Breeding crickets as food, help please - Paw Talk

shinystar · #1 03-22-2008, 12:15 PM

We feed our chamelion crickets and he will probably progress to locusts when he is an adult, they are quite expensive. Now while I would happily keep paying if it's the only way to get them, I wondered if it's possible to keep a load and let them breed? If anyone knows if it's possible and how to do it I would be most greatful, ta!

allstar2 · #2 03-22-2008, 05:02 PM

They like those toilet paper rolls, and egg cartons. You can get food for them, and water. I have a 30 gallon tank I don't use, and have like 500 crickets in there for my Bearded Dragon, and soon to be Veiled Chameleons and Green Anoles lunches too.

Chinchi · #3 03-22-2008, 07:00 PM

Why not use grashoppers or carcroaches instead?
They do not make that terrible noice...

shinystar · #4 03-22-2008, 07:01 PM

Thanks. We have an old fishtank knocking around in the garage, will clean it up and see if the crickets get on alright in there. It would save us a fortune, at the moment it's costing us about five quid a week to feed him and he's only little!

Padfoot · #5 03-25-2008, 08:19 PM

I used to buy crickets in groups of 500 for Cleo (leopard gecko). What I did is I kept them on a 30g plastic bin with a screen top. I put inside a tupperare bowl with dirt (I used the lid on and punched a hole on the side)and sprayed it with a bit of water every day. The crickets would lay their eggs in there and I would have a supply of crickets for several months.

However, Cleo eats less crickets than a chamaleon would, so maybe you'll still need to buy, but at least it'll be less as you have some breeding going on. Good luck!

halfwaynowhere · #6 04-22-2008, 05:51 PM

roaches are better. They have more meat to them, and are more nutritious than crickets. They don't stink, they don't chirp, they don't have a high mortality rate like crickets do. If you are content with just buying food, crickets are fine, but if you plan to keep them in your house, you might want to spare some sanity, and go with roaches. It may sound gross, but there are several species of roaches that do great in feeder colonies, and won't infest your house if they get loose.

shinystar · #7 04-23-2008, 01:58 PM

Hee hee, cockroaches aren't gross, I have five pet ones! I thought tho that the tough outer shell of a cockroach could be harmful to his insides, they don't look too easy to digest to me. We get silent crickets, they are ok but yes we do end up with a few dead ones in the bottom of the tub despite feeding and watering them each day. I will do some more research into the matter however as if cockroaches are good nutritionally then I'd certainly give them a go, cheers!