Crix Tips

[carmdac]

I had searched online Crix farms for a couple of weeks and paid attention to suggestions made in forums on here. No matter where i looked it was going to cost around $18-$25.00 for anywhere from 250-500 crix after delivery charges. With that in mind, i asked a local pet store owner, whom i had been purchasing my crix for .10 ea. if he were to order me 500 1/4" crix how much would it cost. He told me if i placed an order by friday to have them delivered on tuesdays w/ his crix we would split shipping and it would cost me $12.00. DONE DEAL, if i baught 500 from him as a regular cust over 2 weeks it would cost me $50.00.
CARE: Baught a Clear Rubbermaid tub 30"x18"x18" for $8.00 and drilled 1/8" holes around the top rim approx 1" apart for air. I use Flukers High Calcium Crix Diet, Flukers Cricket Quencher Calcium and a product called GUT LOAD all placed on seperate jar lids. I place several empty paper towel rolls and 2 empty egg crates, along w/ 2 halves of a potato. Usually, every couple of days i will refill my small crix keeper so my wife does not have to touch the crix. Very easy to maintain and I have kept crix alive as long a 3 weeks doing this. It is by far the cheapest and easiest way to provide for your beardie.

 

[ajkry2]

Nice move making this thread. I agree with everything you've said

 

[carmdac]

Why thank you!

 

[iwysss]

Thanks for the useful tips. I was searching for a post to tell me how I should care for the crickets. I had my first order of 250 crickets come in last week. It was such a pain getting them out of the box!! :x So next time I order the cricks, do you suggest me to just tilt the entire delivery box upside down into a rubbermaid? I also have the Fluker's crick cal diet, and I plan on cutting a potato in half like you said. How often do i have to change those? As for the water source, it is OK to just use cotton squares soaked in water? Or do I have to buy the gel kind of hydration souce? How many cricks can you keep in your rubbermaid?

Sorry for bombarding you with questions! You just seem so knowledgeable at this!

 

[Screamin99]

Keep enough egg crates in for them to climb on.. cut the potato in 1/4s not half.. gives more room for feeding for more crickets. You can use cotton squares, those are fine. or you can also use small shallow dishes for them. I use gel as its just easier to clean. what they dont use I just hose out when I clean the tank. I dont have to worry about getting in and messing with them other then to pull out a handfull.

 

[ajkry2]

When I take my crix out of the box, I do it outside every time -- so any escapees will go off into the wild I transfer the egg crate they were delivered in to the crix bin, then shake the rest from the box into the bin. A big ol' Rubbermaid or Sterilite bin will do (I think I have an 18 gal). I agree with the above poster, the smaller the pieces you cut the potato into the more area the crix have to feed on. The main prob I've noticed with potatoes is that they grow old quickly... It depends on the atmosphere, but check the potatoes every day just to be sure they don't mold for the crix -- you'll get the hang of it after the first week or 2. Cotton squares work well too, the crix usually drink it up before they mold, but you should check the cottonballs every day or 2 just to be sure.

The biggest pain is making sure that the water source doesn't mold and that the water source doesn't get the food source wet, because that can mold...

I keep upwards of 4000 crix in the bin at a time, but it gets awfully dirty awfully quickly :roll:

Another tip Transfer the crix to a different bin once a week or so and dump out the crix poo and shed skins -- cuts down on the smell

They way I transfer the crix is to simply shake an egg crate into the feeding bin. There are usually escapees, so I make sure to do that outside too because I love my girlfriend and I think she might murder me if she saw over 5 crix running around and/or chirping :lol:

I give the bin a good ammonia bath between every order just to be sure that if any parasites have developed they have no way of getting in the new batch.

Hope this helped :mrgreen:

 

[iwysss]

THANK YOU, THE BOTH OF YOU!
That helped me a lot!
.. But the sad thing is that the new 6-week old beardie at my house seems to not like the crickets! Good thing I only bought 30 to try out. Maybe it's the relocation stress, on top of moving her to a feeding box at meal times. I saw some people had similar problems, where they resorted to feeding phoenix worms instead since they can be placed in a feeding dish without moving the lil fellas.

 

[Screamin99]

It could be stress and they should snap out of it quickly. Im buying around 2k crickets a month now and Ive had my boy since late august.

I use a water source from flukers the little gel looking things and I use there dry feed and there orange cube feed. Ditto on the smell its bad.. they stink a lot, I dont have anything to transfer my cirx too when I need to clean so I take them and put them in gallon sized freezer bags for a few minutes. Today I had to use three to give them enough room to move so they dont just bash each other to death.

Theres usually a few left in the trash at the bottom so just take them outside and dump it out. then wash it out really good and dry then they are ready to go back in almost as quick as you took them out

Another tip I have found that works well for me is that I take the lids from the feed and the gel water stuff and save them. I use them as dishes for there food and water source and it seems to work well at keeping there foods contained. Minus the potatos

 

[bogha69]

Very nice idea. Also if where you live can kinda chilly/room crickets are kept in, try a low watt heat bulb. I know many say not to let them get too warm but try likee a 45 watt basking bulb and put it on the opposite side of food and such my crickets really appreciated it and live ot longer with one. And a plastic storage tote works great if you house 50+ crickets and the container with lid is a lot cheaper than a 10+ gallon tank. Just a thought, I tryed the lamp idea and worked great for me. Did it on 2 doz crickets they lived for weeks until my beardie and leaord ate them lmao. Good luck.

 

[ajkry2]

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