Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I figured there are probably a few people here who keep plenty of crickets around and could help me out.

I can't keep these suckers alive for more than two weeks.

I'll explain what I've been doing...

I have a 5 gallon bucket filled with clean egg crate. I order 500 1/8 inch crickets and put them in. I add some dry cat food, nuts, and a few raisins. (I have been told wet food is a waste, and that bug gel stuff is too) I spray the sides of the bucket once per day. The temp is around 78F. There is no substrate. Like I said, within 10 days or so, any that haven't been fed are dead.

I would appreciate any advice, suggestions, or just to hear how others do things.

Thanks in advance.

cheers

I feed mine chicken lay pellets and oranges. And they breed like crazy. You can mist the egg flats but try not to get the pellets wet. A 5 gallon bucket may be too small, I'm not sure.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

You can use your own home made gutload by grinding up the below ingredients in a coffee grinder. I got this recipe from the Kristina from the Melleri discovery some time ago and combined it with a few extra ingredients:

Oats
Rice baby cereal
15 bean soup (DRY)
wheat germ

You can also add:
Barley cereal (like Grape Nuts)
Dry nonfat milk

You do not need to spray the bin, as the crickets will get all the moisture they need from the vegetables. Spraying can cause bacteria and make the bin stink. Also it is important to clean out your bin regularly.

It is good to rotate to always include one fruit, one tuber, one dark green leafy vegetable:
Collard greens
Mustard greens
Turnip greens
Carrots
Yam or sweet potato
Orange or other mild citrus in quarters, leave peel on
Organic prickly pears, seeds removed, in season
Strawberries, in season
Banana, no peel

Also, dandelion greens.

Using these methods my crickets always do well. Even my adults live longer than I would expect them to. However, even with a clean bin crickets still have some level of bad odor and have other bad points. I am considering switching to dubias in the near future.

Your crickets have it made If I die and become a cricket, I want to be one of yours
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

If I die I have a feeling that I will come back as a cricket!

The conversation in the line of life is, being a cricket is a very temporary gig.

I was reading this and remembered being in the same spot you were in. I was trying to raise crickets and hopefully produce some myself. My biggest problem was I was reading too much and trying too hard without opening my eyes and seeing the answer that was right in front of me. I have tried all the different methods: With substrate, no substrate with an egg laying box, etc. I finally looked inside my animal enclosures and realized that crickets must be simple if I have them reproducing in many of my animal cages. And though they have a slight odor, it is not too bad if you keep them properly. Below are some ideas to make this easier for you:

Food and water: Crickets eat anything. Including each other if
needed. My crickets get dog food and vegetation. No water dish no special diets etc. I just take fruits or vegetables or leftover pieces when I'm done eating them, and I split them up between the roaches and crickets. They get strawberries, blueberries, tomoatoes, lettuce, potatoes, etc. The vegetation takes care of the water need too. I used to spray the crickets but stopped since I would have pinheads drowning in the drops that formed on the side of the bins.

Substrate: Crickets eggs can hatch in almost anything. I have had them hatch in peat moss, coco fiber, vermiculite, dirt, aspen, etc. Just place a layer of dirt (its free) in the bottom for them and they will do the rest. Keep it slightly damp for humidity and watch the fun. If you just want keep them alive and not breed them then don't use substrate.

Temp: Higher temps will speed up their processes. The eggs will hatch faster and the crickets will grow and mature faster. They seem to do fine in the upper 70s low 80s.

In short since crickets breed so well in our animal cages, it only makes sense to set them up in a similar manner. I am in school (i.e. college housing) so I'm very limited on space. Instead I am using a large garbage bin at slightly above typical room temperature. This limits the breeding (too cold) but keeps the adults alive long enough for me to use them.

This worked form me. I am sure there is more than one method for keeping these. They have been around for a while and are quite adept at surviving in different environments so they are easier than most think.

I use sand as the substrate. I mist so the sand it moist for the eggs not for them to drink. They do enjoy misting. I start misting and they all come out. The way I keep my crickets now do not have much of an odor at all. When I kept them in a plastic bin with lay pellets as the substrate and egg flats they stunk and they always dies and didn't reproduce.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

I have been breeding crickets for my own use for many years. I feed ground up drydogfood(21protien, 10fat, on the ingredients label)

You need higher temps, up to 95F, I offer a heat range(like with the monitors, hmmmmmm exactly like that, as I use old monitor breeding cages)

I use egg crates and wet half of them as needed, maybe twice a week now during our fairly humid summer. And every other day in our dry winter.

Its easy and its simple. Again something people like to make complicated. My guess is, people have to make it complicated, so they can be smart enough to overthink it. hahahahahahaha, Again, you can make it as hard as you want or as easy, I perfer easy, specially if your going to be doing it for a while. Cheers

Breeding crickets is the easiest thing I have ever bred. I hardly have to do anything.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

There was this girl in high school, I am trying to remember if it was me or a story someone told me. oh never mind, it was not me. hahahahahahahahaha

I don't remember, one of you had all these different ingredients in the cricket chow. I have one. It works great, and the crickets I produce, were fed to my monitors, that have made many thousands of baby monitors. So I guess one ingredient is fine. Of course if that was not you, then good on you. The truth is, I did not read all the posts and maybe not yours. I responded to the original poster. Cheers

That was me with the complicated cricket food recipe.

Right now I do not use all of those ingredients, but I do use a mixture of oats, rice cereal, wheat germ and 15 bean soup (including carrots/fresh greens daily.).

Yes, I would like to make it easier. If I could do away with all that and use dog food that would be great. I have a few questions if you do not mind:

1- What brand of dog food do you use?
2- Do you use any fresh vegetables to supplement or do you feel that is not necessary?
2- Do you think the same thing could be used for dubias?

Thanks much,
Lou

I have used many brands, all have worked just fine.

Also when you say "feel" , thats really not the point, I have raised generations of crickets and generations upon generations of monitors on those crickets. So at this point in time. It has to be considered superior. As very few if any others are doing that.

I am not saying its better then anything, it just appears good enough. Also, when I first started, I did use a mix. And I slowly eliminated all but the dogfood. As dogfood is what they ate first. And I have not seen any difference in any results. Cheers

Considering all this I am switching to dog food – no doubt. I just hope that my dog does not get mad at me (haha).

I will start grinding up some dry dog food for my crickets and will eliminate the unnecessarily complicated old methods.

Thanks much,
Lou

Does the dog food have to be ground up? I feed chicken lay pellets and never grind them up. I feed cat food to my roaches and don't grind that either.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

I grind it so it can be fed to all sized crickets, from pinheads up. Cheers

Have you tried not grinding it up to see if the pin heads can still eat it? I have plenty of pins but I am not sure if they are eating the lay or just the oranges.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

I do get so confused by you folks. Not you in particular. Ok, maybe you too.

You do all manner of unneeded stuff, and when somethings needed, you balk at it. In this case, its not needed sorta. If you grind it up, you increase survival about 80%. Not giving each individual a better chance of surviving, but 80% more pinheads will make it to adulthood. If you consider how many pinheads there can be, it may not be needed. You know, losing 80% may not effect you. But silly me. I want to give them all a chance to be consumed by monitors.

Considering in the past, you said you treat your feeder mice like pet mice, oh up until you slaugther them, I wonder why you would not treat crickets the same way. Cheers

I don't find dead pin heads so I figure they are eating and growing up. Lay pellets are pretty soft compared to dog food. Oranges and Lay is really all crickets need as food so that is what they get. Maybe the pin heads don't eat the lay and can just grow up on oranges. My crickets get what is needed to reproduce and grow up.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

Good on ya, Then why would you even entertain something else. I think the deal here, is about someone who is looking for a better/simplier way. If your happy, then theres no reason for you to do anything different. Which makes me wonder why you keep going on this. Cheers

> > > I do get so confused by you folks.
You do all manner of unneeded stuff, and when somethings needed, you balk at it.

Ha! Ha! In other words, we're all human; intelligent, over-complicated, stupid, humans. Hahahaha!!!

I've been following this thread and enjoy it, learnin' from it. I see myself in so many of you. I strongly beleive in the KISS method, but, doggone-it, I can flat over-complicate rinsing water bowls.

I see everyone scratching their heads one minute and pulling their hair out the next. Including me. Hahaha!!!

We go from preparing a gourmet-style three course meal to frozen TV dinners. Problem is that now we don't want to thaw/heat the TV dinners. LOL! Shannon, I'm not pickin' on you, it's funny because I can see myself saying/thinking the same way as you; "why even grind it up?" It's funny to sit back here as a nonparticipant and watch it all unfold and see myself.

I've done the different feeding methods, recipes. For me, since I've got plenty of other things to do I find it is so much easier to buy the cricket food formulas (Flukers, etc..., twist open the top & dump it in. Yeah, it might cost a tad bit more but the time I save is worth more than the extra money I spend.

I realize that in some cases, like probably Frank's, where there's a significantly larger volume, it may be better to grind dog food, but it may not be in the best of interest of everyone. For instance, if you're only keeping a few hundred alive during the week, is it worth it if you've got 40,000 other things that you could/should be doing?

Just my 2-bits worth! Ha! Ha!

Ya'll take care!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

My crickets don't eat Flukers orange cube but I wish they did. When I have dead babies I guess the adults are eating them. I get enough to feed what I need so that is all that matters for me. If I needed as much as Frank I am sure I would have to change a lot of my cricket care
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

I've never tried the orange cubes, I use the Fluker's high-calcium cricket feed, the ground up stuff that resembles laying mash. I keep taters in there & put in fresh greens, squash, or whatever else I prepare for my beardies that day. I don't specifically cut or prepare anything for the crickets, just what's left over from the table or beardie meals.

This is a great thread! It has something for everyone.

Really, if you stop & think about it, it wouldn't take much time at all to grind up enough dog food to last the average keeper forever. Spend 15 minutes (rough guess) to grind 25 pounds and that would last me probably 2 months or so.

My problem is I don't already have a coffee grinder. I've got an old hand grain grinder from my great-grandmother's farm but I ain't about to break it out when I can twist open a jar. LOL!!!

If I had more time I'd probably be doing just what's been mentioned here. I've quit raising crickets because one day while tending to them I looked over & saw a few of my reptiles in dirty cages, but I didn't have time to clean them just yet, I had to take care of the crickets. Phooey on that! I order them now and my reptile's cages are clean. LOL!

Individual application is the key. If it works for an individual, great, go for it. If it don't, look for another way.

Have a good one!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I have a lot of stuff to do daily and I try to do the best in the easiest way possible. But if I had to grind up food I'm pretty sure I would. My husband gets pissed because I spend too much time with the animals and he has to do "womens work".

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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

> > > My husband gets pissed because I spend too much time with the animals and he has to do "womens work".

A bit of friendly advice: Take care of the women's work first to keep that husband of yours "wonderful." Do whatever he says, whenever he says it. That's the way it's supposed to be.

I've gotta run, if I don't get these dishes washed & clothes put away before my wife gets home I'm a goner. LOL!!! That's the way it is. Hahahahaha!!!

Later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I'll do all the womens once I am a house wife and he is an accountant. Maybe I'll grind up food for the crickets to
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

Don't consider switching, consider testing it on your crickets. Cheers