cricket colonies?

driver

Arachnoknight
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Jun 22, 2007
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From what I understand at this point in my learning, keeping crickets alive can be a tricky thing to attempt. Does anyone have any tips on raising your own feeder crickets, or keeping a large order of crickets alive for future feeding?
 

TNeal

Arachnoknight
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Dec 11, 2006
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I have no trouble keeping crickets alive for long periods
As a matter of fact I always end up taking crickets that have grown too large to the petstore and give them away. I usually buy 2000 at a time and feed a lot of them. But I do always end up with large ones. I buy 1/4 inch cricketts

I just make sure they have water jell at all times and plenty of food. I feed them cricket food, fruits and veggies and their favorite food moist dog food.

Tom
 

JLDomestics

Arachnoknight
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Apr 24, 2007
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It's actually real simple to keep crickets alive if you do it CORRECTLY. Provide lots of venilation, zero moisture, and cardboard hiding areas. Make sure you feed them and provide them with a water source. Moisture and lack of ventilation are the 2 most common killers of crickets.
 

Stylopidae

Arachnoking
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The longest I've ever kept crickets alive is in my wasp colony enclosure.

Apparrently, all they need is dried up ham and scraps of dead crickets. One has grown from 1/4 inch to half an inch and should be an adult in a moult or two.

Other than that even keeping them in an open top rubbermaid container and giving them water gel and dog food they live for two weeks and then die.

Start a roach colony. Easier and cheaper.
 

JLDomestics

Arachnoknight
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Apr 24, 2007
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Water gel and dog food is just too rich of a diet for crickets. It works excellent as a gutload, but crickets who are on a diet of this will definately die in no time. To keep it real simple, (and this is how the cricket breeding companies do it), all you have to supply is carrots and potatoes, and take them out and add fresh ones once or twice a week.
 

Stylopidae

Arachnoking
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Water gel and dog food is just too rich of a diet for crickets. It works excellent as a gutload, but crickets who are on a diet of this will definately die in no time. To keep it real simple, (and this is how the cricket breeding companies do it), all you have to supply is carrots and potatoes, and take them out and add fresh ones once or twice a week.
Tried that and got to the point where I was changing the moist food daily and picking out the corpses twice a day. Still had a 90% mortality rate.

Some people have good luck with crickets. Others do everything by the book and end up with nothing.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Raising crix was easy for a while. Had plenty of pinheads and adults all summer long. When it cooled off, they died off. It seemed like the hotter it was, the better off they were.
 

jen650s

Arachnobaron
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May 29, 2007
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Roaches are a lot cleaner and don't smell as bad and seem for me to be easier to manage. They have longer life spans and take longer to grow as well. Also, I can't stand the smell of crickets. Roaches give me the heebie jeebies, but they are clean and don't stink.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Yeah, I raise B dubias now and buy crix to mix it up. The dead crick smell is from the dead crix. If you are doing good with raising crix and don't have them die on you, you prob won't have a smelly prob. Dead crix is where that smell comes from, it's really bad.
 

JLDomestics

Arachnoknight
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Apr 24, 2007
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I used to have major problems keeping crickets alive, but now I have problems killing them unless I squash them. Alot of my crickets die from old age now when I have more feeders than I need. I think where alot of people fail is in the ventilation. I use a screen lid on a 10 gallon and it ventilates nicely. Many people use tall bins with no lids on! If you are keeping them in a container with a lid that has holes poked into it - that is the reason your crickets are dying!;)
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Maybe that's why I didn't have a problem, I didn't use a lid. When winter came around, I used a heating pad on about half the tub underneath and I put the top on to try to hold in heat, then they started dying and stopped reproducing.
 

Louise E. Rothstein

Arachnobaron
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Feb 10, 2005
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I can't STAND a hot house...I keep it at about 70 Fahrenheit. My freebie crickets seemed fine,but I don't see any babies...has anyone else had this...?
 
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