Excited

[CharlieCharmingo]

Forgive me if this is the wrong area to post this but: I tried breeding crickets for the first time and over the weekend they hatched! I'm so excited but no one I know is nearly as excited about this process but I knew you guys would at least appreciate this feat. I bred both brown and black crickets. I know some people don't like to use black crickets because they are more aggressive, but in my own personal experience they seem to be more filling to my chameleon and beardies because they are bigger and seem to be growing faster. Also I've found if you keep them well fed they don't attack the brown crickets or each other. Anyways yay. I still have much learning to do on keeping a full blown colony but I'm excited about this experimental attempt.

 

[Fireborn]

Yay! It can be an exciting moment to finally have success with breeding feeders.

 

[JacksJill]

Nice work! I'm glad the black crickets work for you but their habits in the feeder cup give me the willies. I guess they just get so hungry that they stalk and eat any other feeder in with them.
Congrats on your breeding milestone.

 

[Zephalia]

That's awesome!

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

Nice work! I'm glad the black crickets work for you but their habits in the feeder cup give me the willies. I guess they just get so hungry that they stalk and eat any other feeder in with them.
Congrats on your breeding milestone.

This is true they will eat any and everything. I wanted to give them as natural a habit as possible so I have them in an enclosure with dirt and I water it at least once a week because I have earth worms in the dirt too. When I first put the earth worms in with three supers (I wanted to see if I could get a full blown eco system going haha oh the hopefulness of a beginner) they tried eating both immediately. It wasn't until I gave them lots of veggies and fruit that they started ignoring them. But at first they were digging them right up. They do eat a lot though. I've put food in there and have seen it devoured within the hour. Brown crickets are more graceful eaters lol.

 

[Scottsquatch]

Do the blacks breed quicker than the browns?

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Forgive me if this is the wrong area to post this but: I tried breeding crickets for the first time and over the weekend they hatched! I'm so excited but no one I know is nearly as excited about this process but I knew you guys would at least appreciate this feat. I bred both brown and black crickets. I know some people don't like to use black crickets because they are more aggressive, but in my own personal experience they seem to be more filling to my chameleon and beardies because they are bigger and seem to be growing faster. Also I've found if you keep them well fed they don't attack the brown crickets or each other. Anyways yay. I still have much learning to do on keeping a full blown colony but I'm excited about this experimental attempt.

This is fantastic , was it difficult ? How long did it take ? Did you use heat ?

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

Do the blacks breed quicker than the browns?

Yes, when I first put the dirt in and wet it that's all the female crickets would do is lay eggs and the males wouldn't stop chirping. The brown ones mated and lay eggs too but it seemed like they all laid their eggs in like the first day or so of me putting them in the enclosure and the chirping is off and on. The black ones are the first eggs that hatched then a couple of days later I found some brown babies moving around.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

This is fantastic , was it difficult ? How long did it take ? Did you use heat ?

No it's actual not difficult at all. They pretty much hop right to it lol. My dad did suggest I get another smaller cage or like one of those cricket carriers that way the newly hatched crickets have a better chance at more of them surviving because they'll have more access to food and such without having to fear the bigger crickets. It took a couple of weeks. I want to say I put the dirt and egg crates in around mid July and I started noticing baby crickets over this past weekend. I just always made sure the dirt was moist and there was food. They turn on each other so quickly....heaven forbid one of them dies lol. No I did not use a heat light. I wanted to but the room that I keep them in is the same room as Tony, Jane, and Junior (the beardies) so the room is the hottest place in the whole house because of all the lights, and when summer was at its peek it was also the most humid place in the whole house.

Also I noticed that black crickets have a lesser die out rate. Like often the brown crickets just die but the black ones are super hardy.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

This is fantastic , was it difficult ? How long did it take ? Did you use heat ?

Also I was constantly scouting out dead crickets to clean them out because one time I didn't know some crickets had died in the old cricket carrier I had them in and let's just say it was like a scene from alien. Maggots and such like bust from their bodies and then all this like minutes flies where in there. It was pretty gross.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

No it's actual not difficult at all. They pretty much hop right to it lol. My dad did suggest I get another smaller cage or like one of those cricket carriers that way the newly hatched crickets have a better chance at more of them surviving because they'll have more access to food and such without having to fear the bigger crickets. It took a couple of weeks. I want to say I put the dirt and egg crates in around mid July and I started noticing baby crickets over this past weekend. I just always made sure the dirt was moist and there was food. They turn on each other so quickly....heaven forbid one of them dies lol. No I did not use a heat light. I wanted to but the room that I keep them in is the same room as Tony, Jane, and Junior (the beardies) so the room is the hottest place in the whole house because of all the lights, and when summer was at its peek it was also the most humid place in the whole house.

Also I noticed that black crickets have a lesser die out rate. Like often the brown crickets just die but the black ones are super hardy.

Awesome so you did not Move the eggs you kept little and big together ? I'm so happy you started this thread . I have had success with silkworms , and wax worms . Hornworms I have not got there moth wings to form correct , Idk why . I might give crickets a try even through I think there little B*******.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Also I was constantly scouting out dead crickets to clean them out because one time I didn't know some crickets had died in the old cricket carrier I had them in and let's just say it was like a scene from alien. Maggots and such like bust from their bodies and then all this like minutes flies where in there. It was pretty gross.

YUCK .

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

Awesome so you did not Move the eggs you kept little and big together ? I'm so happy you started this thread . I have had success with silkworms , and wax worms . Hornworms I have not got there moth wings to form correct , Idk why . I might give crickets a try even through I think there little B*******.

Yea I kept them together. I mean I still see lots of babies one running around so I'm not too worried, but next i think i will try to separate them because when I catch crickets to feed to the boys and lady I always manage to get some babies too. So then I have to pick them out before putting the bigger ones in the enclosure.

What did you do to get your wax worms to breed? If they change into moths I always just give them to the pets.

I can never get my hornworms moth wings to form perfectly either. But this last go around I discovered that when I kept the dirt/them wet enough it helped their wings to develop better. When they weren't getting misted as much the wings were weird. I read that if you do breed hornworms you need a humming bird feeder and a tomato plant. I was thinking about using Tony's old cage for this but I don't think I'm ready yet.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Yea I kept them together. I mean I still see lots of babies one running around so I'm not too worried, but next i think i will try to separate them because when I catch crickets to feed to the boys and lady I always manage to get some babies too. So then I have to pick them out before putting the bigger ones in the enclosure.

What did you do to get your wax worms to breed? If they change into moths I always just give them to the pets.

I can never get my hornworms moth wings to form perfectly either. But this last go around I discovered that when I kept the dirt/them wet enough it helped their wings to develop better. When they weren't getting misted as much the wings were weird. I read that if you do breed hornworms you need a humming bird feeder and a tomato plant. I was thinking about using Tony's old cage for this but I don't think I'm ready yet.

I was thinking space as well that was the problem . Maybe not deep enough for them to borrow .

Wax worms nothing special just keep them after they are moths . I use Matts recipe for their chow and wait for the moths to die off before moving the eggs . The moths do horrible damage if they get free .

 

[JacksJill]

I saw a thread or video once where they used shallow trays with soil in the cricket cage and moved it to a different cage for the eggs to hatch in peace.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

I saw a thread or video once where they used shallow trays with soil in the cricket cage and moved it to a different cage for the eggs to hatch in peace.

For hornworms ?

 

[JacksJill]

Sorry no, crickets. Hornworms will lay eggs as near to a tomato leaf as they can get. Even on a piece of brown paper if that is all they can reach.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Sorry no, crickets. Hornworms will lay eggs as near to a tomato leaf as they can get. Even on a piece of brown paper if that is all they can reach.

I have not been successful with hornworms . I've got them to moths but I have wing issues . I will try crickets this winter . Seems like Charlie did not have a tough time at all . Though I wonder if winter would make a difference. It's very cold and dry here .

 

[JacksJill]

Humidity will help with their wings forming properly. We just left some in the plant soil of a cage and let the misters keep it damp. We got a perfect moth but breeding insects is low on the priority list and it got fed off.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Humidity will help with their wings forming properly. We just left some in the plant soil of a cage and let the misters keep it damp. We got a perfect moth but breeding insects is low on the priority list and it got fed off.

I believe there might be one or two hornworms in Septiceye soil in his umbrella plant . I'm not sure if he ended up finding them he was on a Hornworm strike for a bit . The wax worms We got moths before Using them , It was very simple actually . Now we just take maybe a handful of them with their food and let them do their thing . Silkies are a bit longer so I've had to order them between .