Breeding crickets

[alex]

Can I put in some adult crickets with my pinheads, or will they eat the small ones?

 

[Fergrim]

In my experience, as long as the food source is plentiful (I leave a mountain of dry oatmeal in with mine) the instances of cannibalism are few and far between.

 

[alex]

When the female has layed eggs, can I let them be in the tank, or do I have to remove them?

 

[Wade]

You'll have better hatchouts if you remove them, as other cickets may dig them up and eat them. You also need to provide something for them to lay eggs in, like a dish of moist soil, sand, vemiculite etc.

Wade

 

[cichlidsman]

In my experience, as long as the food source is plentiful (I leave a mountain of dry oatmeal in with mine) the instances of cannibalism are few and far between.

Does the oatmeal get moldy?

 

[sanguinarian]

I've had my share of moldy oatmeal.

 

[Fergrim]

No, I've never had an issue with any mold on the oatmeal.

 

[alex]

I'm using fish food and that seems to work very well.

 

[Botar]

They will pretty much eat anything you give them... they are bugs.

I've been experimenting a bit with this lately. I don't mind buying larger crickets by the thousands, but I just don't like having to buy the 1-week old crix. I've been using 4" deli cups with about an inch of the water crystals in the bottom and about 2 inches of damp peat on top. I put the deli in for 1 day with about 1,000 adult crickets and, if all goes well, I end up with a hatch out of well over 1,000 babies in about 2 weeks. My invert room temps are mid to upper 70's. I believe the hatch would be quicker with a bit warmer temp. So far it has worked out pretty well. It gives me enough cheap food to just dump 100 or so tiny crickets in a communal C. vitatus tank with about 100 baby scorpions.

Botar

 

[Fergrim]

Okay, I'm a crick newblet! I just buy a dozen or two at a time and try to keep them alive as long as possible for my emperor