Breeding Crickets

[Froog]

I have been trying to breed crickets. The only problem is, most of the crickets from the store are males! I need females to breed ! Will it still work? What should I do? Should I just give up?
Thanks for ANY feed back!
-Froog

[Baelari]

It just takes one to lay eggs. I keep getting baby crickets in my pacman's tank because any female I put in immediately goes and lays eggs. The crickets seem to like the heat mat more than my frog does.

[bshmerlie]

There is article on the left in the care article section on culturing crickets. Its not hard to do but they are smelly. The adults also make noise where as the young one don't. Just a heads up.

[Crystal6]

I have been trying to breed crickets. The only problem is, most of the crickets from the store are males! I need females to breed ! Will it still work? What should I do? Should I just give up?
Thanks for ANY feed back!
-Froog

Is it possible that your crickets might just be young and thus it is hard to tell if any of them are female?

My way of telling is: If they chirp they are male, if they have an ovipositor between their two cerci (really long tail like thingy between two smaller tail like things...) then they are female.

That being said you don't need a perfect male to female ratio. Even one female will lay plenty of eggs. If your crickets die off I recommend waiting 1 more week to see if the eggs hatch. (look for movement when you spray the dirt, as even young crickets will attempt to flee from water)

[poison beauties]

There are places that sell adult crickets in bulk and cheap if you want to grab up some breeding stock. Try Ghanns or LLLReptile but there are many places. Crickets thrive under hot, dry conditions and they need plenty of ventilation as well as a regular nutricious diet. Its not too much work but if you need bugs in bulk you may consider passing on the breeding and buying in biulk. Its cheaper and easier.

Michael

[guppygal]

Geez, I tried breeding crickets once cuz it's so easy. After awhile, the stink was more than I could handle, so I ditched 'em.

I keep thinking that there should be a way to place a captive pair of crix in one of my pdf tanks and then figure a way to prevent any offspring larger than a few days old from escaping the crix confinement. Otherwise, I'm afraid that full grown crix roaming around a pdf tank would drive my frogs up a wall.... I suppose I could experiment in a container without the frogs -