Cricket breeding success!

[Blink]

I just wanted to share my cricket breeding success. Before I tried, I was really concerned that it would be super difficult, after reading stuff on the internet. Turns out it wasn't as hard as I thought. All it took was some heat, dirt, and oh, about 500+ crickets...
I came home one day with over 2,000 crickets of varying sizes, thinking that buying in such bulk would save a lot money... Didn't save me any work, five bins later and extreme stench... not to mention trying to unload the crickets from the boxes... (escapees!) With one chameleon it would be an understatement to say that my judgment of quantity was greatly impaired that day. Lol!
Anyway, I added some heat and a laying bin to the adult crickets and no later than 10 minutes, I had quite a spectacle on my hands... I only had to leave the egg bin in with the adults for a couple of days, before tiny eggs were popping up all over. Moved the bin to the fish tank "incubator" with more heat and daily light spraying...and... BOOM! After 12 days of incubation thousands of tiny pinheads! Now, I never have to buy crickets again. I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself. I encourage anyone who can put up with cricket stench and excessive chirping to try it!

 

[happiness]

What kind of heat source did you use?

 

[zlew]

I tried, I failed, you have my everlasting respect.

 

[Hibiscusmile]

Same here, give us more details!

 

[Blink]

What kind of heat source did you use?

I just used an old heating pad, wrapped in a towel underneath the tubs and kept it at the lowest setting. I only really measured the temperatures a couple of times with a really inaccurate temp gun. It was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit when the laying bin was with the adults in a really large Tupperware, and about 90- 95 degrees when I put it in the fish tank incubator (which is 5 gallons). I made sure to keep the soil moist, since the heat seemed to dry it out really quickly. I doused it with a spray bottle every day. The key, I think, was having so many crickets to mate.... Which meant A LOT of eggs... Which meant A LOT of pinheads. I was also feeding the adults a variety of fruits and veggies that I use for gutload. I am still keeping the heating pad on for the pinheads until they grow up a little bit. Hope this helps you guys!

 

[calvin]

I have tried breeding crickets many times with no success

 

[odduc748]

I am reluctant to breed crickets because they smell, really bad, when amassed together. Plus, the annoying chirping, ALL NIGHT LONG, from the horny adults.

Congratulations!