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i am having a problem with cricket die off. the only thing i can attribute it to is not enough heat. nothing has changed and i have tried two different circket farms but with the same end result. which would you use under a coiple tanks, heat tape or cable?
dennis
Dennis,
We use glass aquariums to keep some of our roaches and crickets in. As glass is a good conductor of heat this has worked well for us. We have also used an under tank heater or a heat pad, haven't had much experience with tape or cable with insects. One other thing we have tried was using styrofoam cooler with a lid and used a regular light bulb. Too messy to clean, but it did keep the temps up around 95 with a 40 watt light bulb. I had thought about making a large box with a lid and line it with styrofoam and just put the cricket/roach tubs inside it. Not sure I can find a space to put a box that large that can house 5 or 6 cricket/roach tubs. An old refrigerator or ice box would work well also with just using the one bulb to heat it.
I do remember our supplier saying they had tried the tape once, but it didn't work well as it wasn't adjustable and caused hot spots and warped the bottom of their plactic tubs.
One thing we have noticed in regards to die off was that the supplier on occasion gave us some crickets that were 5-6 weeks old. This is near their final instar so they just died of old age.
Yosemite
Reptayls Ltd.
i also use aquariums to house my crickets. one of my concerns was that the area directly contacting the cable or tape would be too warm. i buy smaller crickets then i need and let them grow in an attempt to curb the die off but i'm not having much success. heat has got to be the issue. are you using a mat specific to warming tanks and the likes or just a standard heating pad liek you would use for a sore back, arm, ect.?
dennis
below the cages are my cricket tanks.
dennis
Great set up. The only thing we do differently is stack the egg creates vertically.
We use both types of heat pads.
Yosemite
Reptayls Ltd.
chuck
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