Anybody here ever bred crickets?

[Allthingsterrarium]

Hey everybody! I ordered a cricket breeding kit recently and have gotten some interesting results. The kit is specifically for breeding pinheads but until I start breeding leopard geckos soon and possibly get a newly hatched tarantula then I have virtually no need for pinheads at this time so I plan on growing them and raising them to adulthood for my reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates and then breeding some of them over again so I'll have a constant supply and save a lot of money on food, especially since I want to keep expanding my collection. I'll probably have to move them to something bigger in order to grow them. The kit couldn't be simpler, it comes with some egg carton, some food and a small tub full of some kind of moist laying medium that has to be kept damp. You just put in about 6-12 adult crickets and let them do what they do. I put in 2 males and at least 10 females. I turned on my space heater in my room and they chirped all night like they should and the females paid a lot of attention to the laying medium. Oddly enough all the adults died, I don't know if that's a good sign, if crickets die shortly after laying eggs like some other animals do. I read from one source that they do that. Well the heat from the space heater became so unbearable that it was making my room unlivable so I moved them and the heater to the opposite room along with the heater and they had to be at cooler temperatures while the heater revved up again. It went well for a few days until I turned the heater down a little because it seemed to be making my bearded dragon uncomfortable and once again it got cooler in their so I turned it up again this morning. I can see eggs in there, tiny little things that look a little like grains of rice (sorry if I put you off rice forever) and there's at least 4 of them, I'm sure there's plenty more below the surface, at least I hope so. At least it proved to me this can be done, I just hope they hatch. They say crickets hatch in about 6-15 days, it's been about 8 days and here I am going absolutely insane waiting for them to hatch and hoping desperately there are more than 4 eggs in their and they are not dead from the cool temps. Anybody else ever tried this?

 

[PatsyB]

I tried breeding crickets once years ago and had no luck. I can't keep the eggs warm enough to hatch. We live in an old building and there aren't outlets in the places that we need outlets.

 

[Eavlynn]

I started breeding crickets for the same reason, feeders get expensive, and I needed pinheads for my slings.

I went out and bought some adults and put them in a critter keeper with food, water gel, paper towel tubes to hide in, and a small container with moist ecoearth. I leave the container with substrate in there for about a week so there are quite a few visible eggs, spray it with water to keep it moist, and put a lid on it. Then I set the container near a heat lamp so it stays warm and play the waiting game. I think it took my first batch 10 days to hatch. Then I open the container and place it in my 10 gallon cricket grow up tank and remove them as I need them.

I don't use substrate in the container with the adults because it's impossible to clean, the substrate container works like a dream and keep the eggs all in one place. I also found that a large container for the babies, in my case the 10 gallon, lowered their mortality rate. I was putting them in small critter keepers and experiencing mass die off. I also don't need to use a heater, since the substrate container is small and easily moved to a warmer area to aid in incubation, keeping everyone else in the room cool and happy.

I'm not sure why your adults died off so quickly. Some of mine have been kicking around for months, while others die off shortly after being added to the breeder bin.

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[Allthingsterrarium]

I tried breeding crickets once years ago and had no luck. I can't keep the eggs warm enough to hatch. We live in an old building and there aren't outlets in the places that we need outlets.

Same here that space heater is my only hope. It's getting close to November in Wisconsin and my family keeps this place like a refrigerator anyway.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I started breeding crickets for the same reason, feeders get expensive, and I needed pinheads for my slings.

I went out and bought some adults and put them in a critter keeper with food, water gel, paper towel tubes to hide in, and a small container with moist ecoearth. I leave the container with substrate in there for about a week so there are quite a few visible eggs, spray it with water to keep it moist, and put a lid on it. Then I set the container near a heat lamp so it stays warm and play the waiting game. I think it took my first batch 10 days to hatch. Then I open the container and place it in my 10 gallon cricket grow up tank and remove them as I need them.

I don't use substrate in the container with the adults because it's impossible to clean, the substrate container works like a dream and keep the eggs all in one place. I also found that a large container for the babies, in my case the 10 gallon, lowered their mortality rate. I was putting them in small critter keepers and experiencing mass die off. I also don't need to use a heater, since the substrate container is small and easily moved to a warmer area to aid in incubation, keeping everyone else in the room cool and happy.

I'm not sure why your adults died off so quickly. Some of mine have been kicking around for months, while others die off shortly after being added to the breeder bin.

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Thanks! That means there's still hope. I've been doing more or less exactly that. Might give it a couple more days and if nothing happens I'll try again. It's bound to happen sooner or later

 

[PatsyB]

Same here that space heater is my only hope. It's getting close to November in Wisconsin and my family keeps this place like a refrigerator anyway.

Oh yeah, Wisconsin, you don't turn the heat on until January there! My family is in WI, we have to keep telling my dad to turn the heat on. He thinks it's too expensive LOL!

 

[Hdrydr31]

I raised crickets for 5 years and I'm also in WI and I kept mine in a basement room that I could leave warm and it was hit and miss on success... What I found is they are soooo incredibly sensitive to fluctuations in temps, odors I swear they made me feel like I was going crazy.. lol I used worm bedding (the dirt one not the paper one) for my media for the eggs..The adults don't live very long after they have laid their eggs which can be hundreds in their lifespan.. For me I needed 1/2 grown for a rescued house wren that ate them so it just too soo long to grow out so I ended up supplement with buying in bulk waiting for them to grow.
Really good husbandry is key for pinheads to grow.
I was soo glad when I was able to switch over to dubia

 

[Geneticjim]

I raise discoid roaches. I'm in fL and duba are illegal. My roaches have almost no odor. Reproduce quickly and live a long while. I actually need to give some away. They reproduce too quickly for my bearded dragon. It did take about 4 months to get started from the small starter colony I bought.

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[Allthingsterrarium]

I can't believe I totally forgot to update this post. The pinheads successfully managed to hatch and I have probably 100-300 and they've been growing well. Some of them aren't exactly pinheads anymore but rather what would be sold as extra small.

I raise discoid roaches. I'm in fL and duba are illegal. My roaches have almost no odor. Reproduce quickly and live a long while. I actually need to give some away. They reproduce too quickly for my bearded dragon. It did take about 4 months to get started from the small starter colony I bought.

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I've heard you can't dubias in Florida. Is that because they would thrive in the climate and destroy crops if they got out?

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I raised crickets for 5 years and I'm also in WI and I kept mine in a basement room that I could leave warm and it was hit and miss on success... What I found is they are soooo incredibly sensitive to fluctuations in temps, odors I swear they made me feel like I was going crazy.. lol I used worm bedding (the dirt one not the paper one) for my media for the eggs..The adults don't live very long after they have laid their eggs which can be hundreds in their lifespan.. For me I needed 1/2 grown for a rescued house wren that ate them so it just too soo long to grow out so I ended up supplement with buying in bulk waiting for them to grow.
Really good husbandry is key for pinheads to grow.
I was soo glad when I was able to switch over to dubia

Worm beddng! Thanks! I needed to replace the laying medium for a second batch and considering they didn't tell me what it was I was wondering what I would use!

 

[Eavlynn]

I can't believe I totally forgot to update this post. The pinheads successfully managed to hatch and I have probably 100-300 and they've been growing well. Some of them aren't exactly pinheads anymore but rather what would be sold as extra small.


I've heard you can't dubias in Florida. Is that because they would thrive in the climate and destroy crops if they got out?

They could thrive in the environment there, adding to the issues with invasive species. So Florida uses discoid roaches because they're native to the area. No harm, no foul if they get out.

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[Allthingsterrarium]

They could thrive in the environment there, adding to the issues with invasive species. So Florida uses discoid roaches because they're native to the area. No harm, no foul if they get out.

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Ah, that makes a lot of sense

 

[Eavlynn]

Congrats on the crickets by the way! Mine have been little pains, not wanting to cooperate and provide me with babies haha

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[Allthingsterrarium]

Congrats on the crickets by the way! Mine have been little pains, not wanting to cooperate and provide me with babies haha

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Thanks! I tried doing a second batch of them and it went well for a few days and then I accidentally flooded the laying medium. I'll try again soon