Posted by leopard_man on January 30, 2003 at 19:15:06:
In Reply to: Re: Not another one...... posted by genious_gr on January 30, 2003 at 14:55:34:
:::Hi,
:::I keep finding dead crickets and I don't know what wrong... I give 'em food, a slice of orange, high temperature, egg cartons to hide.... but everyday I find at least one dead and I'm afraid they'll all have died before thay lay some eggs ( they r 2 young so far) Any ideas on what could be wrong???
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::Hey there. I'm going to tell you what your problem is. CRICKETS DIE SOOOO FAST NO MATTER HOW YOU KEEP THEM!! I get just as mad as you when I go into the cricket tank everyday and find the bottom littered with dead crix. Just about a week ago I bought 40 crix from the petstore (mixture between medium and adult) and only maybe 5 have died on me. I keep them in a 3 gallon aquarium with two sheets of paper towel on the bottom and I cover the paper towel with oatmeal. I then fold a cleenex and put two slices of orange on this and change it every two days. I also have some egg carton for them to hide in and they seem to live for a while in this environment. As to breeding them I was in your shoes about 1 month ago asking questions about breeding and finally a week and half ago I had baby crix :). I do recommend breeding them because I have sooooooo many babies and it saves you a lot of money. The first thing I would recommend is going to the pet store and buying 12 adult crickets. The females will have 3 little spickes coming out of their ass and the males only have 2. I put a little platic contaier in with them and I had 1 inch of it filled with bacteria free soil. You have to keep the soil moist and within two days I can guarantee you there will be 100's - 1000's of cricket eggs in there. After 2 days I removed the container and put the lid on with a small air hole. I placed a 60 watt light over the container but not tooo close, i just wanted to keep it warm. Every 1 to 2 days I would remove the lid and mist it a bit more to make sure it was moist. If it dries out the eggs are history but make sure it isnt too moist also or the eggs will drown. I began to loose hope about 1 week and a half later but exactly 14 days after the eggs were laid, I saw tiny little crix running aroud in the soil. The key is to not loose hope and keep the soil moist. You will also need adult crix and don't worry if they die because once they lay the eggs they die. Hope this helps and I hope you realize this took me about 10 minutes to type!! ;) Please reply to let me know you got this post and I will be glad to answer any further questions. Keith.
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:Many thanks... the ones I have know, are too young to lay eggs so I'll have to wait a bit before I put in the soil...since I posted I've only found 3-4 dead ones and I've also found some skins so they are molting witch is good right???
:When the eggs hatch, you feed the babies like the adults right???
Yes, it is good that they are molting. Im glad that they are living a bit better but I recommend that you don't try to raise them util they are bigger, I just suggest going to the pet store and getting 12 huge-adult crickets cause that's only like $1. It is going to be too hard to raise them until they are old enough to layt eggs and if you just get a few adults you can just feed them after they have laid-- its much easier. As for the babies I am rasing mine on oatmeal bedding, with some rasin bran and cornflakes mixed in, and in two dishes on each side I have a slice of orange, potatoe and lettuce. I aslo keep a egg carton thingy in their and this is where most of them hide. The only major difference with the babies is that heat is very important to them so you need to place the container on a heat pad or place a light over the tank to keep them warm enough. My baby crix are almost two weeks old now and they have grown 4 times their origial size :)!! Hope this helps, good luck!!
Keith
