I just set up another breeding tote tonight - there are also many good blogs on how to breed crix, but this is how I do it....
( i start with 1000 - that is wayyyyyy over kill- lol but I like alot of babies , I am feeding mantis the pin heads, and the adults to chams )
get a plastic bin, like a rubber maid - cut the whole center out of the lid, so you just have the edge basically - fill the pan with at least 2" of dirt ( I will only use my yard dirt- I tried to do the peat moss thing, and it molded on me, so I just go get dirt from my yard-( but DO NOT USE DIRT TREATED FOR BUGS OR WEEDS)
put a screen over the pan, cut to fit just inside the pan- put he lid on- the male crix will eat the eggs if you dont - the female can lay threw the screen- if you do not know, the females have little spikes on their butts- also, the crax must be chirping, only chirping ones are old enough to breed - I leave my dirt in for a week at a time- but they say you can pull it in a few days- keep in mind every females lays 10 eggs a day - so how ever many females you have, X that by 10 a day- that is about how many eggs you will have when you pull the dirt - I hatch about 1000 pin heads a week , BUT -
keep an eye on your heat ( about 90 is good) I just baked 30 days worth of eggs - my heat pad some how got turned up ( kids
??) to 130 and it killed all of them - even the few who had hatched- so now I have to start over- but you can see the eggs in your dirt - they will be little white rice looking things about 1/8 " long -
here is a pic of my last batch
https://www.chameleonforums.com/do-i-need-thin-bin-100680/
you can see the eggs in the dirt - keep your egg bin moist, but not wet - and allow for air flow - I buy a pack of the same containers- then I just take off the lid w/ the screen, and add a new pan of dirt once a week- I keep mine on a heating pad, they take ( for me anyway- ) about 2 to 4 weeks to hatch but your time may vary
oh, I also put a pantyhose over my dirt while I wait for it to hatch so they dont get out
