How to keep crickets alive!

[mshine1217]

I keep tortoise's as well as my Axie's & FBT's. I had a separate storage tote for the crickets that I feed to my FBT's and I used them up fast enough that I continued to order them until the FBT's went into hibernation. A "couple" of the extra crickets escaped into the Tortie enclosure, liked the hot/semi-dry environment and prceeded to take up housekeeping. I now have about 200 crickets of various ages in my tortie enclosure and am seriously thinking of transferring the Tortie's to a different enclosure since it is near impossible to catch the crickets and move them. In the evenings I have to turn the volume up on the TV to be able to hear it.

I was planning on setting up a breeding enclosure for the crickets because shipping weather is iffy in the winter and ending up, inadverntly, having the crickets do it for me.

[yoshimi]

Haha, the tortoises don't eat them?

I was feeding and inspecting the crickets (can't help myself), and I have at least 2 females. Someone was chirping while I had my hand in there. They're not afraid of me anymore, since they haven't been food in so long. Neither cat seems to notice the chirping. I guess that's a blessing. I find it annoying tho, so turned the bin around and they shut up for now. They're way up on a shelf, and the thermometer in front of me is giving a reading of 79F. Not sure if that will be warm enough for incubating. Today was the 1st time I heard the chirping. And now they're starting up again. I have the windows open where I'm sitting, so I'll try to pretend it's coming from outside. Which is what I 1st thought this morning anyway.

*I moved the dirt from egg crate to a plastic small animal food bowl, that they can climb in and out of, and added more, packing it down and misting it. Ditched the wet egg crate; they have enough to climb on and play in.

[Danny D]

They will eggs in it and they will hatch in a week. Your adult crickets will most likely eat the pinheads if you leave them together. If you wanna raise them, better move the egg laying sight after a few days of the adults breeding in it

[yoshimi]

They will eggs in it and they will hatch in a week. Your adult crickets will most likely eat the pinheads if you leave them together. If you wanna raise them, better move the egg laying sight after a few days of the adults breeding in it

My current plan is to leave soil dish in there for a week, can't tell yet if there are eggs in there. I've been misting it to keep it damp. Are the eggs round or oblong? They should be down below surface anyway... but regardless, I'll be moving soil to another bin to "incubate" and put fresh soil in and then I'm just assuming the adults will die. They don't live all that long as adults, right? Looking forward to not hearing that chirping. Whatever babies I do manage to get out of this, will be eaten or set free before they mature. This is a one time thing for me.

[Danny D]

The eggs are oblong slivers. A healthy female will lay around 100 eggs. They are easy to see if you let them lay in a clear tupperware container. If you ever keep darts of mantellas, it becomes a big part of your daily routine.

[yoshimi]

The eggs are oblong slivers. A healthy female will lay around 100 eggs. They are easy to see if you let them lay in a clear tupperware container. If you ever keep darts of mantellas, it becomes a big part of your daily routine.

At a time?? Yikes. Maybe I should change container from plastic bowl to deli cup so I can see when and if eggs are laid.

All I have is a little toad, but she's not that little... they'll need to grow a bit for her. She'd go after little ones, but she'd probably eat them all at once.

*made transfer, added more dirt. no eggs that I saw. hooked them up with egg crate/paper tube ramps to get in there.