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Newfgal View Profile |
Breeding Crickets 101
How to sex them. A female cricket will have a long tube attached to the abdomen as shown in the photo below,
This is how she will deposit the eggs into the soil. The male will not have this long tube, but more of a "V", what would look like a tail, shown in the photo below.
The female will also have this "V", but with a long tube also. Below is a female after a fresh shed, she will be all white in color, and will change to a darker color after a few hours.
What to keep them in. I keep my breeders in a sweater box type rubbermaid container, as shown below, with no substrate, and should be cleaned as needed, on a regular basis.
I have a higher female to male ratio, due to the fact that the males that will raid the nest and eat the eggs. For example, in one rubbermaid container i will add 20 females, and 8-10 males, this will keep the males busy mating the females, and out of the eggs. Next i add a sandwich container, {again, rubbermaids work well}, with a mix of soil, and a little sand, i find this mix to work very well from others i have used for egg laying. Make sure the mix is loosely packed, and is 1 1/2 to 2" thick. Next add a little water to mix so it feels moist, but not wet. What works well for me in the success of breeding is to check the mix every day, and lightly mist when needed. If the soil happens to become dry, chances are the eggs will most certainly not hatch. Next i put a few pin holes in the lid top for air, and cut a small hole either on top of the lid, or on the front of the container as shown below.
Next add a piece of card board, a piece of egg carton, etc, for the females to climb into the container through the hole that was cut, to lay the eggs. Next add a few egg cartons or paper towel rolls for hiding places so breeding can take place. Add food which can consist of cricket gut load, sliced apples, greens, etc, crickets will eat just about anything, but make sure it is nutritious to ensure a healthy batch of hatchlings.
Next you will need a heat sorce. I find a spot lamp, with a dark bulb, like black, works well, as crickets do best if they are kept in a dark place. Hatchlings will hatch at room temps, but will take longer. I keep the temps between 80-90 degrees. A heating pad will also work well, but i have always used a lamp to get higher temps, which should be placed on the opposite side of the rubbermaid, to keep a little humidity, but far enough away from the soil, to prevent the soil from drying out, as shown below.
One female can lay up to 500 eggs in the soil, so be prepaired to transfer the hatchlings to a larger enclosure when they hatch. Now that your breeder set up is ready, after a few days you will see the female’s abdomen start to swell from filling up with eggs, which at this time, you may see her digging in the soil and depositing the eggs. After 5-7 days, i remove the soil of eggs, and replace it with another, to keep the breeding process going. I take the soil with the eggs and place it in another rubbermaid container, add a heat lamp, again on the opposite side of the container keeping the temps between 80-90 degrees. No substrate is necessary, but keep an eye out for to much condensation, which may drown the hatchlings once they have hatched. After about 7-10 days, you will see tiny hatchlings, no bigger than the tip of a pen, emerge from the soil, and at this point is very important to offer fresh greens or fruit, because at this size, they will dry up very quickly. You would be surprised how quickly those little hatchlings will devour a full leaf of greens. For any reason you would like the hatchlings to grow faster, leave the heat sorce for them. At room temps they will grow much slower. In the photos below, these tiny hatchlings are only a few hours old, and as you can see, are trying to climb out, but i have never seen one make it to the top!
There you have it, cricket breeding is very easy to do, and i have always had success, just remember to keep that soil moist! Good luck everyone, and happy cricket breeding! Nancy McBride. |
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| 07/30/08 04:15pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1813762 Breeding Crickets 101
Thanks. Nancy. |
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| 07/30/08 04:20pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1813766 Breeding Crickets 101
Thank you!!!!! Edel |
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| 07/30/08 04:48pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1813810 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 07/30/08 04:53pm |
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Nina2008 View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1813821 Breeding Crickets 101
I did not ever realize how easy it is to breed crickets. Wow, im sure that save a lot of cost on crickets! Do you use the same males and females? Or do you for so long and then use new pairs? I would love to try, but im afraid it is not as easy as you make it look!! LOL Nina |
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| 07/30/08 05:03pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Nina2008 In reference to Message Id: 1813831 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 07/30/08 06:00pm |
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Saralaise View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1813880 Breeding Crickets 101
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| 07/30/08 07:42pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Saralaise In reference to Message Id: 1814001 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 07/30/08 07:53pm |
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Nina2008 View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1814010 Breeding Crickets 101
Do you know for sure a female laid eggs, or do you just rotate then find out? That would make it so easy for me since my adults are pigs, and my babies need the small ones. Nina |
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| 07/31/08 01:15am |
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4bodson View Profile |
Message To: Nina2008 In reference to Message Id: 1814342 Breeding Crickets 101
Couple of questions, What do the eggs look like? Are they a different color than the soil? And also how long of a process are we talking? How long does it take for the eggs to hatch? Plus, this might be a dumb question, but how do you know that the crickets have mated? Thanks for the help. The way that Camo is going threw crickets, this sounds like it might just be the way to go. Jen |
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| 07/31/08 02:26pm |
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Nina2008 View Profile |
Message To: 4bodson In reference to Message Id: 1814799 Breeding Crickets 101
Thanks! Nina |
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| 07/31/08 03:41pm |
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Graham View Profile |
Message To: Nina2008 In reference to Message Id: 1814885 Breeding Crickets 101
oh and cricket eggs look a bit like tiny grains of rice. you will know what they are when you see them |
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| 07/31/08 03:49pm |
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Nina2008 View Profile |
Message To: Graham In reference to Message Id: 1814899 Breeding Crickets 101
I noticed she keep them in a tote for mating with a screen for the heat to sit on. Without the whole thing covered, wont they jump out?? LOL-- or do they stay pretty occupied in there? Do more then one female lay eggs in the dirt soil over the period of a couple days before you switch it out? She keeps heat on them to speed up the process (she said you dont HAVE to).. but how long till they hatch after being laid? AND where do you keep the bowls of eggs/soil after you take them away from the crickets. WOW -- and she really broke it down too!! ....LOL Nina |
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| 07/31/08 04:00pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Graham In reference to Message Id: 1814899 Breeding Crickets 101
Edel |
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| 07/31/08 04:01pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1814927 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 07/31/08 04:29pm |
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4bodson View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1814969 Breeding Crickets 101
How long before the eggs hatch? Also, how do you know that the crickets have in fact mated? Jen |
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| 07/31/08 09:04pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: 4bodson In reference to Message Id: 1815247 Breeding Crickets 101
The time for the eggs to hatch at 86°F is about 13 days and about 26 days at room temperature (74°F). |
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| 07/31/08 10:07pm |
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Clouddancer22 View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1815342 Breeding Crickets 101
Well if it is ok, I will add my 2 cents here. . . been breeding crx for about a year now. I keep my adults in a 20 gal tank. I keep a lil tub of ecoearth in there for the eggs, and keep it misted. Every two weeks, I take it out and put it into my hatching tub and put a fresh one back in. I have like four sizes, and I rotate every two weeks. The eggs look like tiny rice grains. I feed my crx oats, wheat bran, and organic veggies. I don’t need a water source, the veggies do that. Yes Edel, they hatchi in tow weeks, which is why I rotate like that. I can’t post pics, I lost my camera in Mexico while I was teaching recently . . . awwww! |
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| 08/01/08 03:35am |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1815342 Breeding Crickets 101
There are different ways of breeding crickets, not everyone will do it the same way, and yes Edel, i can verify this b/c i have been doing it this way for over a year and a half now and have always been successful. I have never had a batch not hatch...Most of what i learned about this was from the internet as well, lol...they will hatch at lower temps, but does take much longer...the hatchlings in the photo above took 6 days to hatch at the temps i stated above... Jen, i don’t see them mate b/c they are always under the egg cartons but i know they mate by the hatchlings i get a few days later, lol....and if you breed them the way i posted, they will hatch in a week or so, like i said, it’s usually 6 days for mine to hatch at the temps i use... Nancy. |
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| 08/01/08 06:39am |
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Graham View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1815643 Breeding Crickets 101
there you go the lil grain of rice look alike things are cricket eggs |
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| 08/01/08 08:26am |
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4bodson View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1815643 Breeding Crickets 101
Graham, thanks for posting the picture of the eggs. Jen |
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| 08/01/08 10:42am |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Graham In reference to Message Id: 1815678 Breeding Crickets 101
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| 08/01/08 11:15am |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1815806 Breeding Crickets 101
I’ll post the pic once am done so you can all laugh at it. ROFL Edel |
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| 08/01/08 12:53pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1815907 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 08/01/08 01:22pm |
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Nina2008 View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1815943 Breeding Crickets 101
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| 08/01/08 01:26pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Nina2008 In reference to Message Id: 1815951 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 08/01/08 02:07pm |
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Nina2008 View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1815994 Breeding Crickets 101
Nina :) |
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| 08/01/08 05:14pm |
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Graham View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1815994 Breeding Crickets 101
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| 08/01/08 05:15pm |
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Graham View Profile |
Message To: Graham In reference to Message Id: 1816213 Breeding Crickets 101
this is a single cricket egg the white bit on the dirt
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| 08/01/08 05:21pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Nina2008 In reference to Message Id: 1816211 Breeding Crickets 101
Nancy. |
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| 08/01/08 05:26pm |
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