just curious....can u just buy a bunch from the store and put them and some cardboard egg cartons and some veggies and let them go?

http://www.skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/

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www.chromachameleons.com

nah ive tried and failed... many times. use dubia roaches instead. all u do is put like 30 of em in a cage and let em go for 2 weeks and u will have a small colony going. sooo much better than crix. NO SMELL.

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Not to unlearn what you have learned is the most necessary kind of learning. -Antisthenes

Actually, I have done it now for over a couple of months and have had quite a few successful batches! No matter what though, there's always a few of them that escape and end up under the refridgerator, or somewhere warm with crumbs to feed off of! If ya don't mind that it's pretty easy. Here's how I've done it. Go to the pet store and have them select about 15 full grown (large) females, and 5 males. (They are easy to tell the diff...the females have the long "stem" looking elongation that looks like it comes out the back area between their back two legs...males don't have them.) Place them together in a secure container. Do not put much for them to hide or crawl in or under or they will spend most of their time hiding and not doing the "dirty deed!" Anyway, place a container of dirt, or potting soil in a cleaned out margarine container. Do not pack it down, but makes sure it's at least 5-6 inches deep. Then make sure they have some kind of ramp to get up in to it to lay the eggs. An empty paper towel holder cut longways works best for me. Use both sides of it like a two ramps. Make sure dirt is very most all the way down to the bottom at first, then just water it twice a day on top. The temperature in the container that promotes fast breeding (for me) is a steady 87 degrees...24/7! Lots of natural gut loading like carrots, broccoli, lettuce, peeled banana chunks, etc. for the adult crickets. Let them mate and lay eggs for for one week and then separate the dirt container. If you leave them with the adult crickets too long, they will start to eat their own eggs and babies when they start hatching!

Now you get to start the cycle again! Put your dirt/eggs in a separate container and keep it approx. 87 degrees. Water them (top surface) 2 - 3 times a day. Then about 5 - 6 days later you will notice little tiny ity-bity baby crickets start emerging from the dirt after you water them. Start feeding them just like the adults! Repeat this cycle many times and you can replenish your cricket supply very quickly! I have had a lot of fun with it! And saved TONS of money at my pet store on crickets.

Very important note...Please don't just feed your chameleons crickets only! They need variety! So you still may have to spend a little on mealworms, waxworms, etc.

The smell factor isn't too bad as long as you keep the cages clean. I just use rubber gloves and pick out the dead ones, and/or old veggies about every other day. No problem with smell as long as you're willing to clean a little!

wow that was very informative thank you now i can hopefully stop spending 5 bucks on crickets every week!

well i got a setup going...imma try it. if it fails ill do dubias. but where do i get them? and how do i start them...and as for the worms i have no idea where to start with them. heres the pics......my dachshund had to get a peek on what was going on. lol. hows it look? and im pregnant dont mind my fat feet! haha.