How to keep crickets alive!

[yoshimi]

I use oats too, and they fight over them (cute!), but keep your veggies away from your oats!! I had a mold problem last night. So now they can't be feeders for a while. Granted, they haven't been feeders for a while anyway, which is how some oats got moldy (tossing in food without really paying attention). If they died, would be ok, but they're hopping around instead. Pulled out 3 dead, 1st time I've removed any since I added 50-60 maybe a month ago, not sure. More crickets means more deaths. Overcrowding means a lot of deaths. Mold and cold are the biggest threats that I know of. Oh, and unwashed leafy greens. Wash your kale.

[Gnag the nameless]

Correction on my earlier comment: I only recommend those foods that keep them from dehydrating.

or me, dehydration has always been a bigger issue than starvation in crickets.

[yoshimi]

More crickets means more deaths. Overcrowding means a lot of deaths. Mold and cold are the biggest threats that I know of.

I mentioned that too.
But great points, JMDaniels.

[Danny D]

I like using the 4 cup coffee cup holders you can get at 7-11 as a place for the crickets to hide. I keep a 40 watt night time bulb over the cup holders as my basement gets a little cool in the winter. I feed the crickets dry dog food and cat food processed with a blender and add multivitamin powder. I use fruits and veggies to keep the crickets hydrated and change them twice a day. Normally, i use red pepper, green pepper, strawberries and apples.
Not sure if anyone else has had this problem but my young crickets do not seem to do well when i offer orange slices. Adult crickets seem to not have any problems, however.

[yoshimi]

I read when starting out with crickets not to use citrus. So I just never have. But I've only kept about 50 at a time. Now I haven't purchased any or fed them off in a good long while, and I have 6 troopers left that just don't want to die. I keep feeding them cuz I don't want them to starve, but I'm still surprised they're alive. They were little when I got them, maybe that's why. I give them carrot chips, oats and some ground up dubia roach chow I made, and they always have water crystals. Twice a day for changing fruits and veggies seems labor intensive. I imagine they're your staple and you have many. Those are the one thing I wouldn't try to breed. I can't even catch them well for feeding. But I agree, those beverage holders are great. If you buy more than one coffee at Dunkin Donuts, they always ask if you want one... saying yes is a good idea. My roaches like them.

[Danny D]

Breeding them is very simple. All you need is tupperware with a hole cut in the top, peat moss and a heat lamp. Collecting the "pinheads" to feed the darts is also simple. Pinheads are slow and not as alert as older crickets. Put in a fruit of veggie, let them collect on in it then pick it up and tap them into a feeding cup.

[yoshimi]

So I'm sitting here drinking my morning coffee and I hear chirping. Wuh? Thought it was coming from outside as I have windows open, but I go over and listen and it's my crickets. I bought them as little guys months ago, and I guess I figured they'd die before they were mature enough to chirp. It was actually a pleasant sound, as I only have maybe 8 left. At least a couple are female, with the pointy egg laying butt, so I put some dirt in there, in case she wants to lay eggs. It's just on an egg crate, the dirt. I don't want to breed crickets. But it's like I can't help myself. Doubt it will work, as I don't plan to heat them... and I think the soil is supposed to be moist and on an egg crate, that's just not going to work. It's maybe slightly damp. If they don't have moss or soil, where do they lay their eggs?
Hmm... he's still chirping away in there. This could get annoying. No place to put them where I won't hear it. Except maybe outside. But now I'm too curious to set them free. So much bug sex in this tiny apartment.

[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.