Ok, got tiny pinhead cricks, now what???

[Psychobunny]

I had the laying tray of soil in a plastic tub for a few weeks with a overhead lamp at 85F.
Nothing happened, so I ignored it.
Saturday, I look inside and see teeny weeny cricks. Lots of them had died, but still alot of live ones.

I ran to get some cricket crack, egg flates and wadded up wet paper towels.
I put the cricket crack through a sieve to collect only the powder fine stuff to feed their microscopic mouths and put the wet towels and egg flates in there. I also raised the lamp so it's not so hot.

Anyway, what do I do now??!!
I threw a little kale greens in the tub this morning, dont know if they are too small to eat it, but at least it has moisture and they can hide under it!

What do I feed these little guys so they will grow??

 

[sulfurboy1o3]

Feed them what you would use to feed bigger ones but applied in fashions that are easier to eat. youve got that covered.something simple right now as a gutload moist food, graded carrots.
Now to make them grow, how hot are you keeping ambient temps in the bin? or is it kept in a hot room? If you just use a heatpad, whats the surface area of the bottom of the tub?

Id recommend you have a top wit a mesh lid or an open lid.

 

[Psychobunny]

Feed them what you would use to feed bigger ones but applied in fashions that are easier to eat. youve got that covered.something simple right now as a gutload moist food, graded carrots.
Now to make them grow, how hot are you keeping ambient temps in the bin? or is it kept in a hot room? If you just use a heatpad, whats the surface area of the bottom of the tub?

Id recommend you have a top wit a mesh lid or an open lid.

I have the lid off the bin for now, and a 40W bulb overhead a few hours a day, but otherwise, room temp of about 72F.
They are in my basement, so its cooler then the rest of the house.

I was thinking of putting a under tank heater regulated with a lamp dimmer under the bin like I do for my dubia (they breed like CRAZY!!!)

 

[sulfurboy1o3]

Yea use the heatpad too. Thats also why i asked if you knew what the surface temps that are created by under source heat when your light goes off.
Ok your ambient temps in the 80s can stay that way, but ill touch on your surface temps. These are very important temps that people seem to not really acknowledge that they are even there, playing a big part! You need a temp gun to measure this. Hardware stores, pepboys, and LLL sell them!. Using a heatpad of average size, is usually pretty safe, but if you wanna be sure then use a gun. Your crickets can withstand micro habitat(places above the pad, but under their hiding materials) of 95 plus. Too hot are surface temps above 110.

For baby crickets, to keep them clean because you will have ton of poop, have an extra bin ready. Just so you can do transfers when you are cleaning. The simplest way is to use paper towel, let them climb on that for transfers. I would do this chore daily or as often as you can. Build up will smell like a fish market on a hot summer day. hahahha

 

[Psychobunny]

Yea use the heatpad too. Thats also why i asked if you knew what the surface temps that are created by under source heat when your light goes off.
Ok your ambient temps in the 80s can stay that way, but ill touch on your surface temps. These are very important temps that people seem to not really acknowledge that they are even there, playing a big part! You need a temp gun to measure this. Hardware stores, pepboys, and LLL sell them!. Using a heatpad of average size, is usually pretty safe, but if you wanna be sure then use a gun. Your crickets can withstand micro habitat(places above the pad, but under their hiding materials) of 95 plus. Too hot are surface temps above 110.

For baby crickets, to keep them clean because you will have ton of poop, have an extra bin ready. Just so you can do transfers when you are cleaning. The simplest way is to use paper towel, let them climb on that for transfers. I would do this chore daily or as often as you can. Build up will smell like a fish market on a hot summer day. hahahha

Thanks 4 all the help.
Yeah, I have a laser thermometer and several sizes of heat pads.
I need to get them warmer real soon, affraid they will die in my cool basement.
It took a long time for the little eggs to hatch. I wish I had paid closer attention instead of forgetting about them.

 

[sulfurboy1o3]

no problem and hey dont worry they are just bugs. Continue to try and work routines in until you get the results you want. Good thing they produce by the thousands huh?!!!
If in a cold cold room, and itll just get colder as the year carries on, you shut off the heat light source but still have the pad on, id place a lid over part of the top so that way heat doesnt escape that fast.