Best way to buy crickets in bulk? and maintain them?

[ersl12]

This is similar to my last post on here, but I thought I'd make a separate entry..

but what is the best/cheap(est) place to buy crickets in bulk?

Does anyone have experience purchasing from an online retailer? Were a lot dead when arrived? I know obviously some will, I just want to make sure it's worth it.

Also, what's the best way to keep a bulk amount of them?

Thanks!

 

[suzuki4life]

depends on what you call bulk...

express crickets is one of the cheapest online if you buy 12k units. They ship overnight to most places and quality is great! ($12.29 a 1k box at 12K purchase)

keep them warm, low humidity, no mold and provide food and a source of moisture.
I provide potatoes....they are food and moisture. Everything else is a bonus.

 

[ersl12]

I mean before we bought a 500 count. How much potato do you put in say for that amount? Or for 1000? Also, do you need a water source even with the potatoes?

What did you keep them in?

 

[suzuki4life]

I use 10 gallon aquariums. I put packing tape up the corners so they can't climb the seal and I run a a screen lid.

Take a potato, cut it in half and you are done.

BUT if you are gut loading them, you need to add whatever for gut load food.

 

[ersl12]

We just used orange cubes, which I guess would be considered gut loading foods. So I guess it's not enough to just use them?

We used a plastic storage tank, probably equivalent to about 15 gallons. Problem with that, and I'm sure all tanks.. by the end of the week, it was DISGUSTING, horrible smell and so dirty. Is there any good way to keep up the tank with the crickets and keep it from getting so dirty and smelly?

Thanks for your help!

 

[suzuki4life]

We just used orange cubes, which I guess would be considered gut loading foods. So I guess it's not enough to just use them?

We used a plastic storage tank, probably equivalent to about 15 gallons. Problem with that, and I'm sure all tanks.. by the end of the week, it was DISGUSTING, horrible smell and so dirty. Is there any good way to keep up the tank with the crickets and keep it from getting so dirty and smelly?

Thanks for your help!

all insects have a smell...even the glorious dubia roaches smell. (I know, i have thousands)

gut loading:
I use the dust from the bottom of rodent block, dog food or cat food.
veggies
fish flakes

most insects like fruits (like apples) but they mold quick, so unless you have a bunch of insects not really worth it.

collards greens for your beardie...use the excess for your insects. Squash also works...

 

[ersl12]

We have an extra 10 gallon glass tank, so maybe we'll try that next time we get bulk crickets. The plastic may have made it worse before. I know they have a smell, it was just unbearable.. we ended up throwing it out, we couldn't even clean it

 

[suzuki4life]

they smell, but shouldn't smell it 2 feet away.

I rotate tanks to my garage. Once the last cricket leaves the tank, it sits in the garage a week. Everything turns to basically a dust. I dump it and wipe it down. Ready for the next batch

too much moisture causes mold...and it will stink
rotting food stinks

and dead crickets and mold stink but not as bad as first two.

 

[ersl12]

Do you mean you had two tanks or just one? We live in a smaller condo and kept it in the room with the dragon. You could smell it sitting in there (it's our computer room so we're in there a lot) and when you'd take off the lid it would overwhelm the room. It may have had too much moisture. There was a lot of poop, but it was just amazing it could smell THAT bad.

 

[suzuki4life]

I have 4-6 tanks full most days.

 

[ersl12]

I wish we had more space because we don't have room for that in our current place. Maybe we'll just try smaller sized tanks (10 gallons) and get a few and see how it goes.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[nair88]

We just used orange cubes, which I guess would be considered gut loading foods. So I guess it's not enough to just use them?

We used a plastic storage tank, probably equivalent to about 15 gallons. Problem with that, and I'm sure all tanks.. by the end of the week, it was DISGUSTING, horrible smell and so dirty. Is there any good way to keep up the tank with the crickets and keep it from getting so dirty and smelly?

Thanks for your help!

i clean my cricket bin out every 3 days without removing the crickets. it keeps the smell quite bearable.

 

[ersl12]

Did you use anything special to clean it? Did you just clean the sides or the bottom too?

 

[nair88]

i just use an index card to scrape everything into one big pile after removing all of the tubes and egg crates. then i scoop the pile out once the crickets have dissipated from it. doing that every three days prevents any build-up from happening.

 

[ersl12]

Thanks for the tip, will try that next time! Do you use a glass or plastic tank for them? I figure there's not much difference, but maybe one is better?