Housing 1,000 crickets

[nicolenreakus]

Just got 1,000 crickets in today from Ghanns.com. I ordered next day shipping to NJ where it is freezing out. Only about 100 died. Great service. Just thought I would share. This is my first time housing this many crickets. I will post pictures. Please tell me what you think. I have water crystals and Ghanns cricket chow for food and water.

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc420/nicolenreakus/Rex/010.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc420/nicolenreakus/Rex/008.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc420/nicolenreakus/Rex/006.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc420/nicolenreakus/Rex/005-2.jpg

 

[Danielle4]

It looks good to me.

 

[lightheart]

I just replied to another of your cricket posts

Looks good! I don't put as much cricket quencher in my tub, find that the crickets poop in it a bunch and I don't want to toss that much out. Also we don't have a light on our tub, we keep the house pretty warm though, did find that the crickets in the one tub that was closer to the air vent grew faster than the one tub that wasn't as warm.

 

[Vacren]

If that screen is just stapled, I would suggest running some tape around it, too. I've found crickets in the oddest places.

 

[mommabrick20]

thank you thank you thank you! your pictures are so helpful we have been talking about doing this for months now and your pictures gave us ease because we did know how to house them or even start it off. do you think that 500 might be enough to start breeding?

 

[nicolenreakus]

Yeah, I will definitely put some tape along the edges. That is just temporary because I didn't have tape at the time. I also lessened the amount of the cricket quencher. I also found that crickets love squash! I put that in their every day and they tear it up! That is a great food source and water source. I also put Ghanns cricket feed and water crystal in daily. Not too many of them died, thank God! 500 is too many to breed in one enclosure. You would need to get a separate smaller enclosure for breeding and have to know when to remove them so they don't eat the eggs. They have some really great threads on here about breeding crickets. I will end up doing it eventually. It sounds pretty easy when providing the right lighting and temperatures for them. I don't house large crickets because Rex is too small. The smaller crickets do need a higher temp. I only keep the light on them when I am home and turn it off when I go to bed. Overall, my cricket experience has been pretty good so far and saved me a lot of money!!! Always open for more ways to improve!!!

 

[szubelak]

sounds like some experienced folks on this thread - so I'll ask my question here - I've heard/read somewhere that you can also feed baby food (dry cereal form) to crickets? Anyone else heard this? Would this be a good nutrient source???

Thanks!!
Lesley

 

[Vacren]

Just remember that whatever your crickets eat your beardies are eating. If the dry food has the nutritional content you want in your Beardie, and the crickets will eat it, go for it.

That said, I'm sure there is a cheaper cricket staple you could feed them that has the same or better nutritional value.

For example...

 4 C Rolled oatmeal
 1 C Dried milk powder
 2 C Dry premium cat food (measure than crush)
 2 t Retical calcium with vitamin D3

 

[szubelak]

4 C Rolled oatmeal
1 C Dried milk powder
2 C Dry premium cat food (measure than crush)
2 t Retical calcium with vitamin D3

Thank you for the excellent suggestions - I never thought of oatmeal or dried milk powder - and I'm assuming I could use premium dog food (already have that for my other baby) - and the retical calcium I could find at my local pet store?? I would think that stuff wouldn't start to smell bad like a fruit or veggie would.

When I first got my beardies, I tried Kale and they would NOT have anything to do with it - so I figured I would give it to the crickets - next best thing right - I had lime green dropping for weeks - (it was gross) lol

Lesley

 

[Vacren]

I would stick with the cat food. It is a little higher in protein, bigger bugs faster.

The reptical is at your local pet shop chain for sure, possibly a mom-and-pop shop. I use calcium supplements for humans, Calcium Plus 1000 from GNC, grind with a pestle and mortar and keep it in an old salt shaker. It's cheaper than reptical, actually much cheaper than reptile specific supplements, and it contains D3 and magnesium as well as calcium. You really don't want to put too much Ca into your bugs, they will calcify and die, that's why it's best to dust. Just be careful when "salting" your baby's food with it. An excess of D3 is just as bad, if not worse, than a deficit.

As far as the kale goes, good food for herb herp's, not so much for beardies. It's spiny and causes (supposedly) binding of the bowels. I haven't had it occur myself but have read enough horror stories to convince me to cut it out of their diets. It's also a little high in Vit A.