# No Smell Crickets!



## Kruggar (Apr 28, 2012)

So I currently have only 4 FBTs and those little buggers can eat 200 crix a month! I'm all about saving money, so I figured it would be best to breed them. Having lurked on AB long enough I know that a standard issue with massing crickets is the smell (being from the country I actually love the chirping). After watching this tutorial I thought I'd give it a try:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdEfjuYREcM


I'm not looking to have as many as he is, so mine is a little smaller. 








I found this awesome fan at Canadian Tire for $10, it's cord is detachable and can be powered by a usb port, but thankfully comes with an outlet adapter (saves me going through the trouble of finding computer fans, adapters and wiring/soldering  ). Like most fans, its wire cover comes in two halves. I cut a hole large enough to hold the blades, but small enough so that the cage can sandwich the container along all edges.  













I used about 6 feet of dental floss to attach some window screening on the inside. and used the 'Gap Filling Adhesive' type of 'NO MORE NAILS'. That stuff is awesome! I used the same stuff to stick the window screening to 4 small vents in the top of the container (2 wasn't enough for the power of the fan, could hear backwash lolz)


Here is the inside of the tank as I have it set up, I tried the rolled oats like the video suggested, not sure if they've been eating them though. You can also see the packing tape wrapping around the inside (i put a strip around the top vents too, and extra under the fan). 







I've been regularly checking for dead crickets and removing them, and for about 5 weeks now there is no noticeable smell. I didn't even add the active carbon, but I am feeding citrus fruits, which apparently helps. The only problem I've noticed is keeping the humidity up. Molting issues has been my number 1 cause of death, I've put a container containing mud in a corner to compensate, and if any females get to laying before I take them to the nursery tank, several pinheads have hatched in this communal tank. 

That wasn't too bad of a segue. 

My nursery tank is smaller and contains all the mature females in my collection (and the occasional lucky, depending on your opinion, Male). Here I can easily keep the humidity up and keep an eye on the egg laying (and watch for any egg eating). I remove the females from the colony every few days, I'm not too concerned about having thousands of pinheads. 









As you can see, half of the tank is potting soil. I made a thick mud and hand pressed it into place, squeezing all the access water out. This gets misted daily and the lamp stays on 24/7 to ensure the 80 degrees or so. I feed all my crickets lettuce, potato, celery leaves, carrots, citrus fruits, and fish flake, their favourite . You can see a lady laying eggs here, about an hour before there were 7 or so... figures they hide when the camera comes out . 









OH! and I figured I'd share my homemade cricket duster.  its two plastic jars glued (yet again NO MORE NAILS ) together while sandwiching mesh. Crickets go in the bigger side, calcium power in the smaller side, toss it once and remove the powder, bam done. 













Hope you enjoyed.  cheers.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Low (Apr 28, 2012)

Nice setup....seems like a lot of work tho...roaches r so much easier

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## Skeri (Apr 28, 2012)

Wow great work ^-^ 

Seems like a bit of a pain in the butt at first though. I don't have enough Ts at the moment to have to worry about breeding a feeder. I will keep this in mind considering my fiance prefers I use mealworms or crickets to feed my Ts. I got lucky to finally get him to agree to let me keep as many Ts as I please. I don't want to push my luck with breeding feeder roaches in the house. He would flip. Meal worms or crickets I dont think he would have an issue with though. XD


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## Bugs In Cyberspace (Apr 28, 2012)

I imagine the molting issues would diminish if you only used the fan sparingly. This is a fantastic post and that's a fantastic set-up. Roaches are wonderful but we all know that crickets induce a better feeding response by most of our predator pets and there are those just that won't take roaches. Everybody discusses what the best feeder roach is and there are a handful of great ones and options are always good, but crickets will always be king. It sure does look like a lot of work, but it looks like Kruggar is set up for the rest of life! I'd personally love to see some updates about how this works out in the longrun.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Galapoheros (Apr 28, 2012)

Nice, good luck with that cricket sps.  I got those going really well one year but couldn't get it to work after that, they would all die off.  I switched to a larger cricket and have a really crude set up but works with no smell.  What was that fan originally designed for btw, do you know?, I kind of like fans for some reason.  I used to buy old ones and would clean them up.


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## Kruggar (Apr 28, 2012)

Yeah yeah roaches. It seems whenever people mention crickets, there is always someone who says "go roaches!". I'm in Canada. Roaches are illegal to keep here. Period. I'd be totally game otherwise. 

The fan is a tabletop computer fan hence the USB power. it came with a little stand I removed. 

Ill keep people updated when the latest pinheads hatch. I have been turning the fan off here and there.


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## Curious jay (Apr 29, 2012)

Kruggar said:


> Yeah yeah roaches. It seems whenever people mention crickets, there is always someone who says "go roaches!". I'm in Canada. Roaches are illegal to keep here. Period. I'd be totally game otherwise.
> 
> The fan is a tabletop computer fan hence the USB power. it came with a little stand I removed.
> 
> Ill keep people updated when the latest pinheads hatch. I have been turning the fan off here and there.


Great setup I think a lot of people say crickets stink because when they die they release ammonia which is just a putrid smell but I've had no issues with smell just check daily for dead crickets, but they do irritate me at the way they manage to just die out or cannibalise each other even when there's plenty of food, I prefer morio worms I purchased 1 tub about 3 months ago still have the same tub only 1 death in 3 months which was because I forgot to put some carrot in the mix,but as there high in fat I tend to mix it up with crickets too.


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## HoboAustin (Apr 29, 2012)

Wow that's a cool powder shaker you have there! Definitely better than shaking a sandwich baggie full of powder. And this whole fan cricket concept---absolutely genius.


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## Kruggar (Apr 29, 2012)

@jay. Well I've been leaving dead crickets in the tub for several days with no issues, but I don't have more then 200 crix. I can imagine if 100 were dead and left to rot for several days the smell would be worse. I'm gonna throw in some isopods to eat them dead ones. Maybe a little wet soil for them. I'm not sure

@hobo. Thanks! My work was giving these jars away free and I knew right away what I would use them for. This container won't kill earlier instars too!


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## SamuraiSid (Apr 29, 2012)

Thanks for the post Kruggar!  I just failed misereably at trying to rear my own crickets and after seeing your work, I know what Ive been doing wrong.


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## Kruggar (Apr 29, 2012)

Mine are going fairly strong, I worry about the next generation, but so far things seem to be going well. There has been between 1 and 12 females laying at any given time 24/7. And it doesn't seem they are digging or tearing things up too much, sorbets eggs are doing great.


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## Kruggar (May 19, 2012)

UPDATE: So I came back from my vacation and low and behold thousands of little crickets.

I've got young from hatchlings to instar 4. All my adults are done so I might need to buy some medium sized ones to have revolving generations. 

Just a few under the light, can't see any on the dirt:


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## Introvertebrate (May 19, 2012)

Congrats.  So you think two generations would give you access to adults at any given moment?


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## Kruggar (May 20, 2012)

Introvertebrate said:


> Congrats.  So you think two generations would give you access to adults at any given moment?


Possibly, But I don't need adults other then breeding purposes ATM. I need medium ones and pinheads for feeding. If you needed access to adults all the time, they seem to live long enough in that instar that 2 might be enough. I'll keep updating.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Dom (May 20, 2012)

Looks good Kruggar.
As you've noted you're having a hard time keeping the humidity up and this is in April when you started this thread. It will get easier as the ambient temperature and humidity rises. It's going to be WAY more difficult in Dec. to March when the furnace/heating is on 24/7.  I've been down this road a few times with various herps/bugs  and fans blowing into cages in the winter requires ALOT of monitoring and it can go sideways very fat if you have other obligations.


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## Kruggar (May 21, 2012)

Thanks Dom.
I totally know the winter will be tricky. But I'm planning on making a 2L water despenser that will keep the humidity up for days, moisten soil for eggs, and will be drown proof even for pinheads... I've been mulling over what I can use. I'll update once I'm done.


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## Camden (May 21, 2012)

Just an idea, no idea if it will work, but you could get a repti-fogger or some sort, cut a hole in the top of the tub, install the fogger's tube like you did the fan. That would also raise temperatures a little I assume.


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## Kruggar (May 21, 2012)

True Camden, but I'm trying to keep the costs down. So a bottle and some nylon will have to do.


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## alex acheta (Oct 26, 2017)

I know this is a few years old, but I stumbled upon it and think I can help.  Cricket Stink is from having moisture, rotten food or dead crickets.  Crickets naturally have that unique smell, but The Stink comes from those 3 things.  Keep them dry, rotate food and pick out the dead crickets.  There are some easy ways to do that that I posted on my Cricket Farm blog called Acheta.  http://acheta.co/cricket-stink has more in-depth tips for getting rid of Cricket Stink


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