that all females crickets have eggs in them from only a couple of days old  and they only lay them when they fully grown and if you got anything like sand dirt andits becomes moist then she will lay her eggs and only takes 3 or 4 days before they hatch and they can lay up to 800 eggs but once they have hatched they intend to get eaten but other/older crickets.

so if your thinking of breeding them get a chinese container or something make a alaminium lid for it as the crickets would eat through fibrglass one's

only fill the container up half way with some type of substrate and that keep alot of moisture then remove it and put it into another container 15 gallon. but make sure you put some masking tape of some sort half way around the cantainer to stop them from crawling out then yeah

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