crix

[Scale_Addiction]

hey people,

i am having a crack at breeding crix :?

and i have a couple of Q's

first - i have a huge click clack (approx 60L) with egg cartons etc, a food container (using wetted down rat cubes) and a container of wet peat moss for nesting. this is their first night and the females seem to be inserting their (for lack of better words) "butt rod" into the peat moss and wiggling their bums then going to another spot and repeating, i am assuming ths is them laying eggs?

secondly - how long should i leave the nesting container in there before removing and replacing with a new one?

and thirdly - how long before the eggs hatch, and can anyone give me a idea of an ideal rearing container. (i have found heaps of ideas for breeding containers but not rearing ones.)

cheers for all your help.

 

[Tanzen]

hey azz i believe it's an ovipositor. and they are laying eggs.
i did things the lazy way... in a big bin, kept it moist, threw it scraps when i remembered and they took care of the rest. once in a while i would totally refresh the inch or so of peat substrate.
good luck

 

[Saz]

Yep, they are laying eggs. I have just started doing the same (breeding crickets that is, not laying eggs!).

I am putting small containers of moist peat moss in with the adults and leaving for three days. Am then taking out container and putting in a cricket tub with air holes in it. They need to be kept moist. Have been told it is 2-3 weeks before they hatch.

I accidentally hatched out a batch in one of the enclosures a couple of days ago. The female adult crix must have laid some eggs in the humid hide before the geckos got a chance to eat them. Anyway, had to remove the geckos from the enclosure as the baby crix must have been driving them nuts.

Good luck!

:0)

 

[Shimarah]

Hey Azz,

1. Yup they are laying eggs with their butt sticks lol.

2. I leave my nesting conatiners around 3 or 4 days, before I remove them.

3. Around 2 to 3 weeks for hatching.

I do the same as you, use a 60l conatiner. I just use the little chinese takeaway containers with moist soil in there as laying containers. Then after 3 or 4 days take out the conatainer and keep it slightly moist till the babies hatch. I left my babies in the same container for a week or so. Then they get transferred into a smaller version of the 60l conatiner. Mine is around 30cm long. Have a few lots of crix going now.
All seems well, give me a yell if you have any other questions.

 

[hornet]

for a rearing tub, i'm not sure of the excact size of the tub i use but i think its about 20l, i just put a layer of unprocessed bran about 1cm into the bottom, put a small watering dish using water crystals you get at garden centres and a little dish with carrot, i then put a few toilet rolls in for a hide and when the eggs hatch put the container straight in the untill they have all left the container. I incubate the eggs on top of my computer monitor and they hatch in just over a week.

John

 

[spongebob]

Hi,
I use those takeaway style containers filled with moist vermiculite. I cut a large area out of the lid and glue aluminium flyscreen over the top. The females then poke their ovipositors through this to lay. The screen stops them kicking the vermiculite about. After a week I take it out and replace the aluminium lid with a solid one to stop evaporation and put somewhere warm until they hatch. The aliminium lid in the meantime is put on a fresh tub of moist vermiculite for more egg laying. Once the first tub is completely hatched out the vermiculite is turned out into the raising container to become the substrate-good to absorbing excess moist and helps keep the smell down. I feed them carrots and friskies as a sole diet and they just keep breeding........
However Woodies are far easier!!
Bob

 

[mistymtn]

Question for Bob,
once they are all hatched out, will the hatchlings die in the container with a solid lid, won't it take a couple of days for them all to hatch?
sorry for butting in on the post