My simple cricket setup

[Steve A]

Hello everyone,

We were talking about these setups not long ago and today I received a fresh batch of crickets from Josh's Frogs, so I figured I'd share some photos of how I handle this.

I remove the food trays. Egg crates, and rest is trash. Usually there are no carry over crickets. Because of how I rotate food I do this by design.

Then I clean the bottom portion with soapy water. Rinse off very good and dry with a paper towel.

Then I drop the crickets in first. Break off 2 small pieces of egg carton and set down fresh food which will be kept fresh on a daily basis.

When I need crickets I shake them off the egg carton into a large plastic cup. I do this with my hands inside the plastic bin so none escape. Then I drop out whatever I don't need back into the tub.

Then I dust with either calcium or the other vitamins depending on the schedule. Then I drop the chameleons from the cup to the blue funnel (keeping my finger at the bottom so they can't escape). I give it a little shake to kind of assist the dusting process. Then I slightly remove my finger just enough so excess calcium/vitamins can fall out to the cup the crickets came from. Then I drop the crickets into the window feeder using the funnel.

 

[nightanole]

How do they not fart themselves to death? Do you have a fan on top to displace the ammonia from the poo?

 

[Steve A]

How do they not fart themselves to death? Do you have a fan on top to displace the ammonia from the poo?

Nope. I just leave the bin open at all times. The lid rests on top but it is never closed. I actually keep it at an angle so large portions of the top are always open.

 

[Steve A]

I think it also helps that this is not a "long term" setup. I am only buying 60 crickets at a time. And I keep this setup so basic so it can easily be cleaned if need be. Most of the poop seems to go on the egg cartons, which I'll replace if/when those get bad before the next batch of crickets come.