Cricket Breeding for Newbies

[ari]

This is what I do with Crickets - I have had 15x breeding females with 2x breeding males produce enough off spring to last just over 1 1/2 months for feeding - based on feeding 10 knob tails. As most of my knob tails were purchased as juveniles I have been feeding every day, but now every second day as they are almost full grown.

1) Get a big plastic container thats about 50 - 70cms deep so you dont need to use a lid - the lid even with holes in the top reduces air flow - this is why they die alot faster. Good airation is the key.

2) Put a 2-3cm layer of sand on the base of the container.

3) Through in some egg cartons, toilet rolls etc.

4) Food - cat food that is heigh in protein " Friskies " is the best @ 38% protein. And also Nutricia Karicare Gold babies whey dominant starter formula with 53mg of calcium.

5) Orange, apple, carrot, broccoli or lettuce.

6) Most important is moisture - many people believe that crickets get all their moisture just from the fruit & veg - not 100% accurate - get 2 pieces of sponge squeeze it to get rid of the air, then put it under the tap so it is full of water.

7) Small dishes, plastic containers that are about 2-3 cms deep - fill with either fine sand, peat moss etc ( must be kept moist - never let it dry out ) Change over containers every 4-5 days with new containers full of substrate.

8) Temperature very very important - 28 - 30 degrees all the time for breeding.

Incubate the trays in a plastic container with lids on, put holes in the lids for air. Incubate at 28-30 degrees for 2 weeks and then you will have pin heads.

The food for breeders is what you give the pin heads - dont need to crush up the food either. Protein & calcium is the key.

When changing containers full of eggs every 4-5 days, do the same for the wet sponges as crickets will lay in them as well. Keep sponges moist all the time as well.

I have had great success breeding crickets for over 15 years, as I used to use them as food for my Austraian Finches & parrots I used to breed.

Hope this is helpful.

Good luck saving money on crickets

Ari

 

[Jason]

sounds good, when i used to breed them i just put the container of eggs in the cuboard. they hatch still just about a week later. some say it is hard to breed them it isnt that hard if you put the time in to it, i just couldnt be bothered...lol

 

[olivehydra]

Thankyou for that, will have to give ot a try. Out of interest, how long does a cricket live for? Say you buy medium crickets, and kept them in optimal conditions?
Cheers.

 

[ari]

Crickets fed well last upto 8 weeks from egg to adult. Once they moult to adults - breed them for 1 week only, and then feed them before they die to your reptiles - saves on losses.

 

[Jason]

as said though you must keep humidity and moisture to an absolute minimum and have it well ventilated, the sponge in there is a great idea you can also buy a criket quencher which is like a jelly that keeps moist. i use to have only paper on the bottem and put chinese containers with about an inch of moist peats moss in there and the females would lay in there then as said just take it out after a week put the lid on and place it in a warm spot, then just put a new container in the breeders tank, this way all the crickets are of seperat size and age.

 

[steve6610]

hi,
seems like to much work, :lol: , roaches are easier,

cheers,
steve.........

 

[instar]

Ari, a question mate...how long do you leave the laying substrate in the main tub/s? how do know when theve laid eggs? are eggs visible? if so what do they look like?
The only thing that puts me off trying crix is that there slowish to grow to feeding size.

 

[Scale_Addiction]

i wave a question, how small are "pin-heads" can they escape out the air holes you suggested?

 

[Robbo]

thanks for that
i had just brought some new crickts to try and breed them
so it is very well timed advice

 

[ari]

The good thing about crickets is that even as pinheads ( when leaving the egg the total baby cricket is the size of 2 pin heads put together - as in a needle head so too speak ), is that they can not crawl or walk up smooth plastic containers, same as adult crickets, roaches can. So if you have a tupperware container that is heigh then you dont need a lid.

I keep the peat moss / sand in the main breeding colony for about 4-5 days. The adult males will chirp & the females will have a large ovipustor thats about 1 cm long - they will breed and will lay, generally in the inside sides of the container, you can actually see them, they look like a small grain of rice. Females can lay upto 80-150 eggs in their life span.

Its not difficult, its very easy - and no it doesn't take heaps of work.

When you think about $6.00 for 20-40 medium size crickets you are saving heaps of cash.

The reasons you may have found them slow to grow is due to the wrong foods - must be high protein & calcium - see my original articule thing above for what I use - and I put heaps of time into buy the right stuff from Coles.

Cheers