Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if anyone on here successfully breeds crickets at a larger scale than just here and there. I'm thinking of consistently having crickets hatching and then transfering them to tubs as they grow. This way, I'll always have all size crickets on hand, (pinheads to full grown). I'm guessing this will take quite a bit of space. Does anyone on here have a system that they use to always have crickets on hand of different sizes? Thanks all.

If you are looking to have a steady supply of feeders that you can easily breed, and have many different sizes of them, you should consider starting a roach colony. They are a lot easier to breed and maintain than crickets.

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2.0 Panthers, 0.1 Carpet, 1.2 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus

Thanks for the input. I already do dubias. Newborns can't eat dubias thogh. I figure crickets are better and more nutritious than fruit flies.

Some suckers down the road from me started breeding crickets and it does not look fun!

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1.1 Ambilobe

Anybody doing this?

Ok, so I think I've watched enough youtube videos, read enough how to's to get the crickets to breed and hatch them.

From what I've seen, most people are putting about an inch or so of dirt in the bottom of an aquarium and then letting the adults run around on top to lay the eggs. The aquarium is then heated from the bottom to 90 degrees, regularly misted to keep the soil damp, and the babies hatch after a week to two.

This method seems fine and looks like it works, but how do you go about separating the crickets once they hatch? To me this doesn't seem very efficient.

I'm thinking that I can get the crickets to lay their eggs in a little tupperware container filled with dirt and then transfer that container to an incubator. Once the eggs hatch in the incubator, I can transfer them to a larger tupperware container. Then I have a large tupperware container filled with pinheads.

Then I repeat this process with new containers until I have a steady flow of crickets growing in each container of each size.

This is what I'm thinking. Does this sound good to you all? Anyone have any input on if you think this will work, or any suggestions?

I have found threads here about it, involving a tray of dirt for females to lay eggs in, and removing it for incubation. Search for cricket breeding...There was one recently that had three links for ideas...

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1.2 ambilobe 1.0 ambanja

Thanks man. I'll check the threads.

Ok, this is from Jim at Chameleon Company: I'm just posting this in here so I can find it later.

You might do well using an intermediary laying container, such as a Glad sandwich container (1.75" deep, 6" square container usable area). Fill it 80% with a medium grade vermiculite moistened with 6-8 oz of water. Let your crickets lay for 24 hours, if a moderate amount, such that no more than 20 crickets are laying per container at any one time. If more than that, leave the container there for less time. Too many crickets for too long will contaminate the laying medium with their droppings, and you will get mold issues during cricket egg incubation that will ruin the eggs. With heavy laying, such that crickets cover the entire laying surface, you can only leave the medium there for approximately 4-6 hours.

Snap on the lid when harvested, with a 1/8" air hole in it. If kept at 85-90 F, crickets hatch in 9-10 days.

Seems like a lot of work man. Have you checked on how to breed silks or horns maybe they wouldnt stink so bad. Oh but you wanted a steady supply of pins avail that wont really help ya.

Hey, I have success using small plastic containers as stated by Jim. I buy 1,000 adults(to feed my crew) and I put a mixture of moistened sand and vermiculite in containers then inucubate with a heating pad for about two weeks. This is the method I have found to be the easiest for me when I need pin heads. I only do this for hatchlings though as they are alot of trouble to fool with IMO.