I would like to order crickets on-line in bulk but I am not sure what size to get. If I order ~500 that should be 1 to 1.5 month worth for him. He eats 1/4" crickets so if I ordered 1/4" crickets will they grow too large after 3 or 4 weeks for him? So I guess the question is, how fast do crickets grow? Do you account for this in your cricket order or just through out any that grow too large?
Cricket bulk buy. What size?
- Thread starter bloran
- Start date
ISA my Veiled
New Member
If I were you if you do happen to order in bulk like camimom said make sure you order a size or two under, that way they live longer and by the time they grow up all the way it will be 5-6 weeks later and your chameleon will have grown I would imagine quite a bit.
ISA my Veiled
New Member
Anytime, and may I recommend the site I use for my crickets? I use reptilefood.com and they are great. My first order I had received, besides the probably 100 dead in the box(they overfill it like most places do), I only lost about 8-10 crickets by the end of my guys eating all of them. And this last time I had a problem with how many were dead in my package, and they sent me out my order the next day, the entire 2,000 cricket order. I got a quick response via email and it should actually be here any minute. I highly recommend them.
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
Id also check out lllreptile, they did the same for me when 1/3 of the crickets died at the hands of the potato. Good idea on the crickets growing with the little guy. I ordered 1/2" the first time, and they lasted 5 weeks. I ordered 1/2" again, and they were deemed by Harry to be too small to be worth eating.
AlecWade
New Member
If you want the crickets to stay smaller once they're near the right size, keep them cool. If crickets are given a heat source they will grow and eat a lot. When my Cham was super tiny I picked up 1,000 1/4 inchers. I just kept them on the cool concrete of my basement floor and they were all fed off before they outgrew Mr. Veiled 
ISA my Veiled
New Member
If you want the crickets to stay smaller once they're near the right size, keep them cool. If crickets are given a heat source they will grow and eat a lot. When my Cham was super tiny I picked up 1,000 1/4 inchers. I just kept them on the cool concrete of my basement floor and they were all fed off before they outgrew Mr. Veiled
That is a great point also, I have a whole extra breeding colony at the moment and I am keeping them on my basement floor in a bin obviously and they tend to grow a lot less.
That is good to know about slowing their growth. Will be hard to do here in Texas though. No basements and the coolest place is in the house but probably not cool enough (~74F). By the way, I already received my order of 1/8" crickets! My wife was home when they arrived so I have not seen them yet but she said she did not notice any dead crickets so everything must have went well.
SpartyTessy
New Member
I breed my own crickets and they do grow very fast. Keep in mind that they are going to grow at a much faster percent rate than your Chameleon will. If you get 1/4" size in about 2 weeks many will be 1/2" and then another 2 weeks many will be full grown. From hatching to full grown it takes a cricket about 40-60 days.
One thing that you should consider is breeding your own crickets that way you always have the size you need. It really is very easy to do and once they start having babies you have more than you know what to do with and will always have the correct size that you need.
As mentioned one thing you can do to slow down the growth rate is to keep them cooler. They seem to grow the fastest at a temp between 85 to 90 which is the optimal temp for them laying eggs and the eggs hatching.
Let me know if you would like more specific information on culturing your own crickets. It will save you a ton of $$ in the long run. With 200 or so adult crickets you could easily have 5000 plus hatchlings within 2 weeks.
One thing that you should consider is breeding your own crickets that way you always have the size you need. It really is very easy to do and once they start having babies you have more than you know what to do with and will always have the correct size that you need.
As mentioned one thing you can do to slow down the growth rate is to keep them cooler. They seem to grow the fastest at a temp between 85 to 90 which is the optimal temp for them laying eggs and the eggs hatching.
Let me know if you would like more specific information on culturing your own crickets. It will save you a ton of $$ in the long run. With 200 or so adult crickets you could easily have 5000 plus hatchlings within 2 weeks.
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Kushcham
Established Member
I could use some help with that. Ive tried many times and havent been successful. I can see tons of eggs from the bottom of the clear dish I use for them to lay in. I have been using eco earth as the laying soil. Could that be the problem? Ive trird keeping them everywhere from lightly moist to very moist the entire time and a temp of at least 80 degrees
SpartyTessy
New Member
I use the eco earth and it works very well. In fact I prefer it over other stuff because you can reuse it after all the eggs have hatched. Just wash the eco earth out after use and its good to use again. You do not want to flood the substrate but you do need to ensure that it stays moist. I usually spray off the substrate containers 2 times a day but you may need to more depending on how dry it gets. If they do dry out the eggs will die. You should really consider using a heating pad underneath the incubator bin where you place the substrate containers in. Do not place the heating pad inside but on the outside underneath where the egg containers sit. You want to monitor the temps and make sure that they stay between 85 and 90 degrees. When I first tried starting my colony the eggs would not hatch because I did not have a heating pad. Once I got the heating pad placed under the incubator container then they started hatching after 4-7 days. Some have success using a house bulb for heat but I never tried it that way as I am having great success with the heating pad. I now have about 3-4 substrate with the eggs in the incubator container at a time and am getting about 5000 to 10,000 new hatchlings a week or so. So I always leave the substrate in the adult container for about 4 days enough to get plenty of eggs then place it in the incubator and in about 4-7 days they will start to hatch if the conditions I mentioned are right. Also I forgot to mention an easy way to keep the egg substrate moist is after taking it out of the adult container place a lid on it with holes in it. You will not even have to spray the container as it will stay moist. Then after they start to hatch in about 4 days once you see the first hatchlings take the lid off. Then just continue to spray it 2 times a day till they have finished hatching after about 7 days. I hope this helps.
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