Crickets NOT breeding?

[Pheonixx]

hello insect people.. (LOL)

why is it that i cant get my crickets to breed? i have a good set up for them to breed, nice and warm, moist area for the females to lay eggs and lots of males and lots of females. I started this little colony with 50 store bought domestic grey crickets and lost a few to feeding to my spiders, but about 5 days ago added 50 more to "beef" up the breeders. it has been about 4 weeks and i havent seen one pinhead...whats up? am i doing something wrong? i thought crix were easy to breed...

 

[moricollins]

they are easy to breed, what are you feeding them/using for moisture?

what substrate are they on? i've had them breed on peat moss, and on a potting soil mix.

 

[Pheonixx]

they are curently on store bought topsoil. they eat fish flakes and moisture is flukers orange cubes. they have lots of hides and the section i keep moist for the egg laying is a 3oz portion cup with dirt in it. i put water in it and it holds moisture well. I hate to say it but i am thinking of putting a wet sponge in there just to see if the females will lay eggs on that.

 

[Wade]

Are you leaving the eggs in with the adults? They will dig up and eat their own eggs. I've had the best luck by either putting a shallow dish with moist sand or soil in the cage and pulling it out after a few days and icubating it seperately, OR setting up a container with moist substrate and introducin 10-20 adult females for 3 days or so and then removing them. Either way, it's important to not keep them together, ecen if som eggs survive to hatch, there won't be very many.

Wade

 

[Pheonixx]

hmmm, thankls wade i had not thought that they would eat their own eggs. There is plenty of other food for them to eat. I did not think crix had canabalistic issues. so what i mst do now is remove the "moist area" and incubate it right? How long does it take for cricket eggs to hatch?

 

[Wade]

I have always had the best luck removing the egg laying area (I usually use a 8 oz deli cup full of sand or soil). Hatching time depends on temp, but usually between 2 to 3 weeks.

Wade