Housing crickets and keeping them alive. Perhaps breeding them too.

[Venomgland]

Whats the best way to keep those suckers alive? I've always had trouble in the past. I just used one of those cheap plastic animal housing things from petsmart. Threw in some cardboard rolls, cricket food, and a water dish. They never seemed to live long.

Also, does anyone breed crickets? Is it worth it? I only have 3 T's so right now isn't the time for me, but perhaps one day when my T collection grows. I might think about breeeding some crickets. In the garage of coarse...

 

[EulersK]

Crickets aren't the easiest to keep alive. I've never tried simply because of the difficulty and the ungodly smell that only a couple dozen produce. Look into other options like dubia roaches if you insist on breeding, but with such a small collection I wouldn't bother. Just buy as needed.

 

[basin79]

This is my livefood tub. I don't have any problems with crickets dying off in any great number. They moult fine and the smaller crickets I buy often see it to adulthood.

 

[ShyDragoness]

I currently only feed crickets becuase my mums banned anything with "roach" in it convinced the whole house will be consumed, had a hard time with them at first but they seem fine and now have noticed a number of new crickets

 

[viper69]

Also, does anyone breed crickets? Is it worth it?

It's easy to hatch out crickets! All it takes is a pregnant female, damp coco fiber or vermiculite maybe, and let her do the rest. I hatched tiny crickets with truly no work. However, crickets do smell in larger numbers, esp dead ones.

Breeding outside in a garage...bad idea, great way to invite ants for their next food source.

 

[basin79]

It's easy to hatch out crickets! All it takes is a pregnant female, damp coco fiber or vermiculite maybe, and let her do the rest. I hatched tiny crickets with truly no work. However, crickets do smell in larger numbers, esp dead ones.

See that's where I feel my way works. Kept in the bath with the lid off. And kept with morio worms and those little furry derm-a-sted beetle larvae.

 

[viper69]

See that's where I feel my way works. Kept in the bath with the lid off. And kept with morio worms and those little furry derm-a-sted beetle larvae.

For crix, there was no lid for me, and I had A/C running too.

 

[basin79]

For crix, there was no lid for me, and I had A/C running too.

I've never had a problem with them since keeping them in a large container. How large a container did you use?

 

[viper69]

I've never had a problem with them since keeping them in a large container. How large a container did you use?

Hatched them out in something that was smaller than a 10 gallon tank in area, only a few inches of sub too.

 

[basin79]

Hatched them out in something that was smaller than a 10 gallon tank in area, only a few inches of sub too.

I offer little sub. Not sure what the rubs I offer are either. I do live on my own though so maybe I just don't notice the smell?

Theb again my mum visits and visits and doesn't say anything.

 

[Jones0911]

Whats the best way to keep those suckers alive? I've always had trouble in the past. I just used one of those cheap plastic animal housing things from petsmart. Threw in some cardboard rolls, cricket food, and a water dish. They never seemed to live long.

Also, does anyone breed crickets? Is it worth it? I only have 3 T's so right now isn't the time for me, but perhaps one day when my T collection grows. I might think about breeeding some crickets. In the garage of coarse...

Don't even bother you'll have an easier time with dubia roaches and in due time youll have more than you need!

 

[Anoplogaster]

I think ventilation may be an issue for you. They produce lots of ammonia, which is what that smell is. So in a confined space like a small kritter keeper, I've actually kept crickets alive for twice as long by drilling some cross-ventilation in the enclosure near the bottom.

I raise dubia, though. Much better in so many ways! You can probably just call them "dubia" around your mom. If she asks, just say they're a type of feeder insect. You won't be lying. There's just a stigma behind the word "roach."

 

[darkness975]

I keep my Crickets in an all glass Aquarium tank with metal mesh lid. I use egg cartons that I change out regularly and I change the water every other day and the food when it gets eaten. I change the substrate when it gets full of crap.

I have never had any large numbers of die offs and I have not had smells that have been too horrible.

I too deal with the whole "no roaches in this domicile" issue. Stuck living with family at the moment is irksome. I'm just glad they "let" the spiders and scorpions stay ...

 

[Venom1080]

Picking out dead ones and providing lots of hides is important.

 

[TRection]

I personally wouldnt recommend crickets in the first place, they reek like death and are pretty loud at night too if you have a bunch of them, they also dont offer as much "meat" as other feeders and are far harder to keep alive than any of the others as well.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Enclosure - a large, well-ventilated container (Sterilite/RUB/whatever).
Hides - Egg cartons work best, you can use toilet/kitchen roll tubes but they're not as good imo.
Food/Drink - I fed a mix of Pro Rep Bug Grub and fish flakes (goldfish or tropical is fine, they love it), I use bug gel for water, some people feed fruit/veg but I'd often forget about it and then find it'd started to mould, I stopped bothering with it and had no issues.
Substrate - I never offered substrate, I never tried breeding them but if you're planning on it then I read that you could put a tub filled with some moist substrate and covered with some nylon mesh (females can still lay eggs in it but none should be able to dig down and eat the eggs iirc) in the enclosure.
Cleaning - Spot clean dead bodies, clean out faeces/exuvia/discarded food every fortnight and replace the egg cartons every month or so, change out the bug gel whenever it gets too soiled.

That's what worked for me, I could buy 250 or so and lose maybe 20 before I'd fed the rest off, I honestly don't know what people are doing for them to die off in droves like I constantly read about.
With adequate ventilation and the above cleaning method/frequency there was no noticeable smell other than when initially opening the enclosure and it wasn't even that bad then, it would smell worse than my Red Runner colony (yes, those do smell) but not by a massive amount.
If the chirping bothers you (it drove me up the bloody wall, even the MM so-called "silent crickets" chirp incessantly at night) then keep them some place where they're not likely to cause a disturbance.

 

[Python]

What I have done in the past is put plain dirt or potting soil in a 10 gallon aquarium and then plant grass in it. I've used ryegrass before and it works very well. Once it starts growing I dump cricket in and they mow the grass for me, which feeds them. Mist it every day or so and there you go. There is no smell since the waste is absorbed into the soil and broken down. It almost takes care of itself. They also breed like crazy with this type of set up as well. There really isn't a down side to it.

I prefer feeding crickets to dubia myself. I've got dubias and I've also tried discoids but both seem to burrow straight to the bottom as soon as I put them in. Most of my T's are NW arboreals and when the prey items burrow, it makes it a bit harder for the T's to find it. Crickets will gladly climb cage decorations making them easier to find. Not to mention the fact that they are easier for me to obtain. I can run right up the road and pick up crickets while I would have to order roaches online if I needed more, which so far, I haven't. I have less than 20 dubias which I've had since August of last year (I think) and almost every one I tried to feed to something is still with me. I would put them in with something and when I didn't see it in there a short time later, I assumed it had been eaten. I would see them several weeks later roaming the surface once again, and each time, I discovered that the roach had molted in the enclosure. I'm just not a fan of them. I much prefer something that stays on the surface where it can be found easily.

 

[Venomgland]

That sounds pretty cool!

 

[Python]

It works. Almost completely hands off once it's going. Just spray it to water the grass. I did find that sometimes the grass grew quicker than the crickets could eat it so I had to 'mow' the grass with scissors to keep it low enough. It got too tall once and the crickets climbed the grass and jumped out of the tank. I didn't have a lid on it. Anything organic, dead crix, grass clippings, etc. just decomposed in the soil. I was using just plain peat (not peat moss) at the time and there was never a smell. The population exploded. Once the eggs started hatching there were thousands of crickets in that 10 gallon and there weren't any die offs to speak of

 

[Ellenantula]

I currently only feed crickets becuase my mums banned anything with "roach" in it convinced the whole house will be consumed, had a hard time with them at first but they seem fine and now have noticed a number of new crickets

You should breed some Blattaria -- a type of armoured cricket which don't jump nor chirp.