Hey guys, hope your all doing well.
For about three weeks now I have had a small container of dirt that I pulled from my backyard sitting in my cricket enclosure. The first week that I put the container of dirt in the enclosure I tossed about 30, hand picked, female crickets in and all of them laid eggs. I spritzed the dirt with treated water when it looked dry- it probably gets dry a heck of a lot more than it should- and turned the dirt over a bit so it stayed fluffy. I let the dirt sit with the other crickets the entire time instead of separating it.
I have yet to see any cricket babies.... When I sift through the dirt I don't see many eggs anymore either....
Will adult and juvenile crickets eat their own eggs? Sometimes I caught them digging deep holes in the dirt, but I assumed they were just trying to get their eggs as deep as possible. Am I letting my dirt get too dry? Should I try using potting soil instead?
It looks a little too dry.
I've tried breeding crickets, didn't have much luck either. I heard cocofiber is a good incubating medium for cricket eggs though.
What about vermiculite? It holds moisture very well.
Hmmm.... I think vermiculite alone might be too wet, but coco fibers along with vermiculite might work- I've dealt with both quite a bit before. Maybe i'll do a vermiculite, potting soil, coco fiber mix. The idea of free crickets sounds so dang good! I hope I get this right the next time around.
Well I will tell you how the vermiculite goes.
I put two containers of coconut fiber in my adult cricket bin last night. I plan on taking them out and setting them up in a cricket keeper tomorrow. We will see what happens.
I have also started some waxworm cultures as well.
I am already culturing bean weevils and two kinds of fruit flies.
I use peatmoss. If you spray it twice a day and keep the temperatures high there should be no problem.
But if the dirt is drying out too fast I recommend finding a different kind of dirt first.
I have succesfully bred them using coconut fiber soil.
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