Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well i'm going to try breeding crickets again even though I was horribly unsuccessfull the last time. I know your suppose to put egg cartons in with them to keep them from fighting and what not but I can't seem to get any (we don't buy a lot of eggs). Is there any thing else I can put in there with them, and achieve the same affect??? Thanks
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0.0.1 Green Water Dragon
1.0.0 Tokay Gecko
1.1.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Columbian Red-tailed Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Ratsnake
0.0.1 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Black and White Tegu

I use empty toilet paper rolls. It makes it real easy when feeding time comes to just pick up a roll and shake them into the container you use for transporting them to the critters you are feeding.
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No good deed goes unpunished!

Thats a great idea thank-you
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0.0.1 Green Water Dragon
1.0.0 Tokay Gecko
1.1.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Columbian Red-tailed Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Ratsnake
0.0.1 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Black and White Tegu

I've used the toilet paper rolls for small numbers of crickets.
But when you put them in with large numbers, with all the humidity from apple slices, crickets, sponges with water etc. they fall apart in a matter of days.
If you cant find egg cartons. Go to your local pet shop that sells crickets. They must order bulk crickets, and they probably throw out the egg cartons that come with their crickets. If you are a customer, or ask nicely they'll probably save them for you.
Another idea. A diner that serves a lot of eggs. Just go in and ask.
And yet one more alternative to the toilet paper roll...
PVC pipe.
It wont turn to mush, and works like the toilet paper rolls

I got a few egg cartons from my local petshop but i'm going to throw in a few tp rolls as well for easy scooping. Thanks everyone.
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0.0.1 Green Water Dragon
1.0.0 Tokay Gecko
1.1.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Columbian Red-tailed Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Ratsnake
0.0.1 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Black and White Tegu

I have 1000 crickets in a ten gallon aquarium and place my water source, which is watersorb crystals on one end of the tank and the food source at the other end of the tank and have had no problem with humidity or soggy TP rolls. I keep the temperature about 70F. Obviously the humidity may vary depending in what part of the country you live.
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No good deed goes unpunished!

How do those water crystals work out? I should try them!
Beats sponges probably and all the other watering products I've used.

More questions...

You keep that many crix in a 10 gal tank?? Do you have a lot of die-offs?
I keep my crix by the 1000 in 45 gal rubbermaid containers, and they still seem overcrowded. I give them lots of egg crate, and the utilize them all...and I have a food/water setup at each end.

The 10 gallon works fine. I go through about 1000 a month. Since I got a handle on how to use the water crystals I rarely loose any crickets. Prior to that the only crickets I would loose were by drowning. I didn't mean to make it sound perfect, but you will always loose some crickets regardless how it is set up. Loosing as few as I do makes clean up easy. Clean is the key to longevity.
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No good deed goes unpunished!

Crickets suck. A few dead ones out of your 1000 and they stink. Water crystals do work very well, and you can get egg cartons from www.eggcartons.com. Personally I breed roaches which is very easy. They don't stink, hop around and escape. They are 100 times easier and my food bill is $0. Its hard to get past the thought of keeping roaches, but its well worth it and they are nothing like what you would expect.
James