Care for crickets in winter

CHIMP

CHIMP

Established Member
So I started breeding crickets in the winter this year indoors. While collecting for feeding pets, sometimes they get out. I want to start housing them outdoors in a 20'x30'ish pole barn and 1/2 is enclosed. It has a lot more room for my projects, It has walls and a roof. We are coming out of winter and the rest of the year they will be fine. However next year I want to be ready for the cold fronts. Which rarely in my area get lower than 40 and lowest I have seen is upper 20s. In the pole barn there is plenty of room but its hard to keep heat in because there are many openings. I though about using a tarp to seal a small area and put a heater in. I am looking for suggestions to best resolve this without keeping them in the house. I am attaching pictures of the pole barn. 20200127_183142 (1).jpg 20200204_171817.jpg 20200204_171827.jpg
 
40 will kill them, 20 will defiantly kill them.

I picked up 100 2 days ago, usually I dont have much die offs, last night our Propane ran out, house dropped to 38 (I luckily was able to heat my chams cage overnight with my Arcadia Deep Heat), and setup some Flos for other bugs.

Half my crickets are dead this morning, the other half are moving very very slowly, and now the tank is in front of a space heater. We got some couple weeks ago, 100 that time too, and left them in the car for 5ish mins while getting food, it was 26 that day, they all died in that 5 mins. Tried to heat them up when got home, nope Dead.

They cant handle those kind of temps, they will drop.

If you want to keep them outside in that shed, or whatever, I would build a very well insulated cabinet inside of there and heat it with heat tape or something to make sure it stays nice and toasty.

I would do, like a 2x2 cabinet frame, and then inside and outside have 1/2 plywood, and fill that gap with foam or insulation of some type to keep it very well temp contained.
 
cyberlocc said:
40 will kill them, 20 will defiantly kill them.

I picked up 100 2 days ago, usually I dont have much die offs, last night our Propane ran out, house dropped to 38 (I luckily was able to heat my chams cage overnight with my Arcadia Deep Heat), and setup some Flos for other bugs.

Half my crickets are dead this morning, the other half are moving very very slowly, and now the tank is in front of a space heater. We got some couple weeks ago, 100 that time too, and left them in the car for 5ish mins while getting food, it was 26 that day, they all died in that 5 mins. Tried to heat them up when got home, nope Dead.

They cant handle those kind of temps, they will drop.

If you want to keep them outside in that shed, or whatever, I would build a very well insulated cabinet inside of there and heat it with heat tape or something to make sure it stays nice and toasty.

I would do, like a 2x2 cabinet frame, and then inside and outside have 1/2 plywood, and fill that gap with foam or insulation of some type to keep it very well temp contained.
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Yeah, I understand that they can not handle that cold of temps. Worst case scenario I can simply bring them in the house in the winter on cold days. I wont actually let them get that cold. but in the end though your suggestion is to build another smaller area out of wood and insulate it, then use some sort of heating element like heating tape. I like the idea and will keep it in mind but I am thinking a bit bigger than that. Right now I have about 5,000 crickets and that number could grow quite a bit before winter next year. I could insulate the pole barn itself but with all the openings up top it would be insignificant. I can not completely seal it off either. That is why I was thinking tarps but I know they do not insulate to well, However they can reduce the amount of heat escaping through air flow. I also have a 8x8 shed on the property I could use.
 

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CHIMP said:
Yeah, I understand that they can not handle that cold of temps. Worst case scenario I can simply bring them in the house in the winter on cold days. I wont actually let them get that cold. but in the end though your suggestion is to build another smaller area out of wood and insulate it, then use some sort of heating element like heating tape. I like the idea and will keep it in mind but I am thinking a bit bigger than that. Right now I have about 5,000 crickets and that number could grow quite a bit before winter next year. I could insulate the pole barn itself but with all the openings up top it would be insignificant. I can not completely seal it off either. That is why I was thinking tarps but I know they do not insulate to well, However they can reduce the amount of heat escaping through air flow. I also have a 8x8 shed on the property I could use.
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just use a ceramic heater on a thermostat in each cricket bin, and keep the bins in a foam box.
 
CHIMP said:
Yeah, I understand that they can not handle that cold of temps. Worst case scenario I can simply bring them in the house in the winter on cold days. I wont actually let them get that cold. but in the end though your suggestion is to build another smaller area out of wood and insulate it, then use some sort of heating element like heating tape. I like the idea and will keep it in mind but I am thinking a bit bigger than that. Right now I have about 5,000 crickets and that number could grow quite a bit before winter next year. I could insulate the pole barn itself but with all the openings up top it would be insignificant. I can not completely seal it off either. That is why I was thinking tarps but I know they do not insulate to well, However they can reduce the amount of heat escaping through air flow. I also have a 8x8 shed on the property I could use.
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I mean you could build a pretty big Cabinet. I think you can house a couple thousand crickets in a Sterilte tote right? So build a cabinet big enough for 4 or 6 totes, that's alot of crickets.
 

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I do like that idea too! That would allow me to control each bin separately. Do you house yours outdoors?
 
Something like these will work though.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Dyna-Glo-3...Propane-Vent-Free-Convection-Heater/999976632

And maybe this one, https://www.lowes.com/pd/Mr-Heater-18000-BTU-Portable-Cabinet-Propane-Heater/1000838408

However read the specs, 20lb cylinder every 72 hours. A refill of a 20lb cylinder from me is 13.85, your area may be more may be less, but 14 dollars every 3 days, will add up.

Waste heating an area that large, is going to cost alot. thats why I stay with heated cabinets, or heated bins. You could also like Kai said, make a bin within a bin. Insulate it, and use Heattape to heat that with a stat.

Just build a wooden box, and foam around the sides, make sure to leave air space for the heat tape, and foam the bin into the wood.
 
cyberlocc said:
Yep no do not do that :).

I have seen people burn their trailers down with those on top of the fact yes it will cause serious Carbon Dioxide issues. You can use an indoor propane heater, however your going to use ALOT of propane, and the heat will still just escape.
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Yeah, I was wanting to do that but concerned about it at the same time. I would like to see some more idea's and things other people do. In the mean time I have some ways to go thanks to you and kaizen. I will at least have a while before I need to set it up which gives me time to try some different ways.
 
Kaizen said:
honestly, a bin with a 60 watt ceramic heater on a thermostat, placed in an insulated cabinet will work fine.
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Ya but at that point, he says he has multiple bins and wants more. Thats why I would just heat the entire cabinet.

It would be the cheapest, easiest and most efficient solution.
 
I will check out both ways and see whats the most cost effective and functional for me. I think no matter what I am going to need to build or buy a cabinet of some kind. or at least close off an area in the pole barn. keep in mind this is usually only needed in my area for a very short period of time. So something temporary could be handy as well for just a couple days a year around January. The rest of the time we are in the 80s+
 
CHIMP said:
I will check out both ways and see whats the most cost effective and functional for me. I think no matter what I am going to need to build or buy a cabinet of some kind. or at least close off an area in the pole barn. keep in mind this is usually only needed in my area for a very short period of time. So something temporary could be handy as well for just a couple days a year around January. The rest of the time we are in the 80s+
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Well the heat will only be needed for a month or 2, however if you are having extreme high heat, then going the other way would be wanted. Which you will again benefit from a Cabinet, that is insulated. where you can control temps the other way, with fans.

A good way to buy a cabinet, would be one of those large drink fridges, and add heat tape, and cooling/air circulation fans. Could likely find one cheap on craigslist, people use them to make incubators alot.
 
cyberlocc said:
Well the heat will only be needed for a month or 2, however if you are having extreme high heat, then going the other way would be wanted. Which you will again benefit from a Cabinet, that is insulated. where you can control temps the other way, with fans.

A good way to buy a cabinet, would be one of those large drink fridges, and add heat tape, and cooling/air circulation fans. Could likely find one cheap on craigslist, people use them to make incubators alot.
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Well that is something I did not think about. I could add a window shaker and/or ceiling fan. I have extra of those.
 
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