DIY Cricket and Roach Housing
Copyright CricketFood.com ©2001-2003

There are 3 main requirements to ensure that the crickets and roaches stay healthy and thrive when selecting housing arrangements.

• Good Ventilation
• Adequate Space
• Appropriate Temperature

I've experimented with different ways to make cricket and roach cages with these requirements as guide lines. Many people use 60 quart Rubbermaid tubs and just leaving the top open but here's another option for keeping larger quantities of feeders or breeders without taking chances with escapies. What I have come up with is a DIY conversion to a plastic tub that is lightweight, easy to clean and maintain, affordable, and works great for keeping and 2 to 3,000 insects for breeding. You will need the following tools and materials to do the conversion.

• Drill with a 1/2" drill bit
• Jig Saw with a fine tooth metal cutting blade
• Hot Melt Glue Gun with general purpose glue sticks
• Medium grit sand paper
• 1/16" mesh metal wire screen
• Tin Snips or other type of metal cutters for the screen
• Tape Measure
• Permanent Marker
• Large Plastic Tub

I start with a 90 qt. plastic tub made by Sterlite (aprox. 17" W x 35" L x 13" H), available at Wal-Mart for around $7. I use a marker to draw a 7" H x 9" W rectangle on each end of the tub for my cutouts. Make sure that you leave enough room at the top to allow for the base of the saw to pass below any contours from the lid and handles. Next, I drill 4 holes, one is each corner of the area just marked. This allows the jig saw blade to drop in so you can make your cuts.

It's important to start with the top horizontal cut first. Due to the open top, there is less structural integrity here and with the sides and bottom still intact there is less chance of cracking the plastic while cutting.

Make the 2 vertical cuts next and finish with the bottom horizontal cut, reaching around the open top to hold the "flap" for support. It's important to take your time, using a slower speed setting on the saw and supporting the "flap" to prevent cracking the plastic. Repeat these steps for both ends.

Go ahead and place the lid back on the tub. Watching the contours for the handles again, mark an area roughly 9" W x 13 1/2" L on one end with the edge of the opening centered on the lid. Drill a hole in each corner and proceed to make your cuts starting with the center of the lid, then down the two sides and finishing with cut the closest to the end. Be sure to support the "flap" in the center before the last cut is made. Keep the pieces that you cut away as you will need these later as a pattern for cutting the screen.

After you've cut the opening in both ends and the lid, use some sandpaper to clean away any roughness left around the edges. You will also want to rough sand the inside border of the opening approximately 1" in from the cutout. This will allow a better bond for the glue to hold the screen in place.

At this point, go ahead and wash the tub and lid. This will remove any dust from the sanding that will effect the bonding of the glue.

Now you're ready to cut the screen to size. Unroll the screen and place the cutout from the lid on top. I always start with the largest piece, that way if you make any mistakes while cutting it can be re-cut to a smaller size without wasting that piece. Cut the screen so that it is 1" larger on each side for gluing. Be careful of the hatching when you are cutting the screen. You want to make sure that you follow just to the outside of one of the wire strands, not cutting through it. This will prevent the screen from becoming unraveled and leaving sharp pieces of wire sticking up. Follow the same steps for the two side pieces as well.

Gluing the screen over the openings requires great care. You have to make sure that the screen goes down tight without any wrinkles that could allow the crickets to escape. The best way to insure this is to start by tacking down 2 corners on one edge. I start with the bottom as this is the hardest area to get access to with the glue gun. It also makes it easier visually to line up the screen evenly over the opening. Once you have the 2 bottom corners glued down, start in center of this edge, and work the glue out to the corners. This can be time consuming as you will need to hold the screen down tight while the glue cools so take this in sections.

Once you have the bottom completely glued in, gently pull the screen tight to the top corners and tack these down as well. Use the same steps as above to glue these edges into place as well, working from the center out to the corners.

This is what the cage looks like when completed. The screen top allows for the placement of a reflector type light fixture with a 60 watt bulb for a heat source, as well as allowing you to look inside to see where the crickets and roaches are *before* you open the lid.

To finish the project you will need some cardboard egg flats. Cut 3 egg flats in half and glue the 6 pieces together so they stand on their side. There are 2 reasons for cutting the flats in half.

1. The flats are almost as tall as the sides of the tub which makes it easy for crickets and roaches to escape while the lid is off.
2. Gluing the halves together provides a stable platform to set egg laying trays on for breeding crickets.

Article written by Ronnie Buck
This article is copyright CricketFood.com ©2003 - Reproduced with Permission