Cricket breeding

[DreadMan]

Currently I own a singular mature male cricket and about 50 other crickets. I was wondering if I got everything right. The temperature in my house is about 70, and I put a small heating pad at a side (4 watt). I keep them in a plastic tote bin and I have a small cup of soil for the babies to hatch in. The food is dog food. Any idea on how it is right now? Can anyone share their environment?

 

[DreadMan]

here is a pic

 

[jay444]

Looks ok to keep them alive, but it need to improve if you want any breeding to happen.

Water: you need to have a water source. I use a wet paper towel in a deli cup lid to prevent drowning, and I replace it once a week.
Food: dog food is good for protein, make sure they have it all the time so they don't start to eat each other. You also need to provide fruit and veggies (2-3 times a week).
Egg carton: Bigger and keep them vertical for better air circulation.

If you keep the eggs-laying dirt in the colony after the eggs are laid, the males will eat them. Move them to a separate container for incubation. Crank the heat up to 85F and keep the dirt moist at all time. Your crickets will hatch within 10-14 days. With lower temps, the hatching will take much longer. I prefer to keep the young crickets in a separate container to reduce canibalism from the big ones. Here is some pictures of my setup

 

[Braden]

I kept like 50 crickets(both male and female) in like a 3 gallon tub, nothing big or fancy. I gave them egg crates, cricket food powder and dog food as well as some veggies and such. I put in a small container of moist substrate(coco fiber and soil). After a few days, and after watching them deposit eggs here and there I removed it and put it in a small plastic box with a heat mat. A few weeks later dozens hatched, then they all died because it got super moldy overnight. Soooooo, yeah. It was more of an experiment anyways.

 

[DreadMan]

How do I know when the eggs are placed? I have two males and two females (full grown) and they dont really seem to be interacting.

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

If you catch the females sinking their ovipositors in the soil you’ll know. I just swap out the soil container every week and put the old one in the baby enclosure in case anyone is in there.

 

[Braden]

Even if you don't see them deposit eggs, just leave it for a week or so. There's bound to be eggs in it.