I use the guidelines below for 1,000 1 week old or 1,000 2 week old crickets at a time. It seems to me that a tank between 10-20 gallons would be ample room for 500-l,000 larger crickets.
Hassle-free Cricket Care
Take a suitably sized container, for instance, an extra large Kritter Keeper (14.5 inches x 7 inches x 9.5 inches) or a 5-10 gallon aquarium. Place dry oatmeal and a gutload such as Fluker Farm's High-Calcium Cricket Feed (800-735-8537, www.flukerfarms.com) on the bottom of the cage. Add your crickets. Next place a double layer of egg cartons in the container. On top of the egg cartons place a folded paper towel. The cage can be covered with a lightweightcloth (over the cage, but under the lid) if you are worried about crickets escaping. Then add the screen for the lid. Spray the paper towel generously every other day. Keep crickets between 70 F and the mid 80s. They will grow faster if warmer, but seem to do fine at 70 F. If room temperatures exceed 85 F spray the paper towel daily.
Spraying the paper towel is an excellent way to provide moisture for your crickets and save them from perishing from too much moisture. Crickets may be gutloaded with a wide variety of supplements: Nature Zone's Total Cricket Bites (a green jello-like substance) found at [http://naturezone.fauna.com], zucchini, carrots, collard greens, TetraMinTropical Flakes (Rich Mix--46% protein).
To breed crickets you will need mature crickets, a higher minimum temperature, and an 8 ounce deli cup containing approximately 6 ounces of moist potting soil kept within the same Kritter Keeper setup.
This is a great way to breed those difficult-to-ship pinheads!
Elizabeth
Subj: [gecko]Geckos and crickets
Date: 10/31/03 8:24:55 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stacy Foster)
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OK...question for you all.
I've been in reptiles for 15 years however am fairly new to cricket
eating animals. I have finally established my leopard gecko colony and
have decided to change over from 8 dozen crickets a week from Petco to
500 delivered via the mail. When I received them, I dumped the 500 in a
55 gallon tank along with egg cartons to hide in and food and a watering
system.
Then I thought...now what? How am I supposed to catch the 8 dozen I need
a week for feeding?
So...I've decided to stay with the Petco system for now...however, I
still have these 500 crickets to deal with.
Therefore...I've decided to take about a half dozen of my really good
eating youngsters and put them in the tank and just let them gorge. Of
course I would never do this with mice/rats and snakes which I've dealt
with in the past, but does anyone see any concern with this idea?
Thanks...I appreciate the advice.
--Stacy
