Cricket traps

[2goose]

Any body had any luck trapping live crickets ? Tried a couple of things I found on the net, but no luck.

 

[HEChicken]

I've heard you can lay out a towel (or other cloth garment) overnight and in the morning turn it over and they all have hidden under it. I keep meaning to try this but haven't yet.

 

[t/m]

You may have to move or use a few (dark towels, carpet remnant, tote lids etc.) around the yard. For us it seemed they needed a couple of days undisturbed to load back up. Then be ready! They are quick little things to catch! I usually do the turning over and hubby catches. But our girls LOVE them!

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Oh Yes. If you want bugs for your chickens or in my case for my son's bearded dragon, I showed him how to cut a milk jug (Plastic) near the top so it's curving inwards. Then bury it with the top flush with the ground level and place a board over it with a gap of 1/2 inch or so. Check it every morning. My son had lots of insects to feed his lizard with. We buried it alongside the fenceline hedge area and it caught lots. One morning he found a "Tiger Salamander" curled up in the jug. I made him let it go as it is rare and probably endangered, I'd only seen one other around here 30 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Salamander

 

[HEChicken]

DarkMatter, That's wild about the tiger salamander. I'm so glad you let it go!

To the OP, last summer I did rig up system that worked quite well for me. I took a styrofoam cup (the disposable kind you get drinks in at some fast food outlets) and cut the bottom out. I then took an old bread bag and with a rubber band, fastened the opening of the bread bag to now open bottom end of the cup. At my son's school, the crickets and grasshoppers loved to hang out on a brick wall so when I went to pick him up, I'd take it with me. Moving fast, we placed the open end of the cup over the cricket. It took fright and jumped, but the only place it could go was further into the cup. Seeking to escape, it would keep going - into the bread bag. We could then safely remove the cup from the wall and place its lid on to keep the cricket in. Some days we got 30-50 in a matter of minutes with this method, only losing the occasional savvy cricket who figured out he had to go the opposite way to get out. Unfortunately we must have wiped out the colony last year because this year there are hardly any there

 

[mystang89]

I've got a wood pile and just flip over some wood. The chickens love it. They stand next to the wood and wait, I flip it and they attack whatever moves, normally crickets. If the chickens aren't around I just grab them and throw them to the chickens. Beware, crickets bite. It hurts. I took a sledge hammer to that particular cricket.