cricket question

[Atreyuhero4]

ok so i have been trying to breed crickets for sometime now and i have had no success but recently i have found 2 baby crickets in my obts enclosure (the sub was sub used to try to breed crickets) im pertty confused of this because i have had no baby crickets hatch where i have been trying to hatch them i have all the things needed (egg carton, adult crix, food water, heat, sub) any ideas or suggestions? any breeders that can maybe give my help

 

[Matt K]

Give up on crickets and start using roaches. Easier and cleaner.

 

[Atreyuhero4]

i dont have money for roaches and i have looked many places and cant find them or else i would use them

 

[calum]

breeding crickets is fine, I have succesfully bred crickets before, just make sure you have adults, they have plenty of proper food, and that they are kept warm. I used moist peat moss as an egg-laying substrate, I put a good 3-4" in a bowl, put it in the setup, and kept them warm. once it has been in for a few days, try running your finger through the substrate, you should see a few eggs. the look like tiny grains of rice. once you have enough eggs in the substrate, move it to another tank, one where they cannot escape ( no small spaces; the pinheads are TINY.) ventilation holes are a proper bastard for this reason. keep the eggs warm in the new setup and after some time they will hatch.make sure there is some where to hide for them, egg cartons are great for pinheads + adults alike.

this was fairly early in the colony, so most are still sub-adults;

but remeber, I wasn't breeding these on a large scale, just enough to get by.

this setup worked fine for me, I used clingfilm for the lid.

 

[Vulgaris]

Hmm... I've noticed those are gryllus field crickets insted of the usual Acheta domestica that people raise.

Any particualr reason you chose these? I've never raised these kind before... where did you get them or were they wild caught?

They look very healthy... would you mind telling what you fed them? I usually feed mine fish flakes and oat meal and they do ok... those foods they sell at the store for them are very expensive


if you use a clear container for an egg dish, you can see eggs along the side

 

[calum]

Great pics of the eggs.

the only reason I keep gryllus spp. is because they are the only species availible at the local pet shop. I've keep the brown crickets before, I prefer the field crickets, they are hardier and generally better than the brown crickets. the only drawback with these is that they chirp, A LOT, and it sound's like a jungle in my room at night. but I've gotten used to it and now it helps me sleep lol.

I feed them a variety of stuff; lettuce, thin strips of cellary, dry dog food (they actually fight over the dog food) wheat, and oatmeal. I experimented with other stuff like banana and apple, they do not like. and remeber to always rinse food well, I recenly had a huge Die-off from what I belive to be pesticides. so I'm of to the pet shop tomorow to buy another 50 crickets. so just experiment with food as well, see what they like.

 

[Vulgaris]

Really thats what your pet store carried? I've never seen any other than the brown ones at the pet stores around

Another plus on field crickets is if you have a large animal that you are feeding, field crickets generally grow larger

another thing, I've NEVER seen any pet store I've been to carry any kind of roaches. I don't know where everybody gets roaches from, but I definitely like crickets better

I breed crickets on a small scale (no large containers like you have) as pets. I like the chirping, especially during the winter while all the wild ones have ceased

thanks for the feeding suggestion!

 

[Atreyuhero4]

the brown crickets are actually called grey crickets

 

[calum]

the brown crickets are actually called grey crickets

vulgaris; I think my pet store is one of a kind, I haven't seen black crickets in any other pet stores. The one near me doesn't carry feeder roaches either, but they got a M/F hisser pair in a few days ago so I'm gonna give them a shot.

And I think most of you folks stateside get roaches online, I know for a fact that james @ blaberus.com Is a very well respected dealer.

I love the chirping as well.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

Crickets are really pretty easy you just have to know what you are doing. Get a dozen adult crickets at your local pet shop. Put them in a large container and then in that container place a deli cup with very moist peat or coco fiber. Make a little ramp so they can craw into it. You will see them do this and after a couple days remove the deli and put a top on it. You should see long cylinder like egg cases in the substrate. After a week or two they will hatch and you have baby crickets. Feed them cricket food and cricket gel you can find at your local pet store.

Provide lots of ventilation to them, and keep it clean or else it will foul and smell much more quickly than with roaches.

To obtain roaches contact someone off the board and have them send you some. Many roach suppliers will explain to you how to care for them, and they smell much less than crickets and are easier to care for IME.

Good luck,
Nate

 

[Matt K]

i dont have money for roaches and i have looked many places and cant find them or else i would use them

Roaches are cheap or free depending where they come from. $5 can start you on your way. And they are very easy to find so where have you looked? You know how to use your computer to get in on this forum so you should be able to find them EASY.

Send me a PM about it.

 

[Atreyuhero4]

i have looked all over the internet i dont have a job anymore so my money is very limited there not sold anywhere locally and it gets expensive to buy them and ship them :/

 

[kupo969]

...but I definitely like crickets better

I think you are the first person to ever say this

 

[calum]

make that a second.

roaches are very cheap, you don't need a bucketload of cash to get a colony started.

www.blaberus.com

 

[TFCherry]

i had thought about breeding crickets, but that was before I discovered roaches. they are so much better. much hardier, don't smell, don't make noise, don't jump, don't climb, don't fly, don't escape, can be fed from a bowl...

i get my dubia's from dubiaroaches.com they have the best prices i have found anywhere and you can order them in any size, not just "mixed sized lots", $25 for 100 medium nymphs. $170 for 1000 mixed. roaches go a long way, and you don't end up with half of them dying before you even get to feed them off.

customer service is excellent and all are alive on arrival.

 

[Vulgaris]

May sound like a stupid question but how do you breed roaches?

What do they lay their eggs in?

Actually, I have seen roaches take flight many times before while on vacation. would be staying up way into the night watching movies and huge lightning fast roaches would come flying into the lamps.

I would like to try them, but I'm afraid my mom would kill herself before she let me bring a roach anywhere near the house

Do you think I could catch some while on vacation and start a colony from them or do they carry diseases?

BTW I've never seen a feeder cricket fly I don't think they can

 

[Matt K]

*To breed roaches all you need to do is feed them and keep more than two in the same container.

They dont lay thier eggs in anything. Most give live births, some produce an eggcase (called an ootheca) and drop it in the cage.

Most feeder roaches do not fly.

Tell your mom they are cleaner and quieter than crickets.

Dont catch wild ones in North America as most that you can easily find are pest species. Others that are not pests are too small to easily culture.

No roach carries a disease.

Feeder crickets will fly with the right opportunity. Most of the time when you keep them indoors this opportunity is not available.

Visit www.roachforum.com and read about many roach species.

There are several vendors in Arachnoboards that sell roaches. Otherwise if you go to Google and type in "roaches for sale" you easily find exactly that.
If you looked "all over the internet" you must have meant one page on AOL.

 

[TFCherry]

well it depends on where you live. if its a climate that is warm and humid all year long i would say stick with crickets. and i know they are illegal in florida.

for dubia's at least, because they are a tropical species and give a some what live birth their entire environment needs to be humid(not wet) and at least 85 degrees fahrenheit at all times, which is considerably warmer than most homes. also dubia's are slower breeders and arent really built to infest a house because they cannot climb smooth surfaces (i.e. walls, ceilings, furniture etc). there are species that can fly and climb, but dubia's do not, and they are not as wide/round as other non climbers/flyers. the males have wings, but they cannot use them, kind of like a penguin, or emu. they are also pretty slow and clumsy compared to other species, nothing like the 'pest' species. They are very easy to keep, don't even need a lid, but you should anyways just in case of an accidental knock over.

so all in all it is basically impossible for them to escape or infest your house unless you live in a tropical environment.

 

[bhoeschcod]

the brown crickets are actually called grey crickets

and house crickets

 

[bhoeschcod]

No roach carries a disease.

really thats amazing info:clap: