Cricket Traps!

Ok..so I must be crazy. I figure that is the only reason that I would be trying to make a cricket trap. I know a lot of people use crickets as fish bait but that is not the case here, I always just catch a few minnows or shrimp if I want to go fishing. No, this cricket trap is not for anything so "normal" as fishing..I have to catch crickets to teach two not-so-smart juvenile Mockingbirds how to find their own food. This bit of me feeding them is long past being cute, fun or even remotely something that I wish to do for the rest of my life. I have had enough of smishing bugs..catching worms..and trying to get them to eat normal bird things. They want spaghetti. I am serious here..these birds like spaghetti and they fly to the screen door to get my attention so they can eat their pasta. I try to shoo them away..doesn't work. I try to put them in the garden where there are bugs galore..they are not interested. I even bought eighteen packets of bug infused suet cakes..they won't touch them. Once they get on the screen door, problems arise. Lets just say, birds are not the cleanest of animals and they do not care one diddlysquat where exactly they are doing their "uncleaness". I am not sure if any of you have ever tried to "unclaw" a bird from a screen door but it is not easy. I attempt to remove them merely because I grew tired of cleaning the door and the steps..ewww! So..I shall try one more time to teach them the fine art of looking for bugs!

I patiently researched "how to catch crickets" on the internet! Oh the marvels of the modern world! It was online where I found the instructions of several methods of catching crickets. Some were a mite involved and would have cost me more than running to the bait shop to buy fifty crickets. (This still is an option but only after I have exhausted all other ideas or exhausted myself trying.) Two "traps" caught my attention! Oh, there were plenty of cricket traps but these caught my attention because they were free! Free is always good! I would make a cricket trap! One method was quite simple. It involved rolling several sheets of newspaper in a very loose cylinder, then wetting it slightly and placing this in the yard near some mulch or leaves. Hey...I can do that! There just so happened to be newspaper as filler around the suet cakes when they were shipped! This trap was a five-minute wonder! I did exactly as instructed and skipped myself out to the camellia garden. There was lots of mulchy leaves under the bushes that just looked inviting to crickets! I carefully laid my soggy newspaper on the ground. Finished!

The next trap was just about as simple. I rummaged around the house for a good five minutes and had acquired all the necessary components....a box..a cardboard tube..and lettuce! Ok, it seems that all you do is "drill" a hole in the middle of the cardboard (paper towel) tube. Drill a hole in a cardboard..uhhh..how about poke it in there with some scissors?? Stab! One hole..that step was complete! "Now on opposites sides of the box, drill two holes that are the size of the tube." Stab..stab..wiggle..wiggle...yep..two holes the size of the tube....more or less. "Slide the tube through the two holes and position the middle hole to the side." Yeah..this was easy..I suppose my box was a bit wimpy or something since once I started shoving the tube through one side, the other side of the box fell off! Nothing a little tape won't fix though! And while I am about it, I guess I need to tape the bottom of the box..it sort of fell apart, too. After I finished taping my box back together and shoving the tube into place, I felt confident that I had proceeded correctly! My trap was made! I tossed the lettuce pieces into the box and closed the lid! Out to the garden again! It was getting dark by this time so I grabbed a flashlight and slipped out the door and down the steps. I set this trap near the Daylilies. This garden had just been watered so I figured perhaps the crickets might be out and about and smell my lettuce! ( I am a bit worried that the raccoons might also smell my lettuce and haul off with the trap during the night but that is a chance I will just have to take..I refuse to sit and guard a cricket trap!) I am supposed to leave the traps overnight and check them in the morning. Hopefully, I will have caught enough crickets or bugs of some kind to introduce the goofy, little birds to the fine art of bug-catching!