My 100 adults have been laying eggs in a smaller container with soil in it. I´ve seen them injecting their eggs many times. They have been doing it for 1 week now so I took it out, put it in another smaller container with nothing in it, put a 45w buld over them so it is warm and I keep the soil moist as much as I can.
I´ve been trying this method 4 times and no sucess so I must be doing something wrong
Any suggestions?
Here´s the hatch container setup:
View attachment 88716
Agreed with what Henn said, and wanted to add. It is likely that your light, and not having the container covered, is drying out the eggs too much. Use such as a Glad sandwich container, letting the crickets lay for 1-2 days, then pulling it, and putting in a fresh one. Use the lid provided, and put a 1/8" hole in the top for some oxygen exchange, then find a warm, preferably dark, place. If kept at about 90 degrees F, they will hatch in 8 days, give or take 1 day. If around 85F, then 12-14 days. And if 80F, 20+ days. As a few will escape out the hole, you should have these laying containers in a larger plastic container that they cannot climb out of.
Note: if too many females are laying on too little available medium, as you incubate those eggs, you will develop mold before the eggs hatch, which can often then kill the eggs. This is because the crickets are essentially leaving too much waste. If you see mold as you incubate, you will have to lessen the amount of laying, either with less crickets, less time allowed to lay per container, or more containers simultaneously. Or all of the above.
Peat moss or vermiculite work well also. You will have to kneed the peat moss to get it somewhat saturated, to where you can just barely squeeze a few drops out of a fistful. With the vermiculite, use a medium grade, and add about 25% water by volume (i.e. 1 part water to 4 parts vermiculite)
Not familiar enough with your exact laying medium, but you may want to try 3 laying containers simultaneously, with 3 different levels of moisture, and see which gives you the best results as you refine your system.
Good luck.
