# Breeding Brown Crickets on a Small Scale in depth. Illustrated



## eddygecko

A guide to breeding brown crickets on an amateur keepers scale

Quick edit: Ive had people asking for pics of cricket sizes so they know when to move them up. Ill take some soon but for now you can look at livefoods.co.uk website. I move mine from the hatchling rub to sub-adult at around 3rd instar. Then shortly after they reach 4th instar the the ones im breeding go into the adult tub and the rest are used as food. 

Heres my tried and tested method for breeding enough crickets for my collection in the smallest space possible, hope it helps =D. 

Ok, this is a guide for people who have enough lizards that live food costs are high enough to notice. I’d say 4 or 5 adult lizards are enough to make it worth starting a colony. It requires very little space and time and has many benefits. The whole colony can be kept on top of an average 3ft vivarium very easily. This is not however a guide for those people with 20+ lizards. For this you will need large containers and a lot more space however the same principles can still be applied. I’ll go over every detail of care in this guide, keeping it as simple as possible. This is how it goes.

So if you have a collection of more than a few lizards that feed on crickets, the price can be quite high and for a small price it is easy to become self sufficient. There are many benefits to this. The money saved for a start. From 3 boxes of adult crickets you have enough to start a small colony enough to permanently feed your geckos and probably have some left over. There is also the benefit of knowing what your crickets have eaten. Many live food producers feed the crickets with only bran flakes or similar. These allow them to grow quickly but provide very little nutrition, therefore doing very little for the health of your reptiles. Feeding them yourself from birth gives u the knowledge that they have had a good nutritious diet. Also having your own small colony looks, and smells a lot better than having tubs of half dead crickets scattered all over the place. They can be just as interesting to watch as the reptiles and its fun when all the little babies hatch =D. 


This is a basic list of what you will need to start your colony and what it is used for:
- 2x 18 litre really useful box or similar (adult and sub adult containers)
- 1x 9 litre really useful box or similar (hatchling container)
- 5 empty cricket tubs WITH THE HOLES COVERED BY SELOPTAPE (egg laying tubs)
- 1 block of eco earth, some organic compost or play sand. (Substrate for egg laying)
- Plenty of cardboard egg boxes or a good supply of loo roll tubes (increased surface area = less cannibalism)
- Either some good quality mesh and a glue gun or a few old pairs of tights/some fine netting secured with elastic bands. (Ventilation)
- And finally 3 boxes of adult crickets. (TO MAKE DA BABIES)
Total: About £50


What would benefit your colony but is not necessary:
- 1x large heat mat or a position above a heated vivarium. Heat speeds up incubation and increases activity within the colony however the crickets will survive without it. 


The lifecycle
The common brown cricket sold at most reptile shops has an average life span of 6-8 weeks. During this time they will shed their skin 7 times. After the 7th shed they mature. They develop wings, the females develop full length egg laying tubes and the males start chirping a bit; this is their mating call. Females lay around 100 eggs each; around 10 each day until 100 has been reached. The egg substrate must be kept moist but not wet. After 10-15 days depending on the temperature the eggs will hatch into tiny pinhead crickets. These are very delicate and can escape through any small gaps. I will explain how to look after them in the step by step guide below. These crickets then grow quite quickly into sub-adult, then adult crickets and the cycle starts over again. 


General care
Crickets need food, water and fresh air to survive. Crickets will eat almost anything but I will add a full list later in the guide. Water is also a must; whether it is from the food they eat, a moist stick or from a dish (never underestimate the ability of a hatchling cricket to drown). Tubs or other enclosures must be ventilated adequately. Humidity can be fatal for crickets as they come from arid areas. Also, and this is very important. KEEP YOUR COLONY DRY AT ALL COSTS! A damp colony is what you really want to steer clear of. They harbour all sorts of nasty bacteria but worst of all they really make it stink to high heaven. Foods containing a high proportion of water should be avoided or at least used reasonably as these will make droppings very wet and smelly. This attracts flies which can get out of control very quickly. 


The setup:

Ok, so first you want to ventilate your rubs or whatever you are using to house them. You can either: cut a large hole in the lid and replace it with mesh fixed on with a glue gun. Or use a large piece of fine netting or an old pair of tights, fixed over the top with an industrial elastic band. Do this for all of your tubs. You can leave them open top if they are tall enough but these take up a lot more space so it’s not really advisable. 

Prepare your eco earth or substrate; it needs to be moist but not saturated. This is then placed into the 5 empty cricket boxes with the holes seloptaped up. One of these goes into the adult tub straight away, the rest can be put aside until needed. I cycle my tubs removing them every 5 days and replacing them with a fresh one. Write on the lid when they were removed so you can tell when they will hatch. These are then best placed on top of or inside a vivarium to incubate.

Crickets can climb cardboard very easily and this allows a lot more space than it seems inside a small tank. 1 piece of egg carton can give 30cm square of space to climb on so several of these makes a huge amount more space for the crickets. Also loo roll tubes are great. Place as many as you see fit inside your tubs so the crickets have enough space. The more space there is for the crickets, the less chance there is of them eating each other. 

This is roughly what your setup should look like. Ignore what is inside my tubs as I put my reptile ones together as my crickets are in other odd containers. If you are using a heat mat, run it along the front under the incubation boxes and part of each larger rub:









The adult and sub-adult tubs are each side, hatchling rub on top and boxes incubating down the middle.
Food and water
Crickets eat almost anything but it is best to give them the most nutritious diet you can. Vegetable peelings, dark green veg leaves, celery leaves, apple/orange/banana slices are all very good. Also some sort of protein should be provided. I use crushed up dog biscuit with a little water added, you can also use meat scraps or a commercial dry cricket food. The food source should be changed regularly to prevent decomposition. If food is not readily available the crickets will start preying on smaller/weaker specimens and this is not pretty.

Heres some just hatched munching on some letuce, bran and carrot peelings:










For a water source there are several options. Adult crickets will normally gain all the moisture they need from eating fruit regularly and drinking droplets from the egg laying container. If you are using a dry food or think they are not getting enough then a small dish can be used. I use a bottle top blu-taced to the floor so it cannot be flipped; in this place a layer of gravel so the adults can climb out if they fall in. The water level should be just above the gravel.










This is also ok for sub adult crickets; however hatchling and young crickets drown VERY easily. They will drown in single drops of water and even condensation that forms on the inside of the laying tub if they are not removed soon enough. For crickets I roll some paper towel around a pencil, moisten it and balance it between 2 bits of card. They can then drink from it without drowning. 











Step by step guide:
This section is what to doin order and great depth from start to finish. 


STEP 1-Day 1: Start by taking one of your 18 litre ventilated rubs. In one corner place one of your cricket tubs filled with substrate with the lid removed. I don’t like sand as it dries out too fast. Moist eco-earth is best as it is easy for them to dig in. It should be slightly compressed to give a firm-ish layer on top. In the opposite corner place a cricket tub lid/food dish of some sort. This is where you put all of your food to keep the mess in 1 place and therefore saving time on cleaning. Add a water dish if you are using one and then place cardboard tubes/crates in the rest of the space. You can then add your crickets. 

My adult tank: an old 35cm cube glass aquarium with netting on top:











An egg laying tub being used by some females:










Replace the food regularly and clear any dead crickets you see. If a lot seem to have wounds add more card to give them more space. You will see the females pushing their egg tubes into the substrate of the laying tub, this is them laying eggs. Keep the tub moist but not too wet. I just take mine out and give it a quick spray every couple of days. 


STEP 2 – Day 5: On the 5th day it is time to rotate the laying boxes. Remove any adults from the tub and place the lid on it. Next, date it and put it somewhere warm and out of the way. Mine just goes on the end of a heat mat. It will take 10-15 days before hatchlings will emerge so check it regularly around this time. Put in a fresh laying tub and take out any waste you see. Easy peasy J.


STEP 3- Day 15: 10 days after you took out your first egg laying tub you can expect to see your first few hatchling crickets. There will literally be only a few to start with. If there is a lot of condensation on the inside, wipe it off and make some holes in the tub lid with a VERY small needle. Continue to replace the laying tubs every 5 days.


STEP 4- Day 17: Around this time the masses of baby crickets will start emerging. You can now place the laying tub into your hatchling rub (the 9 litre one) and remove the lid to led them crawl out. Add some cardboard and a pencil with moist paper on for water as described above. Small amounts of food should be place under the cardboard as these crickets will rarely eat in broad daylight. If the babies are having trouble getting out of the original tub make a small cardboard ramp to help them. 

Heres a pic of some babys starting to emerge. This is when i move them to the hatchling rub. 










And my hatchling rub after removing the egg laying tub:










STEP 5- Day 20: It’s time to say bye to your adult crickets as they will be reaching the end of their life cycle soon, if not already. It is worth feeding them to your reptiles at this point as they have done their job. You should have had 4 boxes of eggs which will be the roots of your future colony. Over the next few weeks you may need to buy additional live food to feed your reptiles while these establish. However do not fear, you will soon have very many =D. Keep adding your new baby crickets to the hatchling rub as they emerge. They will stay here until around 2 weeks old. 


STEP 6 - Day 30: As your first hatchlings reach 2 weeks old you will start seeing a noticeable difference between the size of them, and the new babies you are adding. This is when I start to move the larger ones into the sub-adult rub as they may start preying on the smaller ones. This is best done by picking up each bit of card and blowing gently over the small rub. This will get rid of the lighter little ones and you can then shake the larger crickets into the 18l sub-adult rub. The separating doesn’t need to be too precise as long as the majority of larger specimens are moved. It should only take 5 mins to do it every few days or so. Do this regularly when you feel there are too many larger crickets in the 9 litre rub. 


STEP 7- Day 50: All your eggs should now have hatched so you can put the tubs out of the way for a while. You should have a large amount of larger sub-adult crickets around 4-5 weeks old which will be maturing shortly, and a tub of slightly smaller hatchlings in the 9 litre rub, these will be 2-4 weeks old. It’s time to move the larger specimens up again. So move the largest specimens from the sub-adult rub into the adult one. And then the larger hatchlings into the sub-adult rub. 

Place a new egg laying tub into the adult rub and within a week the first adults will start laying their eggs again. Here you are back where you started. Probably with a lot more crickets than you began with. So you can now start to take crickets from the tubs depending on what size you need. Don’t take too many as it’s a pain to have to start again but as long as you have more than the 3 tubs of adults you started with the colony will continue easily. Continue the cycle of moving up crickets when they are larger than the average for that rub and make sure the hatchling tub is empty after each generation of adults have passed, ready for the next. 


Cleaning
Cleaning is a lot simpler than it seems. Once a month or so you will see the muck starting to build up and this is when it needs a quick scrub. Get a spare rub/tub/bin or something to hold the crickets temporarily. Shake out all the crickets into it. Then give it a quick scrub with a sponge and some disinfectant and replace the cardboard. Whack the crickets back in and good as new. Then do this for the other tubs one at a time. 




So there you have it. That’s everything I can think of now but I hope that makes it nice and clear. Here is a short overview of the basics.
1. Add first adult crickets into container. Wait for eggs.
2. Cycle egg containers every 5 days and keep heated if possibly. 
3. Move hatchling tubs into hatchling rub when they hatch so the babies have more space. 
4. Move the first larger hatchling crickets into the sub-adult tub by blowing gently. Continue to add the babies to hatchling rub when they start to emerge. 
5. Keep moving up the larger crickets to prevent cannibalism. At 4-5 weeks move larger specimens into the now empty adult tub. Add new egg laying tub. 
6. Make sure hatchling rub is empty by the time new babies start arriving. 
7. Keep cycling the egg laying tubs every 5 days and move the crickets into the next size tub when needed. 
8. Clean when it starts to smell or look dirty
9. Make sure your reptiles enjoy their nom noms. 


Hope this has helped  I was bored. Got a few more bits to add but I’ll take some more pics to illustrate first.


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## eddygecko

Here’s the setup I use:









Adult tub on the left, incubating tubs down the middle and hatchling tub on the right. The shelf below is heated so these are at around 80 degrees F. My sub-adult tub is in another room, it is an 18l rub the same setup as the adults but without a laying tub. I take almost all the crickets I need from the sub-adult tub before they lay so i'm not over run with babies each time.


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## Tehanu

"But which one is best??? There's only one way to find out... FIIIIIGHT!"



http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/foru...careguides-black-crix-silent.html#post4335406


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## KarlW

What do you use to cover the top of the hatchling tub to stop them escaping?


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## Blaptica

I would be curious to know how sucessful your colonies are. If you started with say 100 adult crickets, if you raised all the babies to adults that you bred from these, how many would you ROUGHLY end up with ? 

Or to put it another way if you start with one box full of adult crickets, how many boxes would you have in the second generation raised to adults ?

I am trying again with these species after finding I was losing too many in the early stages.


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## eddygecko

I do not cover the top of my hatchling tub as the sides are high enough that they can't jump out. However if you are using a rub just use very fine mesh or netting that is secured but easy to remove. 

And im not sure about from 100 but from 3 boxes of adult crickets you could probably expect around 2000-3000 baby crickets to hatch. The amount that survive to adulthood varys greatly depending on how efficient you are at cleaning. And also how many spare tubs you have to house them, as if you are going to try and raise them all you will need more space. I usually keep around 400 adults in the breeding tub and as many as i can humanely fit into the sub adult tub when im at full capaticity. If you only need a few crickets, obviously dont let all the eggs hatch. You can kill them by freezing the ones you dont' want.


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## Blaptica

Getting them to hatch is not the problem. Its raising thousands of babies to adults, thats more difficult. I find mortality before adulthood is high. I seem to be doing better this time round with more eggcrate provided, so I will have to see if that solves the problem. 

Thanks for ideas above.


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## eddygecko

Blaptica said:


> Getting them to hatch is not the problem. Its raising thousands of babies to adults, thats more difficult. I find mortality before adulthood is high. I seem to be doing better this time round with more eggcrate provided, so I will have to see if that solves the problem.
> 
> Thanks for ideas above.


Yeah i must admit i found that when first starting up, thats why i starting using a sub-adult tub. This is just compltely filled with cardboard egg box bits and a small area for food to give the most space possible.


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## goodwin1234

This help me out loads, cheers: victory:


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## Scordicus

eddygecko,

This is a great tutorial & I've just started out breeding them because of it, just one question tho - why cover over the holes on the side of the egg laying boxes? Is this just to keep the humidity in?!? Or for some other reason?!?


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