Success! I installed a DIY single head mister on for 1 min every hour to the cricket lay soil bin. I also ordered from Ghann Cricket Farms. The last batch of 200 adults did their thing. I now have thousands of pin heads. They are in the separated from the main population. Time will tell how...
Depends on your ambient temperature. My garage would not be possible at 20-30F. My basement is cooler than the house at 68 F, but much warmer than the garage. Im able to keep 88-90 in the bins with the heating elements active.
Oh and I added a 150W Ceramic Heating element. The halogen is set on a Kasa switch same schedule as the Cham enclosure. Heating element is on the temp control switch. Monitoring it all with Govee WiFi temp sensor.
As suspected, all of my shipped crickets arrived DOA. Traveled this week and picked up some banded for breeding. Introduced them to the new home. I’ve already witnessed egg laying from several females. Let’s see how this goes.
Right. You can buy by the piece part and build what you need. The tie bars (cross members) are welded onto the side framing sections. These are not optional. These can be taken away (with care taken to make sure you keep structural integrity) by grinder if needed.
Totally agree with this! My hybrid enclosure sits on the Menards version - Performax. Fortunately, I did not have to cut the sides on mine. The Performax was generally cheaper than the options at HD.
Thanks Ray. I use a Neptonion feeder and take away what is not eaten a couple of hours later. Kam is a ferocious cricket killing machine. He usually dispatches 10 or so in less than 10 minutes.
100W Halogen Heat lamp ran all night. Unfortunately, my max temperature never rose above 74 degrees. I guess I underestimated the heat load in the bins in my basement. After reading up on the issue, I’ve ordered an 11x17” heater pad which will go under the main bin. This is the guy I snagged...
Question. Now that I’m ready to start breeding, should there be special consideration on where the banded crickets are sourced from? I was considering Josh Frogs or Rainbowmealworms. Does it really matter where I start for a food quality feeder cricket lineage? Might be overthinking this one...
4-Prep
I filled the the main and nursery bin with Vermiculite and the egg laying bin with coco noir. Now, I wait for my next cricket delivery. At -6 F, I wonder how many I’ll get.
3-Build
Fairly straightforward. I cut ventilation holes for the bin lids. Used the duct tape to fasten the aluminum screen into place.
For added anti-escape measures I used hot glue to seal up the screen.
2 - Supplies
Bins: Two of each. One on standby, cleaned and ready.
Main bin - one large bin containing food, water, nursery and egg laying bins. I went on the larger side to ensure I had enough space for the crickets to thrive. Also my bin is on wheels to cart off for cleaning. Sterilite...
1-Research
There was a a ton of research available in this forum and online. A couple I found informative include:
https://www.wikihow.com/Raise-Your-Own-Crickets
I combined advice from these and a number of forum responses for my setup.
I’ve struggled this winter with my preferred method of cricket supply (mentioned in this thread). With support from this forum I’ve decided to take the plunge and breed crickets at home for our Cham. I’ll document my trials and tribulations in this thread. Wish me luck!