If your thinking about breeding crix...

Do it! It's fun, cheap and a great way to control what goes into your cham from the ground up. You can feed your crix lots of healthy veggies or fruits that you have and eat your self. Here is a link I found helpful.
http://www.anapsid.org/crickets.html
Here is a pic of the crix reared, laid whatever by just a dozen adults bought at a bait store for $2.00. Also is a pic of the egg laying medium. Just organic soil and a foam egg crate. Any Questions ask away. I love talking about crix or chams.

I have had really good luck using coco fiber from petco. A brick f that stuff is around $3.50 and I still have a lot left after getting 8-9 butter tubs full of eggs. What temp are you keeping the adults for laying eggs? I have kept mine on the back porch where is stays around 95 for the high this summer. Another thing that is working well for the pinheads is water crystals. I dont have any smell in the bins I keep the pinheads in.

This thread is a great idea, thanks. I have been wanting to get started with this, so maybe I will do it today or tomorrow.

For just one chameleon, would I get a good enough start with my cricket colony if I start with a few dozen adult crickets? And how many bins do you think I will need to get started, and to keep a good supply going? One for adults and one to hatch eggs? Or maybe three, so I can keep them seperated by size a little better?

Also, how tall should my bins be? I'm thinking plastic bins will be the cheapest way to get this going. I have one that's 18 inches tall and my Dubias don't even try to crawl out. Will that be tall enough to prevent escape?

Oh, one more. Should I cut a vent hole in the top? Leave it open? How do you deal with that?

Sorry to bombard you, and thanks for starting this thread!

I use a rubbermaid tote about 18" tall. I cut 2 -6"x6" vent holes in the ends and hot glued in some aluminum screen. Dont use fiberglass screen. Crickets can chew through it.

reptoman said:

I use a rubbermaid tote about 18" tall. I cut 2 -6"x6" vent holes in the ends and hot glued in some aluminum screen. Dont use fiberglass screen. Crickets can chew through it.

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The holes are in the sides? I have been cutting holes in the top for my other feeders. Does this help with heat and humidity retention, or is this so they have a place to climb?

For my dubias I cut holes in the lid since they need to maintain more humid conditions. For the crickets I cut holes in the sides. I thnk they need more ventalation. Not sure if it makes that much difference but it has been working out great for me. Keeping the adult crix outside really surprised me. Its been 100+ for nearly 20 days and I have had very little die off. 1000 large has lasted more than a month. They breed like crazy and fill those coco fiber cups real quick.
One other thing i did was take 3 - 12x12 egg crates and cut them in half on my bandsaw. I hotglued the 6 halves together and stuck that in the bin for shelter for the crix. I use smaller chunks to shake out feeders into a coffee can.

Im trying to breed crickets myself, to feed my beardie, he eats for England. Lol, my chameleon doesn't think much of them tho.

reptoman said:

For my dubias I cut holes in the lid since they need to maintain more humid conditions. For the crickets I cut holes in the sides. I thnk they need more ventalation. Not sure if it makes that much difference but it has been working out great for me. Keeping the adult crix outside really surprised me. Its been 100+ for nearly 20 days and I have had very little die off. 1000 large has lasted more than a month. They breed like crazy and fill those coco fiber cups real quick.
One other thing i did was take 3 - 12x12 egg crates and cut them in half on my bandsaw. I hotglued the 6 halves together and stuck that in the bin for shelter for the crix. I use smaller chunks to shake out feeders into a coffee can.

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Great tips, thanks. It's only getting to 85-90 here but I'm sure that will work. I don't use enough eggs to have those great little egg things. Any ideas for alternatives?

Hey Jsiddens. What generation are you at right now, or how many time had you breed your crickets? And is heat lamp important for hatching the eggs? or have you done it without heat.

Nice post! good idea for many here


I recommend this


More specifically. Anapsid.org/crickets

It's the 7th generation of crickets for me right now. lol. I havent had to use a heat lamp yet for hatching temps. It's still around 85 degrees in my garage. My last batch of adults that I seperated and did not feed off died kinda quickly which Im attributing to there age and high heat. I saw plans for a pad heater that you place on top of your main bin and it heats the colony while placing your egg container on top of it.

Can you post pictures of you're complete set-up???

Wow 7th generation is very good bro. Save tons of cash. Can I ask for pictures of your setup. Please

Yeh. It's been working out pretty well. I normally run three totes. One for my daily feeders, One for the adults laying eggs and dying from old age and One for the hatchlings. I let my egg laying adults just die off in there but I clean it out with soap in the driveway when there done. I then switch the growing feeders into the new cleaned out tote, Clean there tote place a newly layed tray into a clean empty tote and wait. As for feeding dishes and all that I dont use them very often. Crix poop and die wherever they feel. By rotating totes I dont worry about it. I use water crystals and a homemade blend of foods plus fresh veggies and fruits that I put in there and remove when they rot. My main food is just Oatmeal and wheat germ. Some people add powdered milk and or powdered egg. I also throw in a handful of dry dog food from time to time. I stay away from potatoes just because they sour and theres not much to them other than water and starch. Here is some more pics of Cricket town.
Pic1 is the breeders which i just grab out of the feeders to keep the circle going. pic 2 is a baby box. I dont put crystals or food in it till i see em hatching. Pic three is my totes stacked on each other just for fun like an apartment. hahahah. I dont really keep them like that they might not get good enough airflow or overheat.

Awesome, can't wait to get started. Just need one more tote. Thanks for taking the pictures.

No prob. One time I got pretty close with running out its good to always leave a little extra time for them to grow.And make sure you let them lay before you feed them off. If you have to go buy just a few to feed em do it instead of feeding off your babies or breeders. That is if your timing is off.

hey,
what are you feeding your crix on a daily basis? do you give them gutload (ie cricket crack) everyday or do you just give them fruits and vegetables on a daily basis and then gutload (w/ cricket crack) them 24-48 hours prior to feeding them off.

Oatmeal and wheat germ with a handful of dog food. Cheap and easy and mold resistant. There are lots of great cricket food recipes. Some people add egg powder and or powdered milk.

Jsiddens said:

Oatmeal and wheat germ with a handful of dog food. Cheap and easy and mold resistant. There are lots of great cricket food recipes. Some people add egg powder and or powdered milk.

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so you feed them this everyday and just skip the gutloading?

Thats there everyday feeding. For gutloading the things I have used so far are baby spinach, carrots, apple slices, orange slices, bananas ect. I don't do it all the time. When your doing it I put the fruit or whatever on an old sour cream lid so I can easily get it all out of there. I wouldnt try gutloading anything to sticky for smaller crix. I never go out and buy stuff just to gut load. If you eat a salad save a lil. an apple core. Those baby carrots seem to last a long time in there without molding and really get eaten.