Cricket breeding

[SMCNARY]

On 02/16/13 I posted pictures of my cricket incubator. I have now pulled out the 2nd batch of pinheads. I have 3 more egg bins in the incubator now and on the last one I had heated my adult colony up a bit and saw a huge increase in egg laying! Here are some pictures.

 

[shaunaroxanne]

Nice! Cleanest cricket bin I have ever seen

 

[lisagr07]

Steve,,, I'm super impressed!!! You are definitly going to get an A on Feeders 101!!!!!!!

 

[SMCNARY]

LOL Thanks ladies, I know I will have waaaaayyyyyy more then I can use but wanted to be sure I could produce them at will before ever hatching the first egg and I CAN Lisa get your cricket bin ready!!!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Alright, how do you get all the little pinheads out of the laying medium? I had a ton just stay in there and then die because they wouldn't get out.

Nicely done btw! Great setup!

 

[SMCNARY]

Alright, how do you get all the little pinheads out of the laying medium? I had a ton just stay in there and then die because they wouldn't get out.

Nicely done btw! Great setup!

I cut strips of egg crate 1 inch wide,layed half on the bin and then let it go to the bottom of the tub on to another flat egg crate. I was having the same problem as you, it seems those little buggers are afraid of jumping off!!! Go Figure Thank You for the nice reply also!

 

[SMCNARY]

For ferretinmyshoes


This is what I did

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Ah, I see! I'll have to try again and see if I can get more of the little buggers to survive that way. Thanks!

 

[SMCNARY]

You are very welcome!!!

 

[SMCNARY]

I just put 4 new egg bins in the hatchery pictures 1&2. I Had already moved the pinheads from the hatchery to the 1st of 4 bins pictures 3&4. In the first bin after they grow to 1/4 inch in size then they go into the next bin.They grow in that bin until they reach just over 1/2 inch and then I move them into another bin to grow from 1/2 to 3/4 inch and after that when they reach 1 inch they go into the adult bin. When the pinheads are moved from the hatchery and put into bin 1 it doesn't look like there are very many! I found just how many there were when I moved them into bin 2 (picture 5). I am planing to get some small clay pot water trays for the powder food,fruits and veggies as well as for the water crystals as they are are easier for pinheads and smaller crickets to crawl in and out of. I use (bridges)of egg crate for now to help them get in and out of the food containers as well as the egg bins in the hatchery. I use water crystals and powder food in small plastic cups and place them on top of the egg crate in addition to having those items on the floor of the bin in the plastic lids you see now. After the crickets reach 1/2 inch this is no longer needed. This process seems to be working well and I think the only crickets I will need to purchase in the future will be to add new blood to insure healthy crickets. I will post more pictures and comments soon with other info. I hope this will help others who would like to breed crickets. These thoughts are JMHO and I'm sure there many other and even better ways of doing this.

 

[SMCNARY]

I saw some new questions about cricket breeding so I revived this thread