1st time breeding crickets

[proudaunt5]

hi, i was hoping i could get some help, im breeding crickets for the first time. i have researched breeding crickets over an over and everyone has said to use peat moss, or soil. i have no money to go out an buy soil just to breed crickets (the reason im breeding them is bc i cant afford to constantly buy crickets) so i just went out to my back yard an scooped up some dirt an put that into a stirofoam cup that i cut down to a smaller size so the crickets can get in and out. i left it in the crickets cage for two days, and took it out today so that i can start off small and work my way up. and i then replaced another cup full of dirt in the cage. i put the older cup (that i kept in for two days), into A small aquarium, and added some pieces of an egg carton in there an have it setting on top of my dryer for heat (my wash room is the most humid room in the house). i also put scotch tape around the aquarium to keep the crickets from escaping. ( i know alot of websites and videos say use packaging tape, but i dont have any) Now my questions for you are, am i doing this right? and also what is the shortest amount of time that it could take eggs to hatch? and how long after eggs start to hatch, would i have to take the cup of dirt out of the cage? and will the scotch tape work as well as packaging tape to keep them from escaping? also if u have any helpful tips please let me know!!! thank you guys very much an i look forward to hearing from you guys.

 

[fluxlizard]

Hey there- I recently became cricket independent for the first time in my life!

Before I mostly bred lots and lots of roaches and mealworms and bought crickets occasionally.

I've now gone the complete lifecycle from eggs to adults producing eggs again, so now all my crickets are produced right here. I'm on a larger scale, but here are my tips considering you are on a budget.

Tip1 Keep your eggs moist. If I were you, I'd save airtight food containers like cottage cheese containers, yogurt with resealable lids- that kind of thing. My family and friends all know what I like, and tend to save these sorts of containers, cardboard tubes, egg crates, etc for me and give them to me when they have saved a bunch up for me.

For crickets- I purchased rectangular rubbermaid food storage containers (I think they are called "sqaures". If you start with the right moisture content, you can put the container in with your crickets to lay in, remove in a day or two, put the lid on and forget about it until the eggs hatch without adding more water. I bought a gigantic bag of vermiculite at the local garden center - about 3' high- for $30. It should last me most of the year, I think. I add 4 parts water to 1 part vermiculite by weight. I swap my container for a new one every day. I never have to add moisture doing it this way. I considered using dirt from the yard because it is free, like you are doing, but I couldn't figure out how to get the moisture consistent without experimenting for a while and learning how to eyeball it. I think that is what you will have to learn, so if you aren't successful hatching them right away- maybe that would be the thing you will need to tweak.

I don't use tape, Instead a bought 30 gallon clear rubbermaid storage tubs with smooth sides. Pinheads cannot climb these walls. I use coarse sandpaper to rough up the sides of the tub about 2/3 of the way up. This allows the crickets to climb that far and stick, but no farther, increasing the usable surface area in the tub. The tub only fits 4 hatching egg containers at any given time and it takes a week or so for all the pinheads to climb out of the containers. So every four days I have to start a new tub (I forgot to mention earlier that I also rough up the inside of the egg containers with sanpaper, and over the lip as well so the pinheads can climb up and out and jump off). I have lots of tubs now, but also about a gazillion crickets of all sizes. I keep the tubs on heat tape set at 85. My son just finished a school science project on growth rates at 85, 90 and 95 degree settings for the heat tape. 90 had the fastest growth rate of these three temperatures over a 3 week period. But 85 had the lowest mortality- probably because I use fruits and vegetables for moisture sources and they dry out quickly at the higher temperatures. I was a little surprised that growth rate was faster at 90 than 95.

I realize that your demand for crickets is less and you are on a budget- I'm just explaining how I do things so you can get ideas to apply to your situation.

I incubate the eggs in an incubator set at 85. Incubation time is around 12 days give or take a day or two (strangely- might depend on what time of day I remove the container from the adults).

I suggest while you are learning you forget about doing things small and growing from there- get as many adults laying eggs as you can, swap your container out daily, and make lots of eggs and try to hatch lots of babies. You can always feed lots of small ones to your lizards rather than a few big ones, and this way you get lots of trys to you get things right and tweak them.

 

[proudaunt5]

thanks

Hey there- I recently became cricket independent for the first time in my life!

Before I mostly bred lots and lots of roaches and mealworms and bought crickets occasionally.

I've now gone the complete lifecycle from eggs to adults producing eggs again, so now all my crickets are produced right here. I'm on a larger scale, but here are my tips considering you are on a budget.

Tip1 Keep your eggs moist. If I were you, I'd save airtight food containers like cottage cheese containers, yogurt with resealable lids- that kind of thing. My family and friends all know what I like, and tend to save these sorts of containers, cardboard tubes, egg crates, etc for me and give them to me when they have saved a bunch up for me.

For crickets- I purchased rectangular rubbermaid food storage containers (I think they are called "sqaures". If you start with the right moisture content, you can put the container in with your crickets to lay in, remove in a day or two, put the lid on and forget about it until the eggs hatch without adding more water. I bought a gigantic bag of vermiculite at the local garden center - about 3' high- for $30. It should last me most of the year, I think. I add 4 parts water to 1 part vermiculite by weight. I swap my container for a new one every day. I never have to add moisture doing it this way. I considered using dirt from the yard because it is free, like you are doing, but I couldn't figure out how to get the moisture consistent without experimenting for a while and learning how to eyeball it. I think that is what you will have to learn, so if you aren't successful hatching them right away- maybe that would be the thing you will need to tweak.

I don't use tape, Instead a bought 30 gallon clear rubbermaid storage tubs with smooth sides. Pinheads cannot climb these walls. I use coarse sandpaper to rough up the sides of the tub about 2/3 of the way up. This allows the crickets to climb that far and stick, but no farther, increasing the usable surface area in the tub. The tub only fits 4 hatching egg containers at any given time and it takes a week or so for all the pinheads to climb out of the containers. So every four days I have to start a new tub (I forgot to mention earlier that I also rough up the inside of the egg containers with sanpaper, and over the lip as well so the pinheads can climb up and out and jump off). I have lots of tubs now, but also about a gazillion crickets of all sizes. I keep the tubs on heat tape set at 85. My son just finished a school science project on growth rates at 85, 90 and 95 degree settings for the heat tape. 90 had the fastest growth rate of these three temperatures over a 3 week period. But 85 had the lowest mortality- probably because I use fruits and vegetables for moisture sources and they dry out quickly at the higher temperatures. I was a little surprised that growth rate was faster at 90 than 95.

I realize that your demand for crickets is less and you are on a budget- I'm just explaining how I do things so you can get ideas to apply to your situation.

I incubate the eggs in an incubator set at 85. Incubation time is around 12 days give or take a day or two (strangely- might depend on what time of day I remove the container from the adults).

I suggest while you are learning you forget about doing things small and growing from there- get as many adults laying eggs as you can, swap your container out daily, and make lots of eggs and try to hatch lots of babies. You can always feed lots of small ones to your lizards rather than a few big ones, and this way you get lots of trys to you get things right and tweak them.

thank for the tips. the last time i bought crickets to breed them i had put a wet paper towel that was folded (for a water source) in there and the crickets seemed to LOVE laying their eggs in there. so i kept that paper towel in there for a few days and transferred into another container and unfolded it very gently. i can see they laid hundreddss of eggs in there an i can also see the eyes inside the eggs so im wondering if this is a good sign? also i was wondering if cricket eggs dry out at all so i should know if i should keep wetting the paper towel or not?

 

[fluxlizard]

Yeah, you've got to keep the eggs damp.
What I would do I guess if I wanted to use paper towels is stick them in a food storage container and seal them closed with the lid for incubation.
Believe it or not- I once hatched a bunch of snake eggs in a coffee can with damp paper towels as a kid! Lately I've been thinking about that - I may have a go at hatching some lizard eggs with damp paper towels as a substrate instead of perlite...

 

[proudaunt5]

Yeah, you've got to keep the eggs damp.
What I would do I guess if I wanted to use paper towels is stick them in a food storage container and seal them closed with the lid for incubation.
Believe it or not- I once hatched a bunch of snake eggs in a coffee can with damp paper towels as a kid! Lately I've been thinking about that - I may have a go at hatching some lizard eggs with damp paper towels as a substrate instead of perlite...

hmm ok i guess those eggs are not good anymore. thanks for the info.

 

[Psychobunny]

Here is a link to a thread I posted some time ago.
This is how I raise my cricks, and I have great luck with this method.

So people do not cover the lay box with screen, but I have tried it with and without screen, and I get way more hatchlings with the screen on:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-i-breed-crickets-122622/

The hardest part is learning how to always keep a supply of feeding size cricks w/o ever having to buy them because the pins take forever to get big enough.

To keep the pins alive and happy, I keep them at 80F and feed them thin slices of Repashy's Bug Burger and cricket crack which has been
put through a sieve to get a it fine enough for them.
I also light mist them every day as they need some humidity.

 

[Chameleon Brothers]

Baby Crickets

Thanks this seems very helpful! I'm definitely going to give it a try.

 

[proudaunt5]

Here is a link to a thread I posted some time ago.
This is how I raise my cricks, and I have great luck with this method.

So people do not cover the lay box with screen, but I have tried it with and without screen, and I get way more hatchlings with the screen on:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-i-breed-crickets-122622/

The hardest part is learning how to always keep a supply of feeding size cricks w/o ever having to buy them because the pins take forever to get big enough.

To keep the pins alive and happy, I keep them at 80F and feed them thin slices of Repashy's Bug Burger and cricket crack which has been
put through a sieve to get a it fine enough for them.
I also light mist them every day as they need some humidity.

See, I'm doing things exactly like that, except I'm not using eco earth. I used both dirt from my back yard, and miracle grow potting soil, and none of them have seemed to work.

 

[Psychobunny]

Yep, any old dirt will do, cricks are not picky.
As long as it doesnt have any nasty chemicals in it.

I just happened to have the EcoEarth available

 

[proudaunt5]

They finally hatched!!!

They just started hatching about 2 weeks ago and now there is over 200 of them!! i'm very excited that my first attempt was a success. Now, I'm hoping I could find people who would want to buy some crickets because I'd like to start selling them. So if there is anyone in the owensboro area and needing crickets email me at [email protected]

 

[proudaunt5]

They finally hatched!!!

here are some pictures