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Has anyone tried raising earthworms or red worms in a cricket breeding bin? If this can be done without harm to the cricket eggs, it sounds like a great way to cycle cricket waste and keep the bin cleaner.

New poster, long time lurker here

My thoughts on this would be the worms like it alot darker and moister and I think cooler than the crickets do; so I would think it to not be a productive environment for them both. Although experiment, I'd love to be wrong LOL
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Linda ö¿ö

I can't remember what I was watching but there was someone who actually did do that... I'm not sure of the setup or whatnot but it was on TV.... He had earthworms in about 6 or 7 inches of compost, the crickets on top with places to hide... fresh slices of stuff for moisture every day cause the earthworms would turn all the soil and drag it under to go with the rest of the compost stuff... and the best thing about it was.. the crickets got their heat from the composting action.. Now I don't know how long this person had done it for or what.. all I saw was the tail end of the show.. so I don't know how successful it was or anything.

That is a good point, if you are using earthworms. Red wrigglers live within the top layer of the compost and therefore do not like it as hot. Earthworms are deeper living and can handle more heat, but will still do a mass evacuation if it gets too hot (watched it happening once when I added grass clippings to my outdoor compost bin and heated it up, the worms were running out the bottom).

Lets us know if you try it and it works though, my kitchen is becoming rather crowded with the various insect population bins LOL
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Linda ö¿ö

I guess I'll have to set up another bin, and try that--probably get it together next month. I think I'll try earthworms, and put in deeper soil so that there's less chance of overheating them (plus they make great feeders for my partner's savanna monitor and bearded dragon).
It will probably be a bit tricky to prevent the earthworm feed from molding and affecting the crickets.

you don't have to use the ground nightcrawlers food to feed them. In fact, if you do you have to leave it on the soil surface or it can kill your crawlers as per the instructions. Also, using the ground food your bin won't be producing heat as it the decaying materials, bacteria, etc that produces the heat.

So, what do you feed them? Any non-meat leftovers. Don't use meat or fat, but bone is ok, it will just take a long time for it to break down. Egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds are wonderful as are leftovers from salads, your dinner veggies, old fruit, etc. I don’t let my hubby throw anything out. If his bananas get too dark I chop them up. If the apples start getting soft I give them first to my roaches, mealworms and rats but the remainder gets chopped and tossed in the worm bin. Use citrus peels, old potatoes, fruit & veggie peels & seeds, tomato sauce, leftover pasta excluding any cheese, rice, cereal (no milk), hair trimmings, brushing from dog/cat brush, sliced corn cobs, anything non-fatty. If you just toss these on top of the soil they will mold. So make sure you alternate ends of the bin. Dig a hole, put in your scraps, sprinkle with just a little bit of powdered garden lime to keep it sweet (keeps down the odor) and cover with soil. Next feeding repeat the same with the other end of the bin.

I would think you would be able to chase the cricks to the end you aren’t working on, or they’ll just run to the other end If there are a lot of scraps in the soil wait a while before adding more. After a while you will get to know how fast your worms will go through the chow producing wonderful heat & life giving compost and nutrient filled castings.

Good luck and let us know how your experiment goes

Marcia

Hm, that won't work with cricks in there--I'd have to leave at least one end of the bin undisturbed, to avoid digging up and mangling the cricket eggs.

I've been long wanting to introduce worms into my alligators diet as a stable food source so this is a good idea I'll try it.
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"Been there done that"
Canrivorous plant and Herp specialist
Ask me a question, I guarantee an answer.
May not be the answer to your question but it will be an answer.

How about eartworms waste? And if the earthworms don't have any more cricket's waste to eat? Would they harm cricket's eggs?
Just some thoughts
~Greg~reptilesalonica

-=ReptileSalonica=-

Earthworm waste is a high quality organic fertilizer consisting primarily of clean dirt and nutrients good for plants...not something that needs to be cleaned out of the bin.

You simply bury some dried weeds to prevent worm starvation.

I had another thought on the issue...if the worms bother the cricket eggs, then use the typical wire over dirt in a seperate container idea for a breeder bin, and then put the containers in the worm bin to hatch and grow. That would keep the eggs away from the worms, and you simply use the bin as a growing container. If it works the way I think it will, it should be virtually maintenance free--just put in moist greens/fruit/veggies for water, and a bit of dry food in a dish, when the greens dry out, bury them, and add more.
No cleaning should be required. Anything moldy you could simply bury deep, the worms will take care of it.