MODEL FOR USE IN MASS-PRODUCTION OF ACHETA-DOMESTICUS (ORTHOPTERA, GRYLLIDAE) AS FOOD

A production model was developed that simulates the harvest of a predetermined number of eggs of house cricket, Acheta domesticus (L.), per day by regulating the numbers and ages of adults in the breeding colony. With a discard age of 24 d, the production model predicted a sustainable harvest of almost-equal-to 4,000 (4,440) and 6,000 (6,660) crickets per day when four or six pairs, respectively, of newly emerged adults were added per day to an initial breeding colony of 50 pairs. Natality was based on the number of nymphs surviving to 7 d per surviving female, after which little nymphal mortality occurred. Ovipositional surface area availability was not a limiting factor in egg production.