How to Catch Live Crickets

Whether you need food for your reptile or you would like some free fishing bait, catching your own live crickets is a feasible solution. Crickets like to hide in piles of leaves or other organic debris outside and are often plenty in numbers. If you fashion your own homemade live trap and place it in an optimal location, chances are you won't have long to wait before catching some of these insects.

2 or 3 liter plastic bottle

Sharp knife

Scissors

Wet pieces of bread

Sugar

Piece of nylon pantyhose or stocking

Remove the lid from a 2- or 3-liter plastic bottle and rinse it out thoroughly. Make a cut in the bottle with the tip of a sharp knife, about 1/3 of the way down the bottle from the neck.

Insert one blade of a pair of sharp scissors into the cut on the bottle and cut around the bottle to remove the top 1/3 of it.

Place a piece of nylon pantyhose or stocking in the large part of the bottle with the end attached. Tear a slice of bread into small pieces and dampen under a faucet. Place the pieces of bread on the stocking and sprinkle white sugar on top of the pieces.

Insert the top 1/3 of the bottle, neck first, into the remaining part of the bottle. Place the bottle on its side in an area outside near leaves or other organic debris. The crickets should be attracted to the bread and will crawl into the large part of the bottle through the neck. Once the insect is inside, feasting on the bread, the nylon hose will catch on its legs and keep it from jumping back out.

Check the trap on a daily basis and remove any live crickets you catch. Feed your reptile or bait your fishing hook.

Place the trap out of direct sunlight. It will attract more crickets.

This project is not for children. Adults are the only ones that should cut with sharp knives or use scissors to cut the bottle.

Once you cut the plastic on the bottle, the plastic edges will be sharp. Be careful not to cut yourself.