breeding crickets

[Rebecca]

Ok what's the easiest way to breed these things?? I've never tried it, but because I have some leo eggs and no petstore with in 2hrs I might have to, so any ideas, hints, tips would be nice. If anyone have a step by step guild as to how to setup a breeding colony please send it my way ;)

[asphyxia]

Hi Rebecca,

My way is kinda lame but it works for me and goes like this;

Crickets;
I started with about 10

Set up;
Aquarium with a screen lid -say 20 gal
100 watt bulb- for heat 12 hr. on 12 hr. off
1' of sand- to lay the eggs
1 kitchen sponge -keep it wet - for them to drink from
1 spray bottle- hey whenever i mist somthing i give em a shot
3- of those gray egg carton things- they just have it to hide around

Food:
Flake fish food, raw carrots, cut up potato and other stuff i find hanging around like cerial such as wheeties of corn flakes.

When they get a bit bigger I but them into a rubbermaid with
a heating pad under it and a screened lid

Then they escape, hide and chirp in places that I cant kill them keeping everybody in the house awake at night pissed off at me.

Good luck
Brian

P.S. do a google search, as there are better ways like seperating different sizes and stuff.

[dm101081]

I keep 500 adults in a 25 gallon rubbermaid. They breed best after you hear a lot of chirping for about a week. The rubbermaid has eggflats, a bowl with carrots, and gound up cat foor, wheatgerm, and calcium. Every monday I put in a a shallow tupperware with about 3 inches of wet sphagnum peat moss. On Thursday I take it out, and put it on a heat pad. Then on Monday I reapeat with another laying box. I keep 6 different sized tupperwares as rearing boxes, and every Monday the breeding container gets 500 new adults from the last container in line (the adult container. The first container, (the hatching container) gets a ready to hatch laying box that has been on the heat pad for 10 days. Every other container is moved down the line one spot. I find I gat about 2000 cix per week from 500 adult circkets. As they go down the line they get bigger and bigger. The last container always has nice fresh 6 week old adults ready to breed. The first container is then fed off, along with the extra 1500 aduls from the last conatiner. I get about 2000 cix a week doing this. Also every day, (and it has to be every day, or the whole systme crashes and needs to start from scratch again) All laying boxes are checked for moisture, and sprayed as needed, and all breeding/rearing boxes are fed, and given carrots.

[wyz]

If you can read french...? if so..
http://www.reptilarium.ca/grillons.html

Great guide with pics.

[drewlowe]

if you don't want to breed your own you can buy over the internet. http://www.expresscrickets.com/ i buy from there and never had a problem and if i order before 2:00 its always here the next day.