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

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