Swifty's Cricket Colony

[Koula]

Swifty's Cricket Colony <--- Click me!

Am breeding crickets for the season, figured I'd share how I keep mine.

When do Common Eastern Bluetongue babies start hitting the For Sale/Herp Trader sections?

[africancichlidau]

Very nice Swiftcricket

[SLACkra]

very nice. wouldn't woodies be easier? however if your into breeding crickets go for it. are there any reprocussions of releasing crickets into the wild except very fat insectavores?

andrew

also is the hatching container air tight? how often do you replace the bran in the baby cricket container and the adult cricket container? when the baby crickets grow up do they go into the adult breeding container or will you have a storage container for them(the feeding ones) and keep some for breeding?

andrew

[Koula]

Ah, I've tried breeding woodies - no luck. They kept dying, and cripes, did they REEK! I might try woodies again next time I order adults in, but for now, my Ts tend to like crickets more than woodies.

As for releasing crickets into the wild, I doubt it'd have any severe impacts - By the time I sift my soil, there might be only 5 or so little baby crickets left in the soil. I toss 'em in my garden bed where the legless lizards, skinks, geckos, centipedes, wolf spiders and mantids have a field day.

The hatching container's lid is ventilated - I keep the tub/s somewhere where I can see them several times a day (ie: the kitchen or computer room) so as soon as you see the babies have emerged, you can catch em before they try to escape. I guess you could keep the small hatching tubs in a large stainless steel pot like I use (they cant climb it) or put a nylon stocking over the tub's lid... =^^=

[foxysnake]

Great stuff! Just curious about a few things - in case I ever decide to breed them (a definete if I get more geckos!) how often do you take the females out and put them in2 the 'hatching tub (-do they not lay eggs in the 'adult tub?) And do the adults have to be kept at the same temp as the hatching containers? And lastly, do you have any trouble with ants trying to eat the crickets? sorry for all the questions! - just REALLY want to know!!

[hugsta]

Great artical swiftrat, looks great. Too much work for me though.......LOL, I prefer woodies.

[Koula]

I give the females a good 7-10 days to recharge before trying them again. You pretty much only get two breedings with each adult batch as crickets have a short life span.

They will only lay their eggs in soft moist peat/soil - they wont lay in dry unprocessed bran.

For maximum growth rate, the 28-35 degrees zone is best, but I dont bother heating my crickets (it's always warm and sunny up here in QLD, but if you live in cooler areas, I'd say invest in a heat cord or mat).

No problems with ants here. If you do find ants, I'd suggest getting a bunch of jar lids and some chocks of wood and sitting the cricket tubs on them like stilts and fill the lids with water. The ants wont cross water. Or you could keep the cricket tubs on a table with the table legs sitting in water-dishes. Don't bother trying to coat the table legs with that Fluon/Teflon stuff as me and a friend have tried it and the ants still got across the teflon.

[foxysnake]

Thanks for that! Great info there swiftrat!

[zulu]

Excellent article ratty,my crickets always lay in the moistened brickys sand in with the goannas an then get eaten what a bitch,i will give your method a go thanks

[diamond_python]

Well done there Swifty.

[SLACkra]

i wonder what woudl happen if you gave them access to the moist soil 24/7 and lef the eggs to hatch for themselves then fend for themselves in teh adult cage.

how much time do you put into your colony?

i would definatly make the breeding container excape proof.

andrew

[Koula]

Hey Slackra, it's not really a good idea to leave hatchery tubs in the main tub. Male crickets seem to be attracted to the smell of the eggs and they'll actively dig up the soil to eat them.
Also, the 24/7 thing would mean you would have baby crickets hatching out at staggered times, whereas if you plan the egglayings, they will all hatch at the same time. It's just for better management - I'm pretty certain the male crickets would try to cannibalize the babies as it's a dog-eat-dog world for them.

As for time spent, probably less than 5 minutes a day. Just long enough to refresh the water crystals if they are dirty or gone, discard the vegetable cuttings that have gone rubbery/old and replace with fresh stuff, and a quick spot clean of the tub for any moulted skins or dead crickets.

With making the breeding container escape proof, I'd reccomend putting a nylon stocking over the container, as you still need that ventilation, the trouble is, is baby crickets will try to squeeze their way through any holes punched into the lid. A non-ventilated tub will cause condensation on the inside walls, and baby crickets drown in it.

[SLACkra]

how often do you replace the bran in the main tub?

andrew

[tourett]

That's a very good page Swifty.
I have bred crickets before but found you have to attend to them everyday. It was too much work for me.

You have some good ideas there. Maybe I'll have another go.

[Koula]

The bran keeps for a very long time - I usually replace it once it start looking light-greyish and powderized.