Starting a cricket farm?

[Macie]

So I am going to start a cricket farm soon, I've tried to start one in the past but the eggs were eaten/dried out.
Does anyone have any tips for my breeding farm?
How many adult crickets do you think can be housed in a large tub?
How long will it take for the pinhead crickets to grow to a large enough size for my 1/2 a year old beardie?
This time I'm planning to use mosquito screen to keep the eggs from getting eaten and a better soil, Coco Fiber. I've heard you should mist daily.
Can anyone tell me the best diet for crickets that benefits your beardie?
Whats the cheapest way to keep the crickets warm?

Thank you for your time.

 

[PatsyB]

@Hdrydr31 has successfully bred crickets before, she might be able to help.

The best diet for your crickets is whatever you would feed your beardie. Leafy greens and veggies are the best along with water crystals for extra hydration. Also make sure you use lots of egg crates, crickets love to hide and can get aggressive towards each other if they can't hide.

 

[Hdrydr31]

So I am going to start a cricket farm soon, I've tried to start one in the past but the eggs were eaten/dried out.
Does anyone have any tips for my breeding farm?
How many adult crickets do you think can be housed in a large tub?
How long will it take for the pinhead crickets to grow to a large enough size for my 1/2 a year old beardie?
This time I'm planning to use mosquito screen to keep the eggs from getting eaten and a better soil, Coco Fiber. I've heard you should mist daily.
Can anyone tell me the best diet for crickets that benefits your beardie?
Whats the cheapest way to keep the crickets warm?

Thank you for your time.

Ok so I raised them for close to 5+ years, some with good success and some not so good times lol What I can say is they are VERY temperamental/fragile to temp changes, odors, humidity.
I never had a x amount of adults per tub, I used the big tubs covered dark..
Pinheads are very fragile and sometimes will all die off for no known reason sometimes...If I remember correctly they will molt 8 times before becoming an adult.. Total lifespan is anywhere between 2-8 months (ish) really depends on your husbandry and temps...
I used worm bedding (the dirt one not the paper one) as the egg laying substrate.. I put shallow containers (I used those clear plastic deals you put under pots to catch water) I cut the top lip off of them..I misted them daily and when I saw it overflowing with eggs I'd take them out and put them into another tub to hatch out and replace with a new container. If the eggs don't stay moist they won't hatch but don't drown the eggs either.
Once the pinheads started hatching I moved them into yet another bin to grow..

Feed them what your dragon's eat for gutloading, I made my own dry chow (still do for my dubia colony)
I had/have great luck heating them with the red heat bulbs in chicken brooder fixtures (ceramic base I get mine at the local farm store super cheap way cheaper than petstore ones and they are better made I think)

**question only because I have now raised both crickets and now Dubia why have you chosen crickets over dubia (unless you can't have them in your state)

 

[KrissyLeigh]

Crickets are such a pain! Have you considered dubia? I have a colony going and they are minimal effort, no smell, no noise!

 

[Macie]

Crickets are such a pain! Have you considered dubia? I have a colony going and they are minimal effort, no smell, no noise!

I have not. Where did you originally buy yours from?

 

[Hdrydr31]

I have not. Where did you originally buy yours from?

OMG dubia are WAY easier!! I started mine with several places like Discountdubia, southtexasdragon.com and some of our members have some to be sold...I've also gotten some on craigslist too..

If you look at the links below I've written up how to keep a colony..

 

[KrissyLeigh]

I have not. Where did you originally buy yours from?

I got mine at dubiaroaches.com