Cricket Breeding Question

[Julia]

I have been trying to breed brown crickets for months now. The weather recently warmed up and now all of a sudden I have hundreds of pin head sized crickets! Problem is they have been the same size for 2 weeks. I have them in a 10 gallon tank on coco husk. Plenty of food, veggies, and cricket water gel. They have many places to climb/hide, warm temps (80's) and even a UVB lamp. (I had an extra lying around.) How do I make them grow? How many weeks before they are considered full grown?

[Crystal6]

I have been trying to breed brown crickets for months now. The weather recently warmed up and now all of a sudden I have hundreds of pin head sized crickets! Problem is they have been the same size for 2 weeks. I have them in a 10 gallon tank on coco husk. Plenty of food, veggies, and cricket water gel. They have many places to climb/hide, warm temps (80's) and even a UVB lamp. (I had an extra lying around.) How do I make them grow? How many weeks before they are considered full grown?

80 is okay but they'll still take a while to grow at that rate. Pinheads prefer hotter temperatures. I would see if I can maybe get it to the 90s.

As for how many weeks before they are full grown, I can't really answer that. Mine seem to grow at different rates. I notice crickets that aren't yet adults don't have wings, thus you can still see their white and black striped bodies. (We're talking about house crickets right?)

V (Pictures of crickets that are getting big but aren't quite adults.)


Another way to tell is females tend to have a long, tail like thing, coming out of their ,er rear when they molt for their final time. Males don't and they chirp.

V Here's a picture of one of my adult female crickets. Unfortunately for this shot, it was sitting pretty close to the younger ones so I had to point the camera to the far left. (Cricket is on the far right. Keeping a cricket cage is like keeping a farm, it's very hard to keep clean. I just gave them that egg crate a week or 2 ago!)




Now I have a few questions. What are you using for them to lay eggs in? How hot is your UVB lamp?

[Kurt]

Another way to tell is females tend to have a long, tail like thing, coming out of their ,er rear

Its called an ovipositor.

[Crystal6]

Its called an ovipositor.

Ah. Thanks. Unfortunately for me my understanding of crickets is limited to experience/breeding faqs. And most breeding faqs I find on the internet are limited to instructions on their care. I would love to know more about how they mate/their biology but alas, the local library is smaller then our foodmart.

[Julia]

Thanks Crystal!

I guess the temps are to blame. I am now the owner of approx 3 week old pinheads! Lol! They seem healthy and there are tons of them...they are too small to feed to my animals unfortunately.
I use moist coco husk- the kind that is ground very fine like dirt for the crickets to lay in. I left the babies on the coco husk, i spray it daily to keep it moist. The UVB bulb puts out very little heat. I do have a extra heat mat already attached to the cricket tank. (Left over from gecko cage.) Do you think that would be beneficial?

[Crystal6]

Thanks Crystal!

I guess the temps are to blame. I am now the owner of approx 3 week old pinheads! Lol! They seem healthy and there are tons of them...they are too small to feed to my animals unfortunately.
I use moist coco husk- the kind that is ground very fine like dirt for the crickets to lay in. I left the babies on the coco husk, i spray it daily to keep it moist. The UVB bulb puts out very little heat. I do have a extra heat mat already attached to the cricket tank. (Left over from gecko cage.) Do you think that would be beneficial?

I've never tried using a heatmat (mainly because I haven't been able to find one for sale on the internet) but, I'd assume so yes. (The only problem with higher temperatures is, it can dry up the dirt faster.)

[Ebony]

Congrats Julia, I know how exciting it is when you get baby feeders. It never gets old. It's like we are providing for our children but Frogs

[Julia]

Congrats Julia, I know how exciting it is when you get baby feeders. It never gets old. It's like we are providing for our children but Frogs

Haha! Ya...im close but not close enough. The crickets refuse to grow, and my pets are too stubborn or blind to eat tiny crickets! I am trying though!