Cricket information wanted

[Slavkleos]

I have an 80L tub that's about 12" deep and 24" long. I know I will need vermiculite for bedding, a saw to cut through most of the top, wiremesh and a glue gun to ventilate the container and some egg cartons. What else will I need for crickets? I think I'll need more containers but I don't know how big they should be. I have good food sources for them, the area they'll be kept in will be cooler (around 20°c at night) than the rest of the house so I need to figure out heating but don't know what to get. Should I get heat pads?

 

[sschind]

First of all what species will you be keeping. I don't use bedding. Bare bottom with egg cartons (or similar pressed paper material) most of the top should be wire screen (they will chew through fiberglass or cloth) jar lids for powdered foods. Pinheads and up to 3 instar need higher humidity so I soak or heavily mist an egg flat and place it on top of the rest and I cover most of the top with a piece of plastic. You may have to play around to get the right amount of ventilation to prevent mold but keep it from drying out too fast. if they are past 1/4 inch they don't need as much humidity. If you plan on breeding you will need to bump the temps to over 27c but if you just want to keep them alive they might be fine at 20. Otherwise you might have to get heat pads. I used to keep small field crickets alive for months in my basement and it was closer to 15. They lived fine but they did not grow much if at all. I use shallow lids for the dry food and water crystals for bigger ones. Less than 1/4 inch drink from the wet egg carton.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Don’t the AF’s also need a container of moist dirt to lay eggs in?

 

[Slavkleos]

First of all what species will you be keeping. I don't use bedding. Bare bottom with egg cartons (or similar pressed paper material) most of the top should be wire screen (they will chew through fiberglass or cloth) jar lids for powdered foods. Pinheads and up to 3 instar need higher humidity so I soak or heavily mist an egg flat and place it on top of the rest and I cover most of the top with a piece of plastic. You may have to play around to get the right amount of ventilation to prevent mold but keep it from drying out too fast. if they are past 1/4 inch they don't need as much humidity. If you plan on breeding you will need to bump the temps to over 27c but if you just want to keep them alive they might be fine at 20. Otherwise you might have to get heat pads. I used to keep small field crickets alive for months in my basement and it was closer to 15. They lived fine but they did not grow much if at all. I use shallow lids for the dry food and water crystals for bigger ones. Less than 1/4 inch drink from the wet egg carton.

Update: I completely forgot I had this account, I've started getting into breeding superworms and got my first beetle 2 days ago. I haven't done anything with the crickets, just left the tub in my room with a single egg crate and some gorilla glue I found at a local store. I have some supplies on a list ready to buy off of eBay, vermiculite, mesh and peat. The peat is for egg laying. I've heard the only hydration they should be offered through food because the idiots will drown themselves or not have an interest in other hydration methods.

All I need is a tool to cut holes in the plastic for ventilation (saw won't work) and a proper heating source and the crickets themselves which I can source from CricketKing. Heat lamps are not good for crickets because they like the dark and a heatpad could damage the crickets (somehow, I don't know I'm still researching all this after mostly forgetting about it).

The species I'm going to be sourcing will either be black field or banded.