Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am wondering, how many crickets can i keep in a 70 gallon container? I have been putting two thousand in it and it keeps getting moist... They are the medium size crickets. They seem to die faster with all of them in there and the moisture... My small crickets do just fine.... Thanks for the help....
p.s. my babies that are hatching are sooo cute... so far i have three. waiting on the rest

when we used crickets, we only kept 1000 per 65-70 gallon rubbermaid container. make sure to use plenty of egg crate flats to prevent them from crushing eachother, keep gutload in there for them to eat at all times as well as feeding them left over greens and veggies you feed your dragons. i also fed my crickets and roaches the dry dragon pellets, since my dragons barely touched them. for other water sources carrots and potatos work and water crystal too. i found keeping more than 1000 medium to large per container got to be too much, they crushed eachother. if the moisture is building up its because the humidity is to much. i also found that when crickets die off it builds the moisture up more also.

i had it with crickets i no longer feed them, i use other insects as different types of roaches, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, pheonix worms, and wax worms once in awhile for added fat.
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Beach Beardies

2.2. bearded dragons
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

Here's what I do.

I have 22 Gal. Sterlite containers from Walmart. I cut most of the top open and duct taped window screen in it's place. I then put in 7 paper towel tubes and one regular egg crate bottom. The tubes I put in one layer at one end and than put the egg crate at the tube ends so they won't roll.

Then on the other end I have a sponge in a dish, 3 lids filled with dry cricket food, and 3/4 of an apple cut into 6 pieces. I actually cut the bottom out of a ziplock container for a dish and then cut sponges into disks to fit it.

When the crickets come in. I put in the tubes and egg crates and dump them in. I take out the potatoes that were shipped with them and lay the egg flats on top of the paper towel tubes. You'd have to turn one so it doesn't interlock. Then I put in the food, apples and sponge. This is good for 3 days. I might have to add more food once in 2 days if the crix are particularly hungry from their trip.

Every 3 days I add food as necessary, and change the sponge and apples. I tried vegitables and greens in the past as beachbeardie suggested but the crickets poop was extremely moist and messy. This made them moist, dirtier, smell more and I felt unhealthy for my dragons to eat.

As necessary, if the crickets smell, I transfer them into a new container (usually about every 2 weeks if they aren't fed out by then) otherwise I don't bother with cleaning the frass from their enclosure. When I open the bin(s) every 3 days I transfer about a 3 day supply into a kricket keeper for daily use.

I buy 3/4" crickets for my adults and can keep them for a month or so if necessary. After that their life span is over. I keep all my crix. at room temp in my laundry room.

I hope you are not feeding medium sized crickets to your hatchlings. These will be too big for baby dragons. 1/8th to 1/4 inch sized crickets are all you will need for babies.

The other posters have explained how to keep crickets quite well so I won't get into details. Only thing I suggest, make sure you have good ventilation. If needed, you can always cut long 'windows' along the sides of the rubbermaide container and cover with aluminum screen (duck tape works, or you can use a staple gun and pliers to bend the prongs)
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PHLdyPayne