6 ms·

How to Farm Insects at Home

46 points by DanI-S 13y ago

ams6110 13y ago
a minimal initial investment in a cricket colony could absolutely feed a family of four I've tried to raise crickets to feed a pet bearded dragon. I followed all the guidelines, but generally could never even keep them alive let alone get them to reproduce. I don't think this is quite as easy as it's made to sound. It's odd because you see crickets everywhere in the wild, they must be pretty hardy, but I utterly failed trying to "farm" them.
- NullXorVoid 13y ago
  Crickets are one of the worst insects to breed. It's hard to keep a stable colony, they smell awful, make noise, and constantly jump out and escape. I breed Guyana roaches to feed my pet tarantulas. They are hardy and easy to breed, plus they don't smell or make noise and they can't climb walls. They give live birth and don't infest homes. I keep them in a large storage bin with a screen lid filled with egg crates, and feed them fresh fruit and dry cat food once a week. I live in a small apartment and guests don't even know they're there unless I point them out.
  - ElongatedTowel 13y ago
    I know this happens with every animal bred for food production, but I was taken aback when I've read that those roaches can live up to two years. If I had a choice I would want the animals I keep to live at least a greater part of their lifespan before killing them.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
    How the FUCK do you manage to do this? As someone who grew up in Guyana, I can't even stand the memory of those things, let alone imagine touching them again. They can't climb walls? What kind of walls do you have? They climbed everywhere and happily flew into your face when I was a kid. There is absolutely nothing I can think of that I'm afraid of, but those bugs give me the shudders! Ugh! Props to you for being able to do that!
dm2 13y ago
Maybe crickets and mealworms would be a good diet for prisoners but I'd personally rather eat rice and beans if I was on a limited income. Maybe have these farms available for very poor countries? I just don't see the desire to eat crickets and worms. And forget about a social life or dating once they find out you raise and eat crickets and worms, doesn't matter how good you are at explaining the concept. Am I missing something?
- ams6110 13y ago
  Good source of protein and fats, and often plentiful in the absence of agriculture. It's mostly a cultural aversion. Eating insects is/was common in hunter-gatherer cultures.
  - nawitus 13y ago
    Vegetables are a better source of protein and healthy fats, and they're more efficient. Insects are just animals that inefficiently convert calories into animal protein. On top of that it's not ethical to eat animals.
    - gknoy 13y ago
      Can you elaborate on why it's not ethical to eat insects?
      - nawitus 13y ago
        Insects can feel pain and it's unethical to kill animals unnecessarily.
        ams6110 13y ago
        I find eating to be necessary. YMMV.
        jtreminio 13y ago
        I wonder if it would be possible to only eat as much of the animal as you will consume in one sitting, leaving the animal alive and just removing extremities piecemeal for consumption.
wiradikusuma 13y ago
How do you convince a person like me who thinks it's gross to eat insects? Esp. Out of fear they (or the parasites they bring) might "become alive and crawl up to your brain or start a colony inside your bowel".
- ams6110 13y ago
  I would think you typically cook them or prepare them in some way, not just pop them alive into your mouth like a bird.
  - ChuckMcM 13y ago
    +1 to this. Ate toasted grubs as part of an outdoor survival class once, nobody would think that those were alive. There were also some battered and fried mealworms but I don't recall having any of those.
  - pampa 13y ago
    Put half a pound of crickets in food processor. Two teaspoons starch (for binding). Add 4 small sliced green chili peppers, some grated ginger, 2-3 thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, teaspoon of fish sauce (for the msg!). Form into patties, deep fry until golden brown. I think i had something like that from a food stall in Thailand, not far from Cambodian border O_o
- rdouble 13y ago
  Peer pressure works. I had some chili dried grasshoppers in Mexico. My sister forced me to eat them. They weren't that great, but weren't bad, either. Sort of like eating sunflower seeds. I'll admit I don't know how one would psych themselves up to eat a plate of grubs on their own. Maybe drop some hallucinogens first?
  - jonsterling 13y ago
    Add hallucinogens and they start to crawl... :(
ChuckMcM 13y ago
As my wife pointed out to me, reading this over my shoulder, it was always used in the context of her refusing to eat something she didn't like, as in "In some parts of the world they eat bugs!" That said, in San Francisco the grasshopper tacos were banned [1] even though people did like them and people back in Oxaca apparently suffer no ill effects from eating them. So given that good marketing (grasshopper tacos) can overcome western sensitivities, it offers the possibility that farming bugs for human consumption can in fact be a worthwhile endeavor. [1] http://boingboing.net/2011/06/09/grasshopper-tacos-ba.html http://boingboing.net/2011/06/09/grasshopper-tacos-ba.html
callmeed 13y ago
I live a mile from Hotlix and the kids & I often incorporate one of their bug products when we play card/board games ("loser eats a chocolate covered cricket"). If anyone wants to try something let me know. The store has blemished items cheap and I could mail some out this week.
- GuiA 13y ago
  Do your kids end up enjoying the treats, despite the fact that they're associated with the negative act of losing?
thejteam 13y ago
Convenient. I just finished reading "How to Eat Fried Worms" to the kids. Off to find some nice night-crawlers...
icey 13y ago
I looked into selling insects as food last year. There's definitely a market for it, but I'm not sure what would stop a well-established existing insect farm from getting into the business the moment it looks viable and crushing everyone as they're already equipped for huge amounts of production, shipping and handling. There were some disappointed people when I ran my test and they tried to buy crickets or mealworms just to find out I didn't actually have any. Ultimately I decided not to mess with it because I'm not very excited by eating insects myself. I've tried a few things (crickets and mealworms) and while they didn't taste bad, they didn't taste like much of anything... I foresaw the eating of many insects in order to make it succeed and it's pretty tough to get excited about :)
- marshray 13y ago
  Perhaps you could raise them on gourmet coffee beans or genetically engineer them to taste like blueberries or something.
hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
Eating insects actually looks closer to the norm outside of McDonald's land, so farming insects should definitely be an option. It's only taboo because people never tasted it. I ate ants [1] here in Brazil and it's delicious. In Vietnam, apparently, fried tarantulas is another delicacy - tastes like lobster. The article mentions crickets, but by the smell of it I don't think they make a good appetizer. [1] http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/recipe-ica-farofa.html http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/recipe-ica-fa...

46 points by DanI-S 13y ago

a minimal initial investment in a cricket colony could absolutely feed a family of four I've tried to raise crickets to feed a pet bearded dragon. I followed all the guidelines, but generally could never even keep them alive let alone get them to reproduce. I don't think this is quite as easy as it's made to sound. It's odd because you see crickets everywhere in the wild, they must be pretty hardy, but I utterly failed trying to "farm" them.

NullXorVoid 13y ago
Crickets are one of the worst insects to breed. It's hard to keep a stable colony, they smell awful, make noise, and constantly jump out and escape. I breed Guyana roaches to feed my pet tarantulas. They are hardy and easy to breed, plus they don't smell or make noise and they can't climb walls. They give live birth and don't infest homes. I keep them in a large storage bin with a screen lid filled with egg crates, and feed them fresh fruit and dry cat food once a week. I live in a small apartment and guests don't even know they're there unless I point them out.
- ElongatedTowel 13y ago
  I know this happens with every animal bred for food production, but I was taken aback when I've read that those roaches can live up to two years. If I had a choice I would want the animals I keep to live at least a greater part of their lifespan before killing them.
- HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
  How the FUCK do you manage to do this? As someone who grew up in Guyana, I can't even stand the memory of those things, let alone imagine touching them again. They can't climb walls? What kind of walls do you have? They climbed everywhere and happily flew into your face when I was a kid. There is absolutely nothing I can think of that I'm afraid of, but those bugs give me the shudders! Ugh! Props to you for being able to do that!

dm2 13y ago

Maybe crickets and mealworms would be a good diet for prisoners but I'd personally rather eat rice and beans if I was on a limited income. Maybe have these farms available for very poor countries? I just don't see the desire to eat crickets and worms. And forget about a social life or dating once they find out you raise and eat crickets and worms, doesn't matter how good you are at explaining the concept. Am I missing something?

ams6110 13y ago
Good source of protein and fats, and often plentiful in the absence of agriculture. It's mostly a cultural aversion. Eating insects is/was common in hunter-gatherer cultures.
- nawitus 13y ago
  Vegetables are a better source of protein and healthy fats, and they're more efficient. Insects are just animals that inefficiently convert calories into animal protein. On top of that it's not ethical to eat animals.
  - gknoy 13y ago
    Can you elaborate on why it's not ethical to eat insects?
    - nawitus 13y ago
      Insects can feel pain and it's unethical to kill animals unnecessarily.
      - ams6110 13y ago
        I find eating to be necessary. YMMV.
      - jtreminio 13y ago
        I wonder if it would be possible to only eat as much of the animal as you will consume in one sitting, leaving the animal alive and just removing extremities piecemeal for consumption.

wiradikusuma 13y ago

How do you convince a person like me who thinks it's gross to eat insects? Esp. Out of fear they (or the parasites they bring) might "become alive and crawl up to your brain or start a colony inside your bowel".

ams6110 13y ago
I would think you typically cook them or prepare them in some way, not just pop them alive into your mouth like a bird.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  +1 to this. Ate toasted grubs as part of an outdoor survival class once, nobody would think that those were alive. There were also some battered and fried mealworms but I don't recall having any of those.
- pampa 13y ago
  Put half a pound of crickets in food processor. Two teaspoons starch (for binding). Add 4 small sliced green chili peppers, some grated ginger, 2-3 thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, teaspoon of fish sauce (for the msg!). Form into patties, deep fry until golden brown. I think i had something like that from a food stall in Thailand, not far from Cambodian border O_o
rdouble 13y ago
Peer pressure works. I had some chili dried grasshoppers in Mexico. My sister forced me to eat them. They weren't that great, but weren't bad, either. Sort of like eating sunflower seeds. I'll admit I don't know how one would psych themselves up to eat a plate of grubs on their own. Maybe drop some hallucinogens first?
- jonsterling 13y ago
  Add hallucinogens and they start to crawl... :(

ChuckMcM 13y ago

As my wife pointed out to me, reading this over my shoulder, it was always used in the context of her refusing to eat something she didn't like, as in "In some parts of the world they eat bugs!" That said, in San Francisco the grasshopper tacos were banned [1] even though people did like them and people back in Oxaca apparently suffer no ill effects from eating them. So given that good marketing (grasshopper tacos) can overcome western sensitivities, it offers the possibility that farming bugs for human consumption can in fact be a worthwhile endeavor. [1] http://boingboing.net/2011/06/09/grasshopper-tacos-ba.html http://boingboing.net/2011/06/09/grasshopper-tacos-ba.html

callmeed 13y ago

I live a mile from Hotlix and the kids & I often incorporate one of their bug products when we play card/board games ("loser eats a chocolate covered cricket"). If anyone wants to try something let me know. The store has blemished items cheap and I could mail some out this week.

GuiA 13y ago
Do your kids end up enjoying the treats, despite the fact that they're associated with the negative act of losing?

thejteam 13y ago

Convenient. I just finished reading "How to Eat Fried Worms" to the kids. Off to find some nice night-crawlers...

icey 13y ago

I looked into selling insects as food last year. There's definitely a market for it, but I'm not sure what would stop a well-established existing insect farm from getting into the business the moment it looks viable and crushing everyone as they're already equipped for huge amounts of production, shipping and handling. There were some disappointed people when I ran my test and they tried to buy crickets or mealworms just to find out I didn't actually have any. Ultimately I decided not to mess with it because I'm not very excited by eating insects myself. I've tried a few things (crickets and mealworms) and while they didn't taste bad, they didn't taste like much of anything... I foresaw the eating of many insects in order to make it succeed and it's pretty tough to get excited about :)

marshray 13y ago
Perhaps you could raise them on gourmet coffee beans or genetically engineer them to taste like blueberries or something.

hcarvalhoalves 13y ago

Eating insects actually looks closer to the norm outside of McDonald's land, so farming insects should definitely be an option. It's only taboo because people never tasted it. I ate ants [1] here in Brazil and it's delicious. In Vietnam, apparently, fried tarantulas is another delicacy - tastes like lobster. The article mentions crickets, but by the smell of it I don't think they make a good appetizer. [1] http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/recipe-ica-farofa.html http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/recipe-ica-fa...