Despite the name, the Cricket Pen is not an enclosure for your reptile — it is a holding pen and dispenser for the live crickets you feed to it. Crickets crawl into the removable tubes to hide; you lift a tube out, tap the number you want into the terrarium and put the tube back. That is the whole idea, and it is a good deal tidier than chasing escapees around a takeaway container. If you buy a small tub of crickets and feed them out over two days, you do not need this. It earns its keep when you are keeping a colony alive for weeks.
Two sizes. Small (18 x 14 x 11cm) holds roughly 20 adult crickets, 50 half-inch or 100 pinheads. Large (30 x 20.5 x 19.5cm) holds about 50 adults, 100 small or 250 pinheads. Both come with food and water bowls and foam inserts. Stock it with Exo Terra crickets, and use a cricket feeding rock in the terrarium itself so the crickets stay where the animal can find them. More in our Exo Terra collection.
Features
- Removable dispensing tubes — crickets hide inside them by instinct, so feeding out is a matter of lifting a tube rather than reaching into the colony.
- Flapper mechanism — closes the tube while you carry it, which is what stops the rest of the colony coming out with dinner.
- Well-ventilated removable lid — crickets need dry, moving air; stale humid air is what kills a colony.
- Food and water bowls with foam inserts — the foam lets crickets drink without drowning. Replace the inserts once they tear.
Specifications
Small 18 x 14 x 11cm (7 x 5.5 x 4.3in), item PT2285, shipping weight 340g. Large 30 x 20.5 x 19.5cm (12 x 8 x 7.6in), item PT2287, shipping weight 970g. Keep crickets at 21-23°C (70-75°F) somewhere dry and well ventilated, with food and water always available. Clean with hot water only — soap and detergent leave a residue that can kill crickets. Gut-loading the colony, or adding a slice of apple, keeps them alive longer and makes them worth more to the animal eating them.