Crickets

[lwilson3]

I am getting tired of my crickets dying in my cricket keeper, so my husband and I have decided to put them in a tote instead. Since I'm giving them the space anyway, I'd like to try to breed them. I've read up on it and I have everything in place, but I have a few questions about discrepancies I saw on different sites.

1.) Is it better to put a container with dirt in for the egg laying, or is it better to put substrate on the entire bottom of the tote? I'm planning on moving the adults to a 20 gallon tank in my son's room if/when I notice eggs and having them do their thing there until they are fed off to Maynard. The smell thing also isn't an issue because they are in a special bug room we have.

2.) What does the temp need to be? Somewhere I saw 80, but then I saw that they didn't require heat. If they do require heat, can I use a flood light like I use for Maynard (at a smaller wattage, obviously, though I'm not sure how much smaller it will need to be) and a black bulb (not the brand name, but store bought) for nighttime heat (if they even need nighttime heat).

3.) Are fluker's good for anything, or should I just feed them chow similar to the roach chow and greens, with an orange for hydration?

4.) How do I feed/water the babies so they don't drown?? Right now I am using water crystals and they seem to be working good for the adults, but I ran across some concern about them causing die-offs.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[wojcik49]

Crickets are garbage get some dubia roaches

 

[lwilson3]

Thanks so much for the advice, but I already have a colony of them. From what I've researched it's important to keep a variety to a beardie's diet, plus our cichlids eat them. I have repti worms on the way, but there's no getting around the fact that crickets are widely available and cheap. If I can get them going so I can use them as needed, instead of having to pay gas or shipping to get some, it would really help open the budget for other things like Maynard's new viv.

 

[ChrisMiller]

Not to be a downer, but I bred crickets for several years when I was younger. Noise, stench, constant cleaning of the enclosure, high mortality rate, escapees, etc etc. I am not really sure where the positive is?

I agree with variety, but a properly raised roach colony can provide nymphs, freshly molted nymphs, adults, etc. That's a lot of variety. Of course you can also bring in the occasional worms, etc too.

My feeding plan is simple.... roaches first, greens, and I am keeping phoenix worms as treats and to keep the babies from getting bored. That's it..... I would NEVER mess with crickets again... EVER! lol

I know this doesn't address your question and I'm sorry for that... just trying to keep you from making a mistake you'll regret. lol

 

[wojcik49]

Yeah roaches are the way to go...you can vary the diet but you don't really need to with roaches and veggies/fruit...the roaches are way more worthwhile

 

[lwilson3]

Thanks for the...help.
I said I did my research. This means I'm already aware of die offs, stench, hassle, etc. I need them to feed to other pets, so I have to keep buying them anyway and I'm tired of buying them, just like I was tired of buying roaches.