Cricket setup

[Rune]

Today I went to lowes, and I bought a timer and a heat gun. (any tips on how to use it are welcomed )
But, I also bought a plastic bin to make a cricket keeper out of, since the actual cricket keeper isnt working to well. They all die within 4-6 days.
So im wondering, how do you make a cricket cage?

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

I put some cut up cardboard egg cartons in it, for more room like to climb on. If you don't like sound then don't do that, it'll echo off the cartons I've heard. I have a bowl (shorts since they don't jump out of bowls well) full of fresh fruits and veggies. I also have one with water. I fill the bottom with corn meal because it's kind of like a kitty litter, easier to clean out their crap.

 

[JohnnyButt]

airflow is a big factor I have a deep bin with a bunch of holes drilled.into small enough where they can crawl out and none leading towards the top so when I open it i dont have a bunch of crix jumping out
also cleaning it regularly is good and providing a good drinking source/feed

 

[sdheli420]

put paper towel down as the "substrate" its easy to clean, but a shallow dish with cotton balls in it, soak it with water, put a plate in there where you can put down your "salads" for the crickets (i use kale, squash, carrots, lettuce, watermelon , cantolope, and a few more things plus a dry gut load on the side, and i sprinkle all this with my chams calcium and vit powders)..crickets like more water than you would think..mist them at least once a day..

 

[rastamarley]

hmm

put a few pieces of orange in there every 2 days, it works great! My crickets live longer since i've been doing that...

 

[suzi]

Hi Rune, I used a dremmel to cut out two big holes ( like 4 to 6 inches) on two sides(you can also you a razor, exactoknife) use your hot glue gun to glue aluminum screen over the holes don't use fiber glass screen cuz the crickets can chew through it

 

[Justin Ward]

i use an old fish tank with a wet paper towel and another water source (ie, apples, oranges, etc) on one end, my dry gutload on the other end and paper towel rolls in the middle...ive herd the paper towel rolls cut back on the noise, but i use them bc its easier to shake hem out of there into my dusting cup...i like the fish tank bc the glass is super easy to clean

 

[David]

Would it be possible to post pics of each of your set-ups? It would make it easier to make one... Thx

 

[PeriTanz]

Hi Rune, I used a dremmel to cut out two big holes ( like 4 to 6 inches) on two sides(you can also you a razor, exactoknife) use your hot glue gun to glue aluminum screen over the holes don't use fiber glass screen cuz the crickets can chew through it

Good to know!!!

 

[suzi]

Here is a pic( terrible pics lol from my phone but all I have for now, sorry) hopefully you could get the idea

 

[suzi]

Good to know!!!

Yes lol valuable information! I have enough of them running around without being able to do that

 

[PeriTanz]

Yes lol valuable information! I have enough of them running around without being able to do that

Me tooOoo!!!

 

[Sodbuster]

Ill have try one those ideas. I hate buying crix every 4 or 5 days. That way I could keep like two weeks worth at a time

 

[Elizadolots]

I'll try to take pictures tomorrow. I bought a 5 gallon "paint" bucket and lid. My husband used his "hole" attachments to drill big (4 inch) holes around the bucket and smaller (1 inch) holes around the lid. I duct taped metal screen over the holes so the crickets could not escape.

Oddly, my household had metal screen on hand for a project (go figure) but excluding that, I think my costs were about $6.

 

[David]

Here is a pic( terrible pics lol from my phone but all I have for now, sorry) hopefully you could get the idea
View attachment 37488View attachment 37489

Thanks. Hopefully others will post up pics of thiers too... as they say, a pic is worth 1000 words.

 

[Justin Ward]

heres a few pics of my crix...

 

[Elizadolots]

Here's my little bin.

 

[chameleonoobie]

I buy these letter sized sterilite boxes at Big Lots, I think they are maybe $5.00 or so, and hot glue some screen over some vent windows I cut in both sides.

I used these for egg laying bins and hatching out the pin heads. I put a deli cup in one with about six or seven females with no males and leave for a week. In my experience, you can’t really handle 10,000 crickets any way so just shoot for a couple hundred. You end up with like a thousand anyway, but you really don’t need many females to produce hundreds and hundreds of eggs.

I put the loaded egg cups into another tub to hatch out the microscopic pin heads. This bin has some damp substrate so they can molt.

After they start to grow, I dump them all in a big sterilite tub with the same sort of screen windows on each side. This is my main bin to grow out, feed out of and pull adult females to go into the egg laying tub. Better to have a few hundred doing well than 5,000 dead crickets. I think over crowding and over producing is why you get smell and dead crickets. I breed smaller quantity, but they seem to do pretty well with a few well ventilated tubs.

 

[David]

Good thoughts, and thanks for the pics

 

[sauer]

Why do you put females only in the egg laying bin? & how long does it take before you start seeing pinheads? also, what environment do you keep these containers in?