Maintaining Cricket Colony, How Often to Introduce Fresh DNA?

[UncleChester]

That's useful to know you've had the same line for two years, thanks. How many breeders do you try to keep for each generation?

This is my first summer breeding crickets, I wasn't fully prepared for how fast they would grow in the heat (they do get a heating pad in the winter). They might move to the basement next year. Fortunately, my frogs can handle full sized adults.

[John]

This is one for Johnny and Paul.

[Greatballzofire]

That's useful to know you've had the same line for two years, thanks. How many breeders do you try to keep for each generation?

This is my first summer breeding crickets, I wasn't fully prepared for how fast they would grow in the heat (they do get a heating pad in the winter). They might move to the basement next year. Fortunately, my frogs can handle full sized adults.

I keep about 1000 adults for breeding stock. In each breeding tub I like to have about 100. The numbers could be off a bit; the only time I can count these things is when it is cold and they will hold still, more or less. As I said, not only am I feeding toads and lizards, I am trading my surplus crickets for rodent block. The result of my goof of not holding back breeders happened just about the time the cricket virus started to impact cricket availability nationwide. My pet store lady could not find any adult crickets and all I had were little ones. Fortunately the little ones grew up and are filling the lay tubs again.

They do grow slowly in the winter. I have a big batch of dynamite breeders that were themselves hatched in late January, and began finally producing young in April. They are still going strong and the April ones are now also producing young.