# So Frustrated



## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

For some reason i'm just not able to breed the black or brown crickets.
I've done all of the following: used a heat mat, had up to 60 crickets at 
1 time [about 40 females and 20 males], used sand, eco earth and soil as a laying substrate, tried putting mesh over the laying substrate, kept it not damp but moist, always used bug grub, bug gel and the occaisonal bit of potato or greens, never let too much waste build up, kept in an 18X10x12inch plenty ventilated container and finaly after a week and a bit I remove the laying container and placed it on top the heat mat for incubation. And for the 10th attempt this time I was delighted to find that .....nothing happend. I've read all the good sites on cricket husbendary and followed them rather closley but for me now failure has become common place. could anyone give me any tips on what to keep doing stop, doing and maybe some caresheets :2thumb: sorry about the long post it's just that if I can't do this I can't get anymore reps and if I can't get anymore reps I think i'm gonna:blowup: thanks


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## bezy bee (May 13, 2008)

dont know if it helps but we had the opp problem, our bd stopped eating her crickets (about a week) (was gravid) ahe finaly ate them then few weeks later we had 1000's of the little buggers, had to take every thing out the tank wash all the deco and change all the sand and there are still a few in there(not enought to bother the bd).

there is alway salad in the viv, so the shouldnt bother the bd and when big enought he will eat them 


so dont know what we did as there was only about 5 at most in tank and dont know if male or female


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

c'mon there's gotta be a simplier way... right:help:


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

Anyone?...bump


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

well i am breeding them at the min, havent had any eggs hatch yet but had loads of eggs laid. did yours lay and not hatch or just not lay?


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## vetdebbie (Jan 4, 2008)

I too am at the laying stage - first tub incubating at the mo. Have seen some clear tubey things on top of the sand tonight so am hoping......... will let you know although can't say i'm doing anything different.....


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

yeah debbie those are the eggs, i have loads, just got them keeping warm and damp at the mib. i think they take 2 weeks to hatch, i only had them there a few days so dunno if they will hatch. fingers crossed


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## Pliskens_Chains (Jun 8, 2008)

ive had crickets breed in my frogs tank before. the trick is heat humidity and mutiple food sources. they will eat fish flake for protein and potatoes for vits


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

well i have mine in a large storage type plastic box, with a food dish, water (soaked cotton wool) dish and a laying pit with damp playsand, i got 2 tubs of adult black crickets and set up the tub only yesterday. as soon as i put the crickets in, the females all went to the sand and the drinking bit with cotton wool and layed eggs. i sat watching them for half an hour and about 12-15 crix all sat laying eggs. then this morning i went to see them and the sand was full of eggs so i took the sand out and put in in a livefood box sprayed it a bit and put it on top of my viv so its nice and warm and humid for the eggs. they are laying again, every time i look at them theres at least 1 sitting laying. i keep them in the shed at the min with no extra heat, its about room temp at night n warmer thru the day cos of the sun, and they are very lively and eating and laying well. i will have to have a heat source over winter, but at the min the shed is fine. perhaps u could have it too hot for them, i dunno. maybe try them just at room temp.


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## vetdebbie (Jan 4, 2008)

bizarre thing is these eggs only appeared yesterday. they've been incubating for a week! obviously no crickets in there at the moment so not sure how they've got to the surface......


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

when the crickets are laying they poke thier ovipositor thinggy down and lay eggs, but keep laying them as they pull out. so usually get a few laid on the top from each cricket.


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## missk (Jan 14, 2008)

i tried to breed crickets and all i ended up with was a bad smell


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

yeah they do stink, i find its the egg box things, they get soiled very quickly, i change mine as soon as it starts smelling, usually about every week or so, helps quite a bit with the smell, n obviousley replace food daily.


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## Herp_boi (May 12, 2008)

bezy bee said:


> dont know if it helps but we had the opp problem, our bd stopped eating her crickets (about a week) (was gravid) ahe finaly ate them then few weeks later we had 1000's of the little buggers, had to take every thing out the tank wash all the deco and change all the sand and there are still a few in there(not enought to bother the bd).
> 
> there is alway salad in the viv, so the shouldnt bother the bd and when big enought he will eat them
> 
> ...


Happened to me with my ackies little babies everywere. But then i would try and breed them and rather unseccessfully they would breed but all die. :devil:


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## vetdebbie (Jan 4, 2008)

LauraMartin said:


> when the crickets are laying they poke thier ovipositor thinggy down and lay eggs, but keep laying them as they pull out. so usually get a few laid on the top from each cricket.


The point is this is the tub that has been out of the cricket house for a week, and the eggs weren't on top yesterday morning but yesterday evening they were. So no external influences around to move them. Which is a bit odd i find.


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

oh yeah that is odd, maybe they raise up somehow with the moisture or summit. i dunno, but good luck with them anyway, fingers crossed.


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

yeh, might try it at room temp like Lauramartin suggested bear in mind this would be my 12th attempt:lol:


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

reptile_dude said:


> yeh, might try it at room temp like Lauramartin suggested bear in mind this would be my 12th attempt:lol:


12th!! really?? hmm, well i hope it works out, im sure u have read numerous "how to" sheets, not sure what else to suggest, i just googled cricket breeding, followed the first one i found and so far so good. 

what are u using as an egg laying area? i noticed when i got my crickets a lot were already gravid and wouldnt lay, but as soon as they seen the wet playsand and the wet cotton wool (which i put in for drinking not laying) about 12 of them jumped staright on n started laying, so im thinking its possible that they wont lay on what u have, if its too dry? i basically soaked the sand then just poured off the excess water from the top, also the cotton wool was soaking too.


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

I'm using moist sand at the moment but have tried all sorts.
It would be cool if someone on here who has bred them could produce 
a good caresheet
I do wander how livefood companies can produce 1000s and we can't even hatch a 
few lol...I must find their secret!


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

yeah i always wonder that too, they must have some huge enclosures, and some pretty bad smells too :lol2:

if i manage to breed them well i will do a care sheet. if they dont hatch im just gonna buy more roaches and breed them more. they are so easy.


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

:2thumb::2thumb:


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## vetdebbie (Jan 4, 2008)

hang on I'll see if I can find the caresheet I was using........


Breeding and Raising the House Cricket


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

This is the most detailed I've found 

<U><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt">The Precise and Practical Guide to Breeding Black Crickets (_Gryllus bimaculatus_)


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

bump:no1:


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## vetdebbie (Jan 4, 2008)

well, not to rub it in, but my eggs have hatched - started last night and now there are already probably a hundred little ones running around. All done exactly by that caresheet I put up before. By the way, I did start off with a bulk bag of 1000 adult crickets though! And have just cleaned them out and after 3 weeks or so there are probably half or so left. I may need another injection of adults to keep it ticking!!


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

:-| :x


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## reptile_dude (May 31, 2008)

lucky u. I'm gonna give it a really good shot now, last ditch effort


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