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Cricket habitat and retail receptacle

Cricket habitat and retail receptacle description/claims

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/754,290 filed Jan. 9, 2004 which application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/440,264 filed Jan. 14, 2003. This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/573,102 filed May 20, 2004.

Live crickets are used as bait for fishing and for pet food. There is a substantial market for live crickets. Crickets are sold by mail order and shipped in crowded shipping boxes. At retail crickets are typically stored loose in a suitable bulk container such as an aquarium, wooden box, or plastic tub. Bulk inventories of crickets take up considerable amounts of floor space. Consequently there are typically more sizes of crickets available for a retailer to sell than can be offered. Quantities of loose crickets are scooped or otherwise derived from their bulk container such as an aquarium and given to the customer in a plastic bag or like receptacle. The crickets do not thrive well in the bulk container environment unless tended to with food and water on a periodic basis. Many do not survive. Those that do may not be particularly healthy if they have been neglected. The bulk container can create odor problems at the retail establishment. The display of loose crickets can be unappealing in bulk containers. Many crickets escape and run loose about the establishment or crawl into a neighboring establishment. Inventory control is a problem because it is difficult to accurately control numbers dispensed from bulk containers and because of cricket die-offs and escapes. Dispensing crickets from a bulk container is labor intensive for the retailer and inconvenient for both the employee and consumer.

The invention pertains to an insect habitat and retail receptacle for the purpose on the one hand of providing a healthy environment habitat for a number of live insects such as crickets and at the same time providing a retail point-of-sale or a mail order package for selling the crickets. The habitat/retail package includes a box or housing with a window or viewing opening covered by a suitable transparent material such as clear plastic or tightly woven screen. A habitat insert is located in the box. The insert is comprised of a multi-sided structure that partitions the inside of the housing into several discrete sub-spaces or compartments connected by passages. Structure of the insert can range from that of flat fiber board pieces to a convoluted structure having ridges or peaks and valleys that extend substantially from surface to surface of the box interior. The insert is constructed in such a way as to provide spaces for the crickets to crawl around from one surface of the habitat insert to another. The configuration of the insert permits insects to emerge into the light and outside view or to escape from the outside view and light from time to time as they seek out an area of comfort as their nature dictates. The insert can be of a moisture absorbent material. The insert can be a soft paper product material that is favored by crickets for chewing. The insert can be made of a nutritious material that can be consumed by the crickets. Nourishment in the form of a supply of food and water can be placed inside the box. A high moisture content food item such as a piece of carrot or commercially available cricket food can be placed inside of the box. The high moisture food item can be partially wrapped to retard moisture loss through evaporation.

The cricket habitat/package has an extended shelf life. The crickets are un-crowded and have continuous access to a food and water source that results in a generally healthier and “gut-loaded” cricket that is more nutritious to the animal being fed. The habitat/prepackage is a way to display and sell live crickets without the need to carry a bulk inventory of crickets. The habitat/package allows retailers to sell many cricket sizes where space considerations make similar bulk loose displays impractical. The prepackaged cricket habitats can be sold from a dispenser on a self-serve basis by which boxes are loaded into the dispenser from the top and dispensed from the bottom. This results in rotation of the stock. This also eliminates the need for an employee diversion to dispense crickets from a bulk container.

The housing can be made difficult to open so as to be tamper proof. The crickets, however, are clearly visible through the window of the housing. The housing can have a perforated punch-out opening pattern in a wall. The opening can be punched out when the box is placed in a pet environment where the crickets are intended as pet food. The crickets exit the box through the punched out opening over a period of time effectively managing the dispersion of pet food into the pet environment. When fed in this way, the pet environment is kept clean of the waste products like cricket feces, shed skins, food, and bedding that would normally be introduced when crickets are shaken from their container into an animal's living area.

The habitat insert in the box provides a climbing and nesting habitat for the crickets. It also provides areas and spaces for the more vulnerable crickets to hide from the others and from view through the window. The material of the insert and of the box absorbs and disperses condensation as may develop during shipping or as may be generated by live insects or the food and water supplement in the box. The window covering can be made of a micro-pore material that allows the escape of moisture. The window covering can be made of a tightly woven screen to do the same. The box and the insert provide dark areas for the crickets to escape from the light and from one another. Crickets generate organic debris in the form of shed skin and body waste as well as spent food and chewed bedding. The box can have collector panels or surfaces carrying a low tack adhesive that will collect and hold the debris so that it is not dispensed with the crickets. The adhesive is tacky enough to collect the debris but light enough so as not to inhibit cricket movement about the interior of the box.

The habitat insert creates additional surface area inside the box available for crickets to nest and climb upon. The insert helps the box to keep its shape and from being crushed, lending support from top-to-bottom, side-to-side and end to end.

According to another form of the invention a cricket habitat/retail package has a cylindrical housing. A convoluted habitat insert can be located in the housing. An adhesive tacky enough to collect the debris but light enough so as not to inhibit cricket movement about the interior of the box can be applied to the interior of the box. An end cover to the housing has a window for viewing the interior of the housing.

FIG. 1 is perspective view of a cricket habitat/retail package according to one form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the cricket habitat/retail package of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the cricket habitat/retail package of FIG. 2 taken along the line 3-3 thereof;

FIG. 4 is a view of the end of the box of the cricket habitat of FIG. 1 in an open configuration to show the closure system thereof;

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of a dispenser holding a number of cricket habitat/retail packages of FIG. 1 displayed for retail sale;

FIG. 6 is a side view in perspective of a cricket habitat/retail package according to a second form of the invention;

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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