At some point most keepers graduate from frequent runs to the pet store for their weekly allotment of crickets and consider ordering in bulk. It's more convenient and prices are better but if you can't keep them alive it can be very frustrating! Keeping small batches is more forgiving so when you decide to take that leap here are some suggestions to keep them alive.
There are lots of variations on the big cricket keepers but this one has worked best for me:
Tote is 14" long and I keep 1000 in it at a time.
1. Ventilation! The biggest factor to my success was cutting out the sides and top to add screen panels. Crickets produce a lot of heat and moisture, which is part of why they stink so bad, and they're also sensitive to humidity. They basically suffocate themselves if too many are kept without enough ventilation. And the smell is virtually eliminated with good ventilation (my favorite part)! Use aluminum screen ONLY. They eat through the fiberglass screen and you'll wish they had died instead once you find hundreds of crickets all over your house!
2. Overcrowding - add lots of eggcrates and toilet paper rolls to your cricket cage so that they're not constantly crawling all over each other. Overcrowding leads to cannibalism and higher mortality rates. They also don't gutload as well imo because they're somewhat stressed. I save all toilet paper and paper towel rolls and just pull from the stash when I need them. And I use the eggcrates that come with the crickets so it's all free for me!
3. Hydration - They can go days without food but without water you'll watch them drop like flies. I use water crystals personally but some people just use citrus slices or a wet paper towel to offer water in a safe way. If there's even a quarter of an inch of standing water you'll be utterly amazed at the amount of crickets that will drown themselves in it!
4. Food - Without food the crickets will start to eat the eggcrates, which is not good for gutloading. When you order in bulk you'll notice just how much crickets can eat because a handful of greens (enough to make a healthy size salad for yourself) will disappear in an hour or two. Cannibalism again becomes a problem so make sure that you feed them often. If the food is gone it's time to feed them again! I sprinkle my dry mix on the bottom and put the greens and fruit between the layers of egg crate.
5. Order young - if you want to keep them alive for several weeks make sure you order them smaller than your chameleon needs because they will continue to grow as you keep them. Keeping them at cooler temps helps delay growth rate. You don't want to order the size you need and watch them all grow to be too big before you can feed them off! Or in my case, I can't stand the sound of crickets chirping so I want them all gone before they sprout those damned wings!
6. Cleanliness - Some people clean their cages out every week or two. I clean it out when there's a decent layer of frass in the recessed edge at the bottom, or when the eggcrates look dirty. The frass stinks when it builds up, but good ventilation really helps with this! I clean mine out every 3-4 weeks.
Never knew that keeping crickets would be like another chameleon did ya? I gutload right before I go to bed the night before feeding so when I toss them in the cham cages in the morning I know the crickets are fat and happy off all the good stuff I want my chams to get.
There are lots of variations on the big cricket keepers but this one has worked best for me:
Tote is 14" long and I keep 1000 in it at a time.
1. Ventilation! The biggest factor to my success was cutting out the sides and top to add screen panels. Crickets produce a lot of heat and moisture, which is part of why they stink so bad, and they're also sensitive to humidity. They basically suffocate themselves if too many are kept without enough ventilation. And the smell is virtually eliminated with good ventilation (my favorite part)! Use aluminum screen ONLY. They eat through the fiberglass screen and you'll wish they had died instead once you find hundreds of crickets all over your house!
2. Overcrowding - add lots of eggcrates and toilet paper rolls to your cricket cage so that they're not constantly crawling all over each other. Overcrowding leads to cannibalism and higher mortality rates. They also don't gutload as well imo because they're somewhat stressed. I save all toilet paper and paper towel rolls and just pull from the stash when I need them. And I use the eggcrates that come with the crickets so it's all free for me!
3. Hydration - They can go days without food but without water you'll watch them drop like flies. I use water crystals personally but some people just use citrus slices or a wet paper towel to offer water in a safe way. If there's even a quarter of an inch of standing water you'll be utterly amazed at the amount of crickets that will drown themselves in it!
4. Food - Without food the crickets will start to eat the eggcrates, which is not good for gutloading. When you order in bulk you'll notice just how much crickets can eat because a handful of greens (enough to make a healthy size salad for yourself) will disappear in an hour or two. Cannibalism again becomes a problem so make sure that you feed them often. If the food is gone it's time to feed them again! I sprinkle my dry mix on the bottom and put the greens and fruit between the layers of egg crate.
5. Order young - if you want to keep them alive for several weeks make sure you order them smaller than your chameleon needs because they will continue to grow as you keep them. Keeping them at cooler temps helps delay growth rate. You don't want to order the size you need and watch them all grow to be too big before you can feed them off! Or in my case, I can't stand the sound of crickets chirping so I want them all gone before they sprout those damned wings!
6. Cleanliness - Some people clean their cages out every week or two. I clean it out when there's a decent layer of frass in the recessed edge at the bottom, or when the eggcrates look dirty. The frass stinks when it builds up, but good ventilation really helps with this! I clean mine out every 3-4 weeks.
Never knew that keeping crickets would be like another chameleon did ya? I gutload right before I go to bed the night before feeding so when I toss them in the cham cages in the morning I know the crickets are fat and happy off all the good stuff I want my chams to get.
