New bearded dragon owner trying to breed crickets

[Chompy]

Hello all,
well at 12 cents a cricket feeding my new 11 month old bearded dragon is expensive. My solution was to buy 2,000 crickets in order to breed them. Where can I get breeding equipment? I know I need chicken wire, egg cartons, tubes and dirt. I also realize that 2,000 crickets will produce hundreds and if not thousands of crickets which I won't need. How do I give them away to other reptile owners?

 

[Kates]

I ordered 1000 crickets about a month ago and I still have hundreds left even though a bunch died off.
I got my crickets from www.armstrongcrickets.com. They are the cheapest crickets I have found (including shipping). They came with three things of egg carton pallets. I think they also sell breeding sets on that site but it might be a bit pricey.

I've watched a few videos when I was thinking about breeding crickets.
What one person did was had flatish Tupperware filled with dirt so that when the crickets lay their eggs, you can just take out the tupperware and put it in an incubator. Make sure you keep the dirt moist.

A lot of people just buy rubbermaid tubs, cut a square in the lid and then hot glue some mesh that you can buy at any hardware store.
You will also need a heating pad to keep the crickets at a warm temperature. This will encourage breeding.

And for tubes, paper towel rolls or even toilet paper rolls. They love those things.

 

[Kates]

And regarding sharing crickets with other reptile owners, I see posts on craigslist now and again of people selling crickets, roaches, or superworms cheap because their beardie lost interest in one or the other. You could always post an ad seeing if anyone is interested in cheap crickets.

Also, I have a friend that supplies fruits and vegetables to the pet store down the street and they give her a discount on crickets. Maybe you could find a pet store that's interested in buying crickets or even a trade. 20 crickets for 10 supers or something like that.

 

[Chompy]

Thanks a lot! I'm waiting for my cricket delivery. The Hurricane is over here in NY. I ended up buying four big bins for $8.99 each. 2 little bowls for $1, 80 egg cartons from eBay for about $18 and 3 completed breeding kits for $30 from eBay. Once I have too many crickets I'll give them out here. As long as people are willing to come to Goshen and I'm able to successfully breed them you can have them free!