My First Winter... Nervous

[Poly]

So, my toad is doing great, I've been feeding him wild caught grasshoppers and worms (dusted with calcium) all summer, but it's now early fall, and winter is approaching fast. My closest pet store is 100 or so kms away (60 miles), so it will be once a week or every other week that I will be able to get into the store to buy crickets.

1. Can anyone give me tips (or links to arcticles, etc) on how to keeps worms alive? I have them in a plant pot filled with soil, and a small piece of rotting banana burried in the pot right now, I pour roughly 1 tablespoon of water in the pot every 3 or so days to keep the soil moist. They are being kept in my cool basement.

2. Crickets...? I have a 2.5 gallon kritter keeper, every week (or every other week) I will be buying 24 crickets, what should I use for substrate? Food? Is an orange slice good enough for water? How long will they last?

3. Potato bugs, wood lice, roly polies, etc. Whataver you call them, I think you know the insect I am talking about, what about these, does anyone keep these? I have 6 of them in an 2.5 gallon Kritter keeper (Sand substrate), I have been feeding them potatoes, apples and cut up worm, they are growing, but very slooooooowly, and I keep adding more that I find (mostly very small ones about 1/8" long). I just would like to know about keeping these insects because my toads absoultly love them!

Thanks, I might be able to find this info on the web, but I'd rather hear it form the experts.

~Royce

[John]

Earthworms from your garden should do alright in the fridge in some substrate for 1-2 months. You could also culture them like you described, but they will more likely eat leaves than fruit.

Crickets should be gutloaded with either fruits and vegetables, or, easier I feel, is to use a commercial gutloading product. If you set up the cricket container smartly, they could last for anywhere up to a month. If you culture them (we have an article in the Articles section) you could keep them going indefinitely.

Wood lice can be cultured pretty much as you describe - they like rotting cardboard a lot actually. I have never cultured temperate ones though. Keep them on some substrate with some sheets of moist rotting cardboard and you should be fine. They are slow at reproducing though, so don't rely on them as a food source.

[Poly]

Thanks for the info John!

Any suggestions at how to set up a good cricket tank?

Also, do the worms have to be kept in a fridge, or is a cool (60-75F) basement alright?

[John]

If you're just keeping the worms, not feeding them, then the fridge is best. If you're feeding them, don't refrigerate them.

Cricket tank - if you're culturing them then look at our article. If you just want to maintain them, then set them up in a well ventilated container with hiding places (such as cardboard egg crate), regularly changed food, and a clean water source in which they can't drown. They will do better if kept in a warm dark place.

[Poly]

Yes, well I'm keeping the worms in a 5 gallon pail, so I will be feeding them/moving the soil around quite frequently. You recommend leaves to feed them, I assumed they ate the soil?

[pac]

if you try to breed them i could help you out because i breed my own crickets pretty easy and breed pillbug isopods to very easy

[flybyferns]

Hi Royce,

Maybe you are interested ? I posted some pics on keeping crickets. See "Gourmet Crickets" -- a few hours ago.
I have not had to purchase crickets for a very long time. It's easy, but a bit time consuming keeping them fed and clean.
When raising your own , you know they are always well fed.

Lynn

[Poly]

Hi Royce,

Maybe you are interested ? I posted some pics on keeping crickets. See "Gourmet Crickets" -- a few hours ago.
I have not had to purchase crickets for a very long time. It's easy, but a bit time consuming keeping them fed and clean.
When raising your own , you know they are always well fed.

Lynn

Hi Lynn,

I'll deffinatly have to check out your thread! Let me know what you think of this: I will be keeping my crickets in a cut-in-half 45 gallon steel drum, with a screen lid, had to think of a container that would hold 250+ crickets, the drum has PLENTY of floor space, and lots of room for eggcrate, plus it's a smooth surface so it's easy to clean.

Thanks!

i dont see that either but that's what all the website says about canadian nightcrawler. I use eurpean one for that reason. let me know if it actually works out=)

Haha I sure hope it does!!! All I can get is Canadian ones, aww well, I'll be keeping them in my basement, so the temps will be cool anyway, if it gets warmer, I'll just put some freezer packs under the container to cool it down (since they will all probably be at the bottom anyway )

Thanks