How to raise my own crickets?

[I_Love_George]

So now that George is definitely getting larger, he eats more. But I added up the expenses on George and wow he eats about 60 dollars a month in crickets. My cat costs me half that. So, I still have George's small enclosure when I first got him (it's a 10 gallon tank) and thought MAYBE I could breed them myself. So, I seen a few of you mention raising insects...What do I need? How do I start? Do I just buy a couple dozen adult crickets and let them bump uglies? I had some adults in there the other day and they were laying eggs in the sand (they kept sticking their butts in the sand and I thought I saw some little white pellets).

So any tips is appreciated...Thanks in advance!

 

[ladyknite]

I seem to have my best success rate in the spring, summer, and early fall times of the year. Reason being is that i would raise approximately 100,000 crickets at a time, and used my garage. The smell of that many in my house would probably gag a skunk. lol

Anyways......................You'll need more than one container. Sterilite bins work well. The clear ones.


You'll want a small under tank heater. Buy the smallest one they have, or you can use a regular heating pad that doesn't have the safety shut off switch.

Place the heat pad under one end of the tank and add your substrate. Personally, I use alot of mixes. One that worked well for me was comprised of regular soil, sand, and peat. Compost actually worked very well also.

My soil was about 4 inches thick and covered 1/2 the tank size, but that's not necessary. Crickets can crawl around in the dirt. It just makes it easier to get them out if you can scoop them from non substrate areas. Make sure the soil is damp and warm, but not wet. Too much humidity the eggs will drown, too little they'll dry out. Funny correlation to other eggs. hehehehe

I used probably 100 crickets at a ratio of 1:3. Feed them and offer carrots for hydration. Sick adults make sick babies. Give em a couple of weeks then move them into a fresh container with new soil. They will lay eggs in the 2nd enclosure and you'll move them once more.
This will be the last time. If they survive, they're food.