How to breed crickets???

[chameleoman]

i need help on trying to breed crickets instead of buying a lot every week. any info would be helpful thanks. and one more question im gettting some gutloading powder that has all kinds of good stuff like bee polen for the crickets to eat it do i just pour it on the floor of the cage

 

[Justin Ward]

i need help on trying to breed crickets instead of buying a lot every week. any info would be helpful thanks. and one more question im gettting some gutloading powder that has all kinds of good stuff like bee polen for the crickets to eat it do i just pour it on the floor of the cage

honestly you are better off buying crickets, you can try breeding roaches though...its much easier and doesnt smell like crickets...as far as the gutload, i just put it on the floor, but you can put it is a shallow dish for easier clean up

 

[chameleonoobie]

If you buy adult or near full grown crickets they have already bred. Just set up a separate small tub with a deli cup of peat or non fertilized potting soil and just put a few females in it. In one week the deli cup will have hundreds of eggs and they will hatch in about ten days. Set up a few tubs and you should be able to repeat this and produce a few hundred crickets easily every twenty days or so. Just pull out a few fresh females every month to lay eggs for you. The more tubs you use the more they can be separated by size, if that is important.

 

[sdheli420]

this is how i learned..shes pretty good..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8klbRMEW97Q

 

[suzi]

I don't have a problem with my crickets smelling anymore since I changed the ventilation. I now keep them in a large 18 gallon rubbermaid with 4 inch by 6 inch holes on two sides of the container with small holes drilled in the top (I used to only have drilled holes and the smell was bad) I used a hot glue gun to glue aluminum screen ( not fiberglass because the crickets will chew through it) with proper ventilation it won't smell. I use an a hovabator incubator ( you can use heating pad, heat tape etc...) and place like 20 crickets (adults) in a Tupperware like 8" by 12" . Place in a smaller Tupperware ( I buy small round ones at the dollar store) like 3" or 4" very moist organic soil. I put in about 2 oz of water in the soil. Throw in a small piece of egg carton your gut load and some water bites(crystals) lately I have lined the Tupperware with paper towel to prevent babies from drowning in the water from humidity. Place them in the incubator ( or however you keep them warm) and measure your temps, keep them between 86 and 92 degrees. After about 5 or 6 days take out the adults and leave the container incubating within two weeks you should have your pinheads. It is good to open the top of the container like once a day or so to let in some air. Then when hatched I transfer my small crickets to another rubbermaid container and start over. I have been working on this for awhile and struggled a lot in the beginning and finally got it down. If you have any questions feel free to pm me. Good luck on your project

 

[sdheli420]

I don't have a problem with my crickets smelling anymore since I changed the ventilation. I now keep them in a large 18 gallon rubbermaid with 4 inch by 6 inch holes on two sides of the container with small holes drilled in the top (I used to only have drilled holes and the smell was bad) I used a hot glue gun to glue aluminum screen ( not fiberglass because the crickets will chew through it) with proper ventilation it won't smell. I use an a hovabator incubator ( you can use heating pad, heat tape etc...) and place like 20 crickets (adults) in a Tupperware like 8" by 12" . Place in a smaller Tupperware ( I buy small round ones at the dollar store) like 3" or 4" very moist organic soil. I put in about 2 oz of water in the soil. Throw in a small piece of egg carton your gut load and some water bites(crystals) lately I have lined the Tupperware with paper towel to prevent babies from drowning in the water from humidity. Place them in the incubator ( or however you keep them warm) and measure your temps, keep them between 86 and 92 degrees. After about 5 or 6 days take out the adults and leave the container incubating within two weeks you should have your pinheads. It is good to open the top of the container like once a day or so to let in some air. Then when hatched I transfer my small crickets to another rubbermaid container and start over. I have been working on this for awhile and struggled a lot in the beginning and finally got it down. If you have any questions feel free to pm me. Good luck on your project

i was wondering why mine have no smell (i also rarley find any dead) and i guess it must be the small computer fans i have hooked up to them for ventillation/air circulation..

 

[chameleoman]

thnks alot everyone

 

[Duke]

I second the post about roaches instead. I was much happier switching over to blaberus hybrids instead of the crickets. I have never actually done the measurements myself, but understood from the place I bought them from that the roaches not only had more calcium/mg, but also had lower phosphorus.