By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Buy several large containers or tanks. You will need a container or tank to keep your crickets in. It's easiest to have at least two containers, one for breeding adults and one for maturing young crickets. Decide how many crickets you want to raise and purchase a container s of suitable size.
One big mistake many people make when raising crickets is not buying a big enough container. When crickets breed in a very confined space, they actually eat one another so that there are fewer crickets to compete for resources. This isn't something you want. Make sure to buy a big enough tank! Purchase a clear tote bin with a secure lid to keep the crickets in. High-sided plastic storage boxes are a common choice. A 14 gallon 53 L 53 L container can hold a colony of over crickets with sufficient cardboard or egg crates to climb on.
Smooth-surfaced tote bins will reduce the number of escapees. Make your containers breathable. Cut one or two 6" holes in lid of the tote bin for ventilation. Cover the top with a metal mosquito screen to prevent escapes, as crickets can chew through plastic screen. You can experiment with variable vents if you want additional control over the heat.
Layer the floor of the container with vermiculite. Place " of vermiculite in the bottom of the tote bin. This will give the crickets something to walk on that will keep the container dry to prevent bacteria and reduce odors. Especially with denser colonies, this will need to be replaced every months, so get some extra.
Place a disposable plastic container filled with very damp loose topsoil in the tote bin. The females need this to lay their eggs in. Try to make it just slightly higher than the vermiculite so the crickets can get in the container.
Make sure your topsoil is fertilizer- and pesticide-free. Females can deposit eggs through screen using their egg laying spike ovipositor.
National Institutes of Health Go to source. Buy 50 or more crickets. Make sure you have enough crickets to feed your pet with extra to breed.
It's important to have a mix of male and female crickets but preferably, more females than males. Female crickets have three long extrusions on their behind with the main one called ovipositor that it uses to deposit the eggs in the ground. Female crickets will also grow fully developed wings.
Male crickets have two extrusions. National Institutes of Health Go to source They have short, under-developed wings that they use to produce the familiar cricket call we hear at night. Part 2. Assemble your colony and let them feed.
Place a shallow dish of commercial cricket food or substitute crushed premium dry cat food works well in the container away from the soil. You can treat the colony to fruit, potato slices, greens, and other vegetable matter to supplement their diet. Be sure to remove unfinished fresh foods before they mold or rot. Other, more bizarre foods may include tropical fish flakes, pond fish pellets, rabbit food alfalfa pellets , or pretty much anything with high protein content.
Try to mix the feeding up to keep your crickets happy. The health of your crickets will translate directly to the health of your pet s. Try to supplement dry foods with fruits and vegetable scraps, as well as greens such as lettuce. This will ensure that your crickets are truly ready to be a nutritious snack for your pet s. Make sure to give your crickets adequate water.
Crickets need near constant supplies of water to stay alive and well. Watch as your crickets swarm to water whenever you mist the container. Here are some creative ways cricket keepers keep their quarry nice and hydrated: Try placing an inverted bottle reptile water dispenser with a sponge in the reservoir into your container.
The sponge should help prevent any flooding or drowning in the tote bin. Cut one long side of a cardboard toilet roll and unfurl it to get a rectangle.
Wrap this cardboard with very absorbent paper, such as paper towel, and hoist it up vertically in a corner so that it forms a kind of fort. A dish of water gel also sold as soil substitute, e. Heat your crickets. Crickets absolutely need to be kept warm to promote breeding and incubation for their eggs.
Heat can be provided by various methods such as a reptile heater, a heat pad, or a light bulb. Placing a space heater in a walk-in closet will heat the entire closet, providing heat for your crickets and incubating their eggs. Give your crickets time to breed. If you've given them enough food, water, and heat, and your crickets are generally happy, they should breed profusely.
Give them about two weeks to breed and lay the eggs in the soil. The crickets will burrow down about an inch below the topsoil in order to lay their eggs.
Remove this topsoil and place it in a nesting container to incubate the eggs. While waiting for your crickets to lay eggs, be sure to keep the topsoil damp.
No smell, long lived, and I make some quick cash selling the surplus to my LPS. Im definitely looking into ordering some Dubia The gf might not like that hahaha. Thanks for all the help guys, love this board. O'bitey, B. Adult males can fly somewhat diagonally but downward only. I've seen them hover very briefly, less than a second, approximately 1 inch or so above their original liftoff point. They're simply too heavy.
I have noticed no smell whatsoever except faint when handling before feeding. The only downfall is that they play dead or burrow into the substrate. No problem for a hungry t. Forgot to add- Seeing your latitudinal location, I seriously doubt they could or would breed anywhere but in your enclosure. Not saying it's impossible, but thus far I haven't heard of problems with this even in subtropical latitudes.
Tang Arachnopeon. Joined Jun 10, Messages 6. Hi, I've just started breeding crickets and dubias for bout 2 weeks. The crickets seems to be very easy to breed. I'm now having a lot of pinheads. For their growth rate,they grow quite fast. So you got no worries for not having enough feeders. For the Dubias, You really need to take some time to let the colony grows before feeding your T's. BTW, I just feed my 5 new Avic. Versi and 4 P.
They just grab it. It was more fun to see them munch on the crix than those mealworm. Remember to take those dead ones out too. But remember to put them further away your bedroom because you dont want them to chirps into your sweet dream Yea they definitely chirp loud! I put them in my basement its warm because they were keeping me up! I have so many pinheads hahaha its like an explosion of babies. Closing the lid while providing adequate ventilation can be hard with the smaller crickets.
If you use a screen, try to stick with metal, as crickets are able to chew through fiberglass and you can end up with quite a commotion on your hands if it happens and takes some time for you to notice. Some people recommend using saran wrap for the top and poking tiny holes, but if you have the time and patience for it dotting the tops of the enclosure with a heated leather sewing needle is probably a better permanent solution. You might want to look into commercial food and hydrating gels as well.
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