Breeding crickets is alot of work...and to be honest, not worth it, especially for a single dragon.

There are tons of good quality online stores you can order from, which will be cheaper than the local petstore and often better health. Buy what you can use in 2-3 weeks time, just one size smaller and a little extra as there will always be die offs...no matter how perfect your setup is.

From my experience too much humidity can be bad for crickets..keep humidity around 60% but not much more. You can provide moisture with fresh greens, etc. Same sort you would feed your dragon. Chicken mash works good too, or fishfood flakes, crushed dogfood, commercial gut loads, bearded dragon pellets and even the powered diets for various species of geckos.

Use good sized totes, cut out holes in the lid (large holes) and cover with window screen. This ensures good ventilation and keep crickets inside. Egg crate is a great standard medium for crickets to hide in. They do better if they can get away from each other so having quite a bit of these crates helps. You can order them in bulk, or if you work or go to school, and have a restaurant or cafeteria, sometimes they will be willing to keep their egg cartons for you..but most won't hold them for more than a day, so pick them up regularly. If you live in an area that has chicken/farm supply stores, you may be able to buy them in bulk there.

Remove any uneaten greens or dried up ones..so they don't mold. Don't use sponges for water, as these just get filthy and mold easy, unless you are washing and sterilizing them pretty often. Have at least two totes, this way each new shipment, you can pu7t in the clean tote, and wash the old one. (either dumping uneaten crickets, or waiting till they are all used up, then cleaning the tote.} Keeping it as clean as possible helps keep down the smell and spread of disease/parasites.
-----
PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]