DIY Cricket Self-Watering Bottle

One of first things I made was a cricket self-watering bottle container, or self waterer. The water lasts about a month with a typical 16.9oz (1.05 PT) water bottle, depending on the cricket population and humidity.

With crickets being a main feeder, providing a source of clean water available to them all the time is essential. The added cost of using the gelatin "cricket" water, not to mention the possible problems, I decided on creating something myself.

Besides watering crickets, it can be used on other feeders or pets too. For example it works great for cockroaches, millipedes, milkweed bugs, and even isopods. If the insect pet/feeder drinks water this is a great way to water them, if their habitat is large enough for one to be inserted.

It is simply a plastic water bottle, a plastic bowl, and cotton balls. The cotton balls are to provide the water safely to the crickets,  without allowing them to drown.

Materials Needed

• Plastic water bottle with cap
• Empty plastic bowl (I make mine from large empty Aspirin/Ibuprofen/Vitamin bottles)
• Jumbo cotton balls
• Poly/fiberglass screen mesh *optional - allows small crickets to climb in the watering cotton to drink easier

Tools Needed

• Sharp hobby knife (razor)
• Hot glue gun with glue sticks
• * Optional - scissors and hacksaw (to cut the plastic bottle and bowl, and screen mesh)

Making the base -

Make the bowl from a large 500 count pill bottle, smaller bottles will work but will provide a tiny watering area. This is done by simply cutting the bottle base about 1" (2.5cm) from the bottom.

With a bowl you are ready to secure your water bottle lid to the base. The easiest method is to place the bowl on a flat surface - invert the water bottle with the lid screwed on. Cover the top of the water bottle lid with hot glue.

With the water bottle lid still hot, place it into the bowl as close to the edge as possible and ensure the bottle is flat and level. Once the hot glue is dry, remove the water bottle from the lid.

Setting everything in place -

I like to fill in as much hot glue into the base as I can to provide plenty of support for the water bottle. With the water bottle unscrewed from the lid, apply hot glue around the lid in the base. Just be sure no hot glue goes over the top of the lid or into it - also leave a gap/opening in the front to provide a water flow area (see photo above).

I also like to apply the optional poly/fiberglass screen mesh on the edges of the water bowl so small crickets can easily get to it to drink.

Cut small squares of the screen mesh and hot glue the top edge, around the rim of the water bowl.

Cutting holes -

The best method to ensure it all lines-up is to screw on the water bottle to the lid, in the bowl. Take your hobby knife and make small cuts towards the front in the lid. I find a 1/4" (6mm) opening is about right for the water.

Now remove the water bottle and finish cutting away the lid section, and if needed, excess dried hot glue. This will be the water flow channel.

Once again screw on the water bottle. You can now use a black marked and mark the opening through the lid on the bottle, or simply make score cuts. Remove the bottle and cut out the opening in the water bottle, as seen below.

Assembling/Cleaning -

The self-watering bottle is complete. Whenever you need to clean and refill it you will need to return to these steps. If cleaning, simply throw away all the old cotton, and lightly scrub the base and bottle clean.

The cotton will usually have lots of cricket eggs. If you carefully, with a soft touch, wash the top of the dirty cotton into another watering bottle or breeder soil container, the eggs will be saved and will hatch later.

First fill the water bottle to the rim with clean cold water. I use tap water just fine, but distilled water would be better.

Turn the base upside down and line up the hole in the bottle with the back of the base, and screw it into position. You want the holes from the bottle and bottle lid to properly align - it will take a few attempts to get it right the first time.

Take several cotton balls and pull them apart and place into the upside down base, use your fingers to hold them in place. Continue adding cotton balls until it nearly full, at which point the cotton should hold itself in place.

Overlap some of the cotton balls around the back of the bottle as far as you can too.

Using thongs or tweezers, ensure the cotton is pressed firmly into the base, with none overhanging the base. In the image above you can see the cotton before it is pressed firmly in place with tweezers.

Lastly to prevent using up the bottle water already, I tilt the bottle slightly under the sink and use the faucet to get the cotton dripping wet. You can also wet the cotton before adding it to the base.

Turn the finished watering bottle right-side up (top of the water bottle in the air). Let it sit about 20 seconds to stabilize the water. While waiting check that all the cotton is inside the base, and none is over the edge (as any over the edge will drip out your water).

The final step is to place the self-watering bottle into your cricket tank.