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.

 

[XMaddock]

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!!

Ditto, 40 size bin, fresh fruit, orange,apples, Spanish and and yogurt lid that has a wet paper towel for water. Cricket "CRACK" POWDER. Joshes Frogs sells some. They live a few weeks. They like egg creates and a daytime heat light
Not at night.

 

[CryptKeeper]

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.

How much are you feeding your Cham daily and what bugs do you give him? My guy is the same age

 

[moviemanmania]

5 gallon bucket, clear packing tape along top inside edge to keep them from crawling out. Eggs crates, toilet tubes, a diy ice tray feeder dish hanging from camando hook for fast access, a uvb compact overhead, no top on the bucket for ventilation and it sits next to the heat Matt on my dubia container. I’m having great success. Food is bug burger, dry greens, fresh dandelion, squash, carrots etc.

 

[Steve A]

How much are you feeding your Cham daily and what bugs do you give him? My guy is the same age

Sorry for the late response! So, it depends on which bug(s) I feed him that day.

Typically, I do something like this

1) 1-2 silkworms (large, and depending on how large they are)
2) 1-2 silkworms (med-large), approx 6+ BSFL
3) 4-6 crickets (1/2" - 3/4")
4) 9-12 BSFL (typically only do this if I am between purchasing bugs, or something)

I try to keep switching it up so he's always eating different bugs, even though I am really only giving him a few diff types of bugs. I think a major factor in how I am feeding is how I am gut-loading. No gut-load for BSFL, but silks are fed every night with fresh food, and crickets are fed every night and have food all day (frozen greens mixture + Fram Chams bug feed in a separate dish). Before I had Fram Chams bug feed, I was using I was using a popular mixture for crickets (again along with the frozen greens mix) but I don't remember what it was called. The results have really been the same though with both.

When silkworms cocoon and then hatch, I'll throw a moth in the mix. Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't.

Plus, he typically (not always, but usually) has Black Soldier Flies hatched flying around in his enclosure. I feed him both the larvae, and the actual flies. He has a tendency to chase flies around his enclosure before eating anything else, but he will usually still eat at least 1 silkworm.

I don't know how typical my situation is. The suggestion is to typically feed more different types of bugs than I am actually feeding. However, Spike wouldn't eat anything else I've tried to feed (except hornworms, which I only give as a treat very rarely. It's been a long time since he's had a hornworm). And he's always looked great to me and others doing what I am doing so I have been sticking with it.

 

[CryptKeeper]

Sorry for the late response! So, it depends on which bug(s) I feed him that day.

Typically, I do something like this

1) 1-2 silkworms (large, and depending on how large they are)
2) 1-2 silkworms (med-large), approx 6+ BSFL
3) 4-6 crickets (1/2" - 3/4")
4) 9-12 BSFL (typically only do this if I am between purchasing bugs, or something)

I try to keep switching it up so he's always eating different bugs, even though I am really only giving him a few diff types of bugs. I think a major factor in how I am feeding is how I am gut-loading. No gut-load for BSFL, but silks are fed every night with fresh food, and crickets are fed every night and have food all day (frozen greens mixture + Fram Chams bug feed in a separate dish). Before I had Fram Chams bug feed, I was using I was using a popular mixture for crickets (again along with the frozen greens mix) but I don't remember what it was called. The results have really been the same though with both.

When silkworms cocoon and then hatch, I'll throw a moth in the mix. Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't.

Plus, he typically (not always, but usually) has Black Soldier Flies hatched flying around in his enclosure. I feed him both the larvae, and the actual flies. He has a tendency to chase flies around his enclosure before eating anything else, but he will usually still eat at least 1 silkworm.

I don't know how typical my situation is. The suggestion is to typically feed more different types of bugs than I am actually feeding. However, Spike wouldn't eat anything else I've tried to feed (except hornworms, which I only give as a treat very rarely. It's been a long time since he's had a hornworm). And he's always looked great to me and others doing what I am doing so I have been sticking with it.

Gotcha yeah that sounds like a good mixture of bugs. My guy is really picky. He won’t eat BSFL or the flies, he doesn’t like Dubias either. He normally only goes for things that are moving, horned worms, silk worms, recently he’s been loving the moths from the horned worms but I can’t always have them lol.

He ate crickets a lot but got sick and stopped but ima try again soon I just hate keeping crickets they smell so bad. I may attempt breeding grasshoppers bc I tried them once and he loved them but they’re expensive and hard to find, at least from the guy I got from he’s always sold out.

I read someone on here breeds them and also stick bugs who I will contact. I just want to add variety I keep trying different things you can find online but haven’t dove into the exotic types like stick bugs yet or different roaches etc. at least I read the silk worms are healthy for him bc he loves them but my variety is very slim right now due to him being so picky.

 

[CryptKeeper]

Sorry for the late response! So, it depends on which bug(s) I feed him that day.

Typically, I do something like this

1) 1-2 silkworms (large, and depending on how large they are)
2) 1-2 silkworms (med-large), approx 6+ BSFL
3) 4-6 crickets (1/2" - 3/4")
4) 9-12 BSFL (typically only do this if I am between purchasing bugs, or something)

I try to keep switching it up so he's always eating different bugs, even though I am really only giving him a few diff types of bugs. I think a major factor in how I am feeding is how I am gut-loading. No gut-load for BSFL, but silks are fed every night with fresh food, and crickets are fed every night and have food all day (frozen greens mixture + Fram Chams bug feed in a separate dish). Before I had Fram Chams bug feed, I was using I was using a popular mixture for crickets (again along with the frozen greens mix) but I don't remember what it was called. The results have really been the same though with both.

When silkworms cocoon and then hatch, I'll throw a moth in the mix. Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't.

Plus, he typically (not always, but usually) has Black Soldier Flies hatched flying around in his enclosure. I feed him both the larvae, and the actual flies. He has a tendency to chase flies around his enclosure before eating anything else, but he will usually still eat at least 1 silkworm.

I don't know how typical my situation is. The suggestion is to typically feed more different types of bugs than I am actually feeding. However, Spike wouldn't eat anything else I've tried to feed (except hornworms, which I only give as a treat very rarely. It's been a long time since he's had a hornworm). And he's always looked great to me and others doing what I am doing so I have been sticking with it.

It seems like my guy likes to hunt for his food. Even the bugs he likes now when I put them in a bowl/dish he doesn’t really eat them, maybe one here and there but mostly I have to put them on a branch somewhere in his enclosure and he eats them. Or one of the huge moths from the horned worm I have to coax the moth to move and he goes right for it. Can’t really do that with Dubias they just run and hide, same with crickets, I have a feeder for the crickets but they just stay there and don’t move but I will try again with them. He used to run right over when I loaded the feeder but now he doesn’t seem to care (at least since the last time I tried which was about 3-4 weeks ago)

 

[Steve A]

Gotcha yeah that sounds like a good mixture of bugs. My guy is really picky. He won’t eat BSFL or the flies, he doesn’t like Dubias either. He normally only goes for things that are moving, horned worms, silk worms, recently he’s been loving the moths from the horned worms but I can’t always have them lol.

He ate crickets a lot but got sick and stopped but ima try again soon I just hate keeping crickets they smell so bad. I may attempt breeding grasshoppers bc I tried them once and he loved them but they’re expensive and hard to find, at least from the guy I got from he’s always sold out.

I read someone on here breeds them and also stick bugs who I will contact. I just want to add variety I keep trying different things you can find online but haven’t dove into the exotic types like stick bugs yet or different roaches etc. at least I read the silk worms are healthy for him bc he loves them but my variety is very slim right now due to him being so picky.

Spike has gone through phases where he didn't eat silkworms (for like a week), he always tends to go for crickets regardless. And always eats BSFL+flies. But yeah he won't do Dubias either, or superworms. I have a very clean way to keep my crickets.

I just use a big plastic storage container (it's really not that big. I forget the gallon size of it). But you can look at how big of a size you need by the gallon for crickets online.

I will post a pic when I find it on my phone. But basically I put an egg carton or two on the bottom, drop the crickets in, then the 2 food trays. I only keep like 60-70+ crickets at a time. So this setup is good until they're gone. Sometimes I replace the egg carton before they're done if it gets bad.

I simply clean it all out and use new egg carton for the next bash. It's a process that has been going really well. I haven't need to add any ventilation or lighting for my situation (though I do keep the lid OFF). The only issue we have with our crickets is the chirping at night but its not really an issue lol

 

[CryptKeeper]

Spike has gone through phases where he didn't eat silkworms (for like a week), he always tends to go for crickets regardless. And always eats BSFL+flies. But yeah he won't do Dubias either, or superworms. I have a very clean way to keep my crickets.

I just use a big plastic storage container (it's really not that big. I forget the gallon size of it). But you can look at how big of a size you need by the gallon for crickets online.

I will post a pic when I find it on my phone. But basically I put an egg carton or two on the bottom, drop the crickets in, then the 2 food trays. I only keep like 60-70+ crickets at a time. So this setup is good until they're gone. Sometimes I replace the egg carton before they're done if it gets bad.

I simply clean it all out and use new egg carton for the next bash. It's a process that has been going really well. I haven't need to add any ventilation or lighting for my situation (though I do keep the lid OFF). The only issue we have with our crickets is the chirping at night but its not really an issue lol

Yeah that’s basically how I kept them but I was putting too many in at a time. I was using a 10 gallon tank and getting 100 crickets at a time. This was before I knew I had to feed my Cham less haha. So when I try next I’m only going to buy like 25 or so and see how that goes.

 

[Steve A]

Yeah that’s basically how I kept them but I was putting too many in at a time. I was using a 10 gallon tank and getting 100 crickets at a time. This was before I knew I had to feed my Cham less haha. So when I try next I’m only going to buy like 25 or so and see how that goes.

Yep good call. I just get the pre-gutloaded crickets from joshs frogs. I think its like 65-75 in a pack. But it works out well with those numbers in the size I have. Keeping less is better imo for a nice clean setup like this if that's what you want. I like it like this. Even if I pay more in shipping.

 

[CryptKeeper]

Yep good call. I just get the pre-gutloaded crickets from joshs frogs. I think its like 65-75 in a pack. But it works out well with those numbers in the size I have. Keeping less is better imo for a nice clean setup like this if that's what you want. I like it like this. Even if I pay more in shipping.

The only reason I don’t get from josh frogs is bc the shipping is a lot and I just support my local pet store that has them and feed them myself. But the prices have gone up. There’s a reptile store like 25 min from me that has them way cheaper and everything if need for Rex (my Cham) can’t wait to finish his bioactive build.

 

[Steve A]

The only reason I don’t get from josh frogs is bc the shipping is a lot and I just support my local pet store that has them and feed them myself. But the prices have gone up. There’s a reptile store like 25 min from me that has them way cheaper and everything if need for Rex (my Cham) can’t wait to finish his bioactive build.

Understandable! Unfortunately, for me here I only have petsmart and petco. So I just foot the bill lol with that being said their crickets are pretty cheap imo.

Doing the math I was actually spending more for a few dozen crickets in petsmart than I am getting these on Joshs frogs. So it is what it is.

 

[CryptKeeper]

Understandable! Unfortunately, for me here I only have petsmart and petco. So I just foot the bill lol with that being said their crickets are pretty cheap imo.

Doing the math I was actually spending more for a few dozen crickets in petsmart than I am getting these on Joshs frogs. So it is what it is.

Yeah if he was still a juvenile it would def work out to get from them. But for 25 or so it’s not ya know. But again ima contact the guys on here that breed exotic insects and try myself at least to breed grass hoppers. And I’m sure he’ll love stick bugs. I just need more variety is all.