Oh, how I love the sound of hundreds of crickets chirping :)
Did you know that you can tell the temperature by the number of chirps a male makes in 15 seconds?
Well, this is my cricket setup it's a paper towel lined 5-gallon tank with a screen top lid. I also put a window screen over top to keep them from getting through the holes when they are small. The top of the corners there's clear plastic box tape over the inner seem seal material to keep them from climbing up it and out of the tank. I feed them wheat bran, oats, collard greens carrots and potatoes foods high in calcium are best. I use a really wet paper towel on plastic for them to suck water out of while keeping the rest of the tank bone dry if it gets too moist bacteria can collect up and start killing them also makes it easier to sweep out the poop during cleaning. I clean it out about every 3 days by cleaning one half than just moving them to the clean side to sweep the rest out. They are MESSY! :) I use a small deli container with a screen lid with holes in it and very moist coconut fiber substrate packed to the top inside for the females to lay their eggs in and lots of clean egg carton parts to give them enough space from each other. With the kept moist eggs if all these guys are not dinner yet I have to hatch the eggs in a separate tank they are cannibalistic with each other.Takes about 8 to 14 days for them to hatch depending on temperature.Temperature is about 85 to 90 degrees the hotter it is the faster they grow just have to make sure they have a good source of clean water to drink and food every day. There are about 250-300 large crickets in there all hiding in the cartons chirping loudly.
The ones with the sticks coming out their back ends are the females and the chirpers are the males.
As soon as they start to hatch I remove the lid of the hatching container and make sure to keep it damp while they finish hatching takes a few days by gently trickling water on top of them all over every time it drys out. I know if they haven't finished hatching yet by looking for little white ones they are newly hatched and slowly turn brown over time. Sometimes I put a small piece of small moist veggie or fruit but it can get moldy on the damp substrate so I usually just tip the container on its side resting on the bottom of the tank and make a breeze with my hand on them to get them to jump off into the tank where the food and water is .
Did you know that you can tell the temperature by the number of chirps a male makes in 15 seconds?
Well, this is my cricket setup it's a paper towel lined 5-gallon tank with a screen top lid. I also put a window screen over top to keep them from getting through the holes when they are small. The top of the corners there's clear plastic box tape over the inner seem seal material to keep them from climbing up it and out of the tank. I feed them wheat bran, oats, collard greens carrots and potatoes foods high in calcium are best. I use a really wet paper towel on plastic for them to suck water out of while keeping the rest of the tank bone dry if it gets too moist bacteria can collect up and start killing them also makes it easier to sweep out the poop during cleaning. I clean it out about every 3 days by cleaning one half than just moving them to the clean side to sweep the rest out. They are MESSY! :) I use a small deli container with a screen lid with holes in it and very moist coconut fiber substrate packed to the top inside for the females to lay their eggs in and lots of clean egg carton parts to give them enough space from each other. With the kept moist eggs if all these guys are not dinner yet I have to hatch the eggs in a separate tank they are cannibalistic with each other.Takes about 8 to 14 days for them to hatch depending on temperature.Temperature is about 85 to 90 degrees the hotter it is the faster they grow just have to make sure they have a good source of clean water to drink and food every day. There are about 250-300 large crickets in there all hiding in the cartons chirping loudly.
As soon as they start to hatch I remove the lid of the hatching container and make sure to keep it damp while they finish hatching takes a few days by gently trickling water on top of them all over every time it drys out. I know if they haven't finished hatching yet by looking for little white ones they are newly hatched and slowly turn brown over time. Sometimes I put a small piece of small moist veggie or fruit but it can get moldy on the damp substrate so I usually just tip the container on its side resting on the bottom of the tank and make a breeze with my hand on them to get them to jump off into the tank where the food and water is .
Click pic for closer view