Armstrong’s live crickets are excellent fishing bait for many species of fish like bream, bluegill, perch, and sunfish. Why should you fish with live bait over artificial bait? Fish can determine within milliseconds whether or not the bait in their mouth is live or artificial. If they realize it’s artificial, they’ll eject the bait out of their mouth, often before the fisherman even has time to set the hook.

There are many advantages to fishing with live crickets:

1. Fish prefer the live bait
2. Crickets are cheaper than many other live baits
3. Crickets are easy to handle
4. Left over crickets can be kept for weeks with correct care (view our blog on how to store and keep live crickets.)

Places to Fish with Crickets

You can catch fish with crickets in several different bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, and streams. It is best to fish close to logs and brush. Try fishing close to the bottom, and change locations and depth until you’re able to locate the fish. Once you find the fish, try not to frighten them.

Tackle Needed

The most common rig for fishing with crickets is a shank wire hook, a nylon monofilament line, a slip float, and a BB shot for weight. The wire shank hook allows for an easy removal if swallowed by the fish, and also will bend for easy retrieval if tangled in brush. Typically, 4-10 pound test line is used for this type of fishing. You can use a cane pole or spin rod when fishing with crickets. Keep in mind, spin rods with slip floats allow fisherman to cast farther.

How to Hook Crickets

There are many different approaches to placing crickets on hooks. One method that seems to work well is to insert the hook from the tail through its abdomen, exiting just below the head. This technique will help the cricket stay on the hook during casting.

Acheta Domestica- Preferred Cricket

Armstrong’s sells the acheta domestica, or brown cricket. It was the original cricket that started the cricket farming industry in the 1940s. Fish prefer Armstrong’s cricket species over others because of its:

1. Odor
2. Activity level
3. Soft Exoskeleton

Cricket quantities start at 500 and go up to 5,000 in 1 box. Purchase your live fishing bait now. 

Why feed mealworms to your birds? So many birds eat insects naturally that feeding them worms only seems natural! Mealworms are the larva form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. The larva grows into pupa and eventually adult beetles. The larva stage usually lasts about 10 weeks. Mealworms are high in protein and rich in vitamins A and B, making them a great food source for wild birds, reptiles, and fish.

Mealworms are a nutritious food supplement to bird feeding, especially to bluebirds who find them irresistible. They provide additional protein to the bird's regular diet of insects and seeds, particularly in early spring when those sources of protein may not be readily available. During the nesting season, when birds are raising their young, birds appreciate the ready food supply. For nesting birds, finding a consistent source of mealworm supply near their nest box prevents them from having to leave the eggs or nestlings for long periods of time when they could be subjected to predators. Offering mealworms may cause these nesting birds to nest closer to your home too, allowing you to enjoy them more frequently!

Bluebirds, chickadees, robins, wrens, woodpeckers, and other wild birds will eat mealworms placed in feeders that are easily accessible to them. Mealworms crawl, so it is best to place them in feeders that prevent them from getting out. Platform tray feeders, which can be hung or post mounted, are great for feeding mealworms. Keep in mind, it is best to place the feeders several feet away from plants, trees, or other types of cover; this allows the birds to scope out the feeder before flying to it. Simply place 10-25 mealworms in your feeder around the same time each day, and it will soon become a daily stop for your birds.

Armstrong’s Cricket Farm sells mealworms in quantities of one thousand, three thousand, ten thousand, and cases. Mealworms can be stored for weeks in the refrigerator. For more information on how to store mealworms, watch our video on YouTube.

The regularity of feeding varies with the age of your bearded dragon. Bearded dragon’s body temperature must warm up to a temperature of one hundred degrees before they are able to digest their food; therefore, you should feed them after their lights have been on for at least an hour.

The most common insect fed to bearded dragons is the cricket. Armstrong’s Cricket Farm serves the brown cricket, acheta domestica, which is very nutritious and non-aggressive. Reptiles prefer the brown cricket to others because of its odor, activity level, and soft exoskeleton. Adult bearded dragons should be fed once a day. Juveniles should be fed twice a day, due to them having a rapid growth spurt in their first year. Adult bearded dragons should also be fed fruits and vegetables every other day. Fruits and vegetables, like mustard greens, peas, broccoli, and carrots, should make up about 25% of the lizard’s overall diet. Make sure you wash the fruits and vegetables before feeding to remove any pesticide residue.

Bearded dragons may also be fed certain types of worms to offer variety in the pet’s diet. Armstrong’s sells mealworms, superworms, and waxworms – all great sources of protein for your pet. Waxworms are higher in fat, so they should be fed more as a treat. Mealworms should not be fed to young bearded dragons, because they have a high amount of indigestible chitin. The indigestible chitin can cause a young beardie to suffer from impaction.

If you have a beardie, take time to assess its diet. Are you feeding foods or supplements with sufficient calcium levels? Feeding your bearded dragon a well-rounded diet with lots of variety is key to a healthy and happy pet!

Crickets are easy to keep happy. Their needs are basic – crickets need a box to live in, food, water, and something to crawl on. Start by getting a plastic container with a lid. You’ll want a smooth surface inside your box to keep them from crawling out (to give you an idea of what type of space live crickets require, a 14-gallon container can hold around 500 crickets). Cut holes in the lid for good air circulation. If you cut holes large enough for the crickets to escape, you’re likely to have some jumpers. Cover the holes with screen or mesh to keep them inside and well ventilated. It is also better for the crickets if the bottom half of the side walls are roughed up to give the crickets more standing room.  This can easily be done by using sand paper to rough up the side walls.  Remember to leave at least the top 4 inches a very smooth surface so the crickets cannot climb out of the box! 

Next comes the food. Armstrong’s cricket chow is vitamin packed feed – the same we use at our cricket farm. It is designed to give your crickets the most nutrition so that they can pass it along to your pet. The protein in our cricket chow comes from quality grains and meal. Make it available to the crickets using a shallow dish (a butter-tub lid works just fine).  Regular oatmeal or cornmeal from the store is another alternative food for your crickets. 

Drowning comes easily to a cricket if the water is too deep, so the water dish must be very shallow.  Again, a butter-tub lid works fine, or you can order one of our watering devices. They use a foam or plastic donuts to provide moisture to the insects. Another watering option is our water bites, small cubes of gel that give water to the crickets when they bite it. Either watering option will support the crickets, but note that our Water Bites have calcium added to make your cricket a better food for your reptiles.

While they wait to meet your pet, crickets need exercise and a place to hide. Paper egg crates work great. When placed at an angle in the box, the egg crates allow the crickets to climb, crawl and bed down. Many Armstrong shipments use these crates for packing. Save the crates and use them in your cricket keeper box.

Keeping crickets alive at home means many meals of Armstrong’s brown crickets for your pet. And remember, the Armstrong Cricket is the ORIGINAL cricket (Acheta domestica)– the first and best cricket used as feeder insects because of its smell, soft exoskeleton, nutrition, activity level, and gentleness. Thanks for choosing Armstrong Crickets!

Let’s start with the first cricket to arrive on the market and the most common – the brown cricket (Acheta domestica). It was the original cricket that started the cricket farming industry in the 1940’s. Fishermen first began using the brown cricket for fish bait because of the number of bream they could catch when using it. Fish preferred the odor and activity level of the brown cricket to other cricket varieties. As the popularity of the brown cricket grew, zoos started using the brown cricket to feed captive animals as well and the cricket farming industry began.

The brown cricket (Acheta domestica) has 3 primary benefits: it is preferred by reptiles because of its odor and activity level, it has a soft exoskeleton for easy digestion, and it is nutritious. Brown crickets are non-aggressive and unless they are unusually larger than their predator, the brown crickets will not bite. The Acheta domestica moves at a steady pace that is perfect for the reptiles to chase and catch but not too fast.  The brown cricket can survive the heat and cold in transit with the proper packing.  A virus hit the cricket industry a couple of years ago that affected the Acheta domestica. Many growers could not grow them due to the virus. When fed to reptiles the virus does no harm to the reptile. However, the virus was detrimental to some cricket growers’ supply so they began to introduce new species of crickets into the market.

The Jamaican Field cricket (Gryllus assimilis) became approved by the FDA as a feeder cricket and was popular among cricket growers during the virus outbreak. It grows larger than most feeder crickets and withstands variations in temperatures during shipping better than some of the other crickets. Depending on what it is fed, it is nutritionally equivalent to the Acheta domestica with a slight edge on protein content. The Gryllus assimilis has been reported to be more aggressive and if large enough can put a bite in human hands. This can be due simply to hunger issues, so if used to feed your pet make sure they are properly satisfied before introducing them. The Gryllus assimilis doesn’t seem to be as well liked as a feeder cricket by reptiles as the Acheta domestica but some herps do enjoy them.

The Banded cricket (Gyllodes sigillatus) is the smallest of the three crickets listed here and newest to the market as they have been approved by the FDA only recently. They are very lively and high jumpers, something your pet may enjoy as they give a good chase. Their nutritional content is again, about the same as the others depending on what the Banded cricket has been fed. One drawback of the Banded cricket to growers is that they do not live well during transit because they are more susceptible to cold temperatures. More information as to how reptiles prefer the Banded cricket over other types of crickets will be gathered as they stay around longer in the market.

Armstrong Crickets started with the Brown cricket in 1947. We are one of the few cricket growers who guarantee our specie of crickets to be only the Original Brown Cricket. When purchasing crickets as feeder insects be sure your grower specifies what type of cricket they sell and make sure it is the best for your reptile’s needs.

Armstrong Crickets announces the retirement of Bill Armstrong, owner of Armstrong’s Cricket Farm.  Bill inherited the company from his father, Tal, and continued in his footsteps to keep Armstrong Cricket Farm as one of the largest cricket growers in the United States.

Known for his attention to detail and knowledge of crickets, Bill leaves the company in the hands of his sons Jack, Jimmy, and Jeff Armstrong. The new owners are not “new” to cricket farming at all. The brothers have worked with their father Bill most all their lives and will continue the Armstrong legacy of healthy cricket and worm farming.

Armstrong Cricket Farms continues to grow the original cricket that started the cricket farming industry – the Acheta domestica. This cricket is brown in color, has a soft shell, and is preferred by most predators for its scent. Armstrong has farms in 2 locations in the south. Multiple locations allow Armstrong Cricket Farm to keep healthy amounts of crickets and worms and provide customers with fast and reliable service.

Since the 1990s, Louisiana farm owner, Jack Armstrong, has thrown an annual Mardi Gras party in West Monroe to coincide with the Krewe of Janus parade. The parade begins directly in front of one of Armstrong's cricket breeding buildings and travels through the downtown areas of West Monroe and Monroe. Jack celebrates with employees, their families, and the community by cooking Louisiana favorites gumbo and red beans and rice. This year, Miss Louisiana, Hope Anderson, stopped by Armstrong's farm to say hello to Jack's guests and warm up from the cold weather.

Laissez les bon temps roulet!

The optimum temperature for keeping live mealworms is between 42-50 degrees. You can store the mealworms in the refrigerator in their original shipping container from Armstrong’s Crickets. Each week, remove the live mealworms from the refrigerator and allow them to warm up so that they will emerge from their state of hibernation and eat and drink. Feed them byplacing oatmeal or wheat bran in the container with the mealworms along with a water source. We at Armstrong’s like to use our total water bites or small bits of potatoes, carrots or apples as a water source for mealworms.  Leave the mealworms at room temperature for24 hours to ensure they have emerged from their state of hibernation and have gotten the proper nutrition before returning them to the refrigerator.

If you purchase bulk mealworms from Armstrong Crickets, it is highly likely that many will continue to grow and shed their skin. Remember to remove the excess shells before feeding mealworms to yourreptile or bird. It is a good idea to clean out their bedding by removing excess vegetables and shed skins before returning them to the refrigerator. It is not necessary to remove the oatmeal, as it can be used for mealworm bedding as well.

This method of caring for mealworms is very effective and will ensure you have a supply of live reptile food for weeks. One more tip: when feeding mealworms to bluebirds it is important you place them outdoors in a shallow, smooth sided dish (like a dog food bowl). This will ensure the mealworms don’t crawl away before the birds can enjoy them!

Worm composting, or vermiculture, is the use of worms to recycle food scraps and other organic material into rich, valuable soil. Worms eat scraps of food, which then become compost as they pass through the worm’s body. The compost departs the worm and can be used to aid the growth of plants. Why is vermicompost good for plants? Worms eat nutrient-rich fruit and vegetable scraps. The food they eat is then turned into nutrient-rich compost.

You can use worms to help your lawn, flowers, or vegetable garden. Here’s how to set up a worm bin:

Materials needed:
• Raw fruit and vegetable scraps
• Box (5-10 gallon, not too deep)
• Moist newspaper strips
• Worms (typically red worms or red wigglers)

Worms need:
• Moisture
• Air
• Food
• Darkness
• Warm, not hot, temperatures

First, you need to choose a box. A 5-10 gallon generally works best. Make sure you pick a shallow box, as red wigglers prefer to live close to the surface (in the top 6” of the soil). Once you get your box, you will need to rinse it out.

Worms need air, darkness, moisture, and warm (not hot) temperatures. Use moist newspaper strips or leaves to line the box. The strips or leaves will hold moisture and contain air spaces that the worms need.

After three to five months, your box will be filled with compost and very little bedding. It is now time to harvest your bin! After several months, your worms will need to be removed from their castings. High concentrations of vermicastings can create an unhealthy environment for the worms. To prepare for harvesting, do not add new food to your compost bin for two weeks.

To harvest, move all of the contents in the bin to one side. Remove any large pieces of undecomposed newspaper or food. On the empty side, put fresh bedding and food scraps. Continue burying food scraps only in the newly bedded half.

Over the next couple of weeks, the worms will move to the freshly laid bedding (where the food is), and leave their compost behind in the other half of your bin. Once this has happened, remove the compost and replace it with fresh bedding. In order to facilitate worm migration, cover the new side of the bin only, causing things to dry out on the old side.

It is very important to have water available to your crickets at all times. One of the quickest ways to kill crickets is to take them away from their water source, but also know that crickets drown very easily. This is why we do not recommend you have an open pool of water near your crickets. Your watering device can be as simple as a damp sponge, but check it daily to make sure it is damp! Armstrong sells watering devices that keep a constant moisture on the sponges without subjecting the crickets to pools of water. Check our feeding and watering devices when deciding what option fits your schedule and the crickets' needs best.

Depending on the final destination of the crickets, during shipping we choose from among three types of food: water bites, total bites, and potatoes. Potatoes serve as both a water and a food source, so we usually include a potato with each cricket shipment. Even though potatoes are an acceptable food source for crickets, we do not recommend feeding potatoes to your crickets. Potatoes can cause a damp environment that if left for more than 3 days can be harmful to our species of cricket. Please see the product information for more about the water bites and total bites.

Crickets can endure heat, but are sensitive to colder temperatures. Winter shipments of crickets that appear lifeless are usually in a state of hibernation. Allow your crickets to warm up to room temperature for two or three hours before passing judgment on their condition. The cold temperatures can cause the crickets to become dormant, but after a few hours at room temperature they usually perk right up!

Crickets should be kept in temperatures between 70° - 75° F; this ideal range of temperature is key for proper function of crickets’ metabolism and immune system. Crickets should not be exposed to direct sunlight, high humidity, or drafts of cold air.

Cricket containers should be cleaned often, to ensure a healthier, longer life for your crickets. When cleaning your container, remove all dead crickets and waste material. Rinse the container out with hot water or a mild bleach solution. Pesticides or cleaning solutions, other than a mild bleach solution, should NEVER be used to clean your cricket container. Make sure your container is dry before adding more crickets as crickets do not do well around water. Once you have the basics, you should have a great lasting supply of live feed for your pet.