Keeping crickets alive

[Steve A]

One last pic to show about how much I'm feeding them daily. I used a little too much here but they'll eat most of it. Maybe all of it before it hardens.

 

[M&M]

IMO not off topic at all!

So I am buying 50 small silkworms from Frams at a time, and growing them to the size I want to feed Spike 1 per day. I try to order them in advance so they overlap so he always has them but it doesn't always work out that way so I just feed him accordingly with other bugs until they grow if that's the case.

I use a larger 'critter cage', something like this one pictured

View attachment 354582


I do not put ANYTHING in here except the silkworms, and some food. I simply dump them in here at the bottom, and then I shave some food over the top (how much you should shave will depend but I only do a little bit as I'm feeding and cleaning every day.)

You'll see each time if you are putting too much food. It'll dry out the next day and be left over and become hard. This makes it more of a mess to clean up each night. So you want to adjust that each day so that you're not getting this.

At night, I remove all the silkworms 1 by 1 and place them on the critter cage lid laying down on my counter. I pick off their poop/extra food by hand (lol but idk how else to do this?) and place them on the lid. Once they're all gone, I dump all the extra poop/food into the trash. Then I use a paper towel (sometimes damp with a tiny bit of soap) to clean the bottom surface and sides if need be (especially if they have been climbing and cocooning (not sure what other call it but when they spin themselves into silk balls lol).

From my understanding, silkworks do NOT like humidity... so I make sure that if I use soap/water that the enclosure is absolutely dry. Then I simply dump them back in the bottom, put them into a grouped ball formation and I use a cheese grater to distribute the food over top of them.

I do this every single night. sometimes I can be lazy for a day but I still have to feed them because I only provide them food for a day/night.

This process tends to take me like maybe 10-15 mins max I'd say. It's not so bad once you get the amount of food you should be giving them down.

I do have some die off but never more than say 1-2 at a time. They mostly grow very well, look very healthy, get very big, and Spike loves eating them. Hope this helps!

edit: with this being said Spike is over a year now so I am only giving him 1 larger silk per day. If your chameleon is younger, you're gonna want to of course have more silks at a time at a smaller size so this processes is gonna be longer as you're constantly cleaning out all those bugs. But I did do this when I was dealing with say 100+ at a time. It's not that bad IMO.

Amazing!! Thank you for all of the information. I just moved my silkworms into my old cricket keeper this morning. I'd never even considered that they might be happier in a big space. DUH! I haven't had many die off in my keeping of them, but the silk that they spin is SO FRUSTRATING. But I plan to try and clean it out more often and hopefully it will be less daunting of a task that way. I have leftover food from when I first purchased my current batch of silks that I've kept in there. Hopefully they stay healthier and cleaner

 

[M&M]

I also get 50 silks monthly from Frams. I keep them in the original container. Once a week, I remove them from the original container and put them in a different, recycled container with fresh food. I push food into the plastic mesh and put the silks on top of the food. My silks grow very large. I might have a few die, 2-3. I make chow 2 times a month, wrap it in saranwrap and put it in a airtight container.

What are you using to make your chow? I like the idea of being able to make it at home.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

What are you using to make your chow? I like the idea of being able to make it at home.

Silkworm chow from amazon.

 

[Steve A]

Amazing!! Thank you for all of the information. I just moved my silkworms into my old cricket keeper this morning. I'd never even considered that they might be happier in a big space. DUH! I haven't had many die off in my keeping of them, but the silk that they spin is SO FRUSTRATING. But I plan to try and clean it out more often and hopefully it will be less daunting of a task that way. I have leftover food from when I first purchased my current batch of silks that I've kept in there. Hopefully they stay healthier and cleaner

No problem. Try to keep the food less. you just want to give them enough for them all to get a little something each night. They have a tendency to start cocooning once they feel they've had 'enough' food. I believe it depends on the environment as well. But yeah since I've done it like this... wow it's so much easier!

 

[dinomom]

I would say first, any crickets I’ve EVER purchased from a pet store don’t last a week. I order from Josh’s Frogs and keep them in a big 90qt plastic tote, I cut a hole on top and placed metal screen over it with a heat lamp, red 100watt bulb. I feed them a mixed “Bug burger” Repashy Bug Burger Insect Gel... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RM796YA?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

They live forever, literally I have no idea why but they don’t die

Good luck! I even had some lay eggs and hatched them all too!!

Exact same here. It helps to get slightly smaller ones as well to make sure they are not "past their peak".

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Exact same here. It helps to get slightly smaller ones as well to make sure they are not "past their peak".

I had that same issue until I started my current setup. Which is simply a critter keeper. I use water crystals and Flukers Calcium food or dry bug burger. Now a 100 count will last me all month. I still have die off just not as many.