Housing:
You can keep 500 crix in a 10
gallon tank (with cover). There are three groups: Hatchling, Feeders,
and Breeders.
If you can buy 500, go by this:
Buy
500 LARGE. Put them all in the 10 gallon tank with a
couple toilet paper rolls and a roughly 3''x5'' Tupperware bowl filled
with peat moss. This is because if you have no other substrate, they
will be forced to lay eggs in the only soil you have. This way, it's
easier for you to take it out and move it to the hatchling tank.
Hatchling Tank:
This can be anything from 5-10 gallons.
Put the bowl of moss in the tank with some paper towels or something
leaning out of the bowl so they have something to climb out by. Put some
cardboard egg-carton things in there and keep it in a dark place and
spray soil once a day. After they hatch and grow for maybe 2 days, move
them to the feeding tank.
Feeding Tank:
This also needs the egg-board stuff. Pick
the biggest to feed to your reptile and when your breeder tank runs low,
replenish it with this stock.
Sexing:
The females will have large black line things
coming out of their behind which they use to transfer their eggs into
the soil. To know if they are old enough, this thing must be about half
and inch long. The males are ready to mate when they've been chirping
for about a week or two.
Food:
Just just ground chicken food for your staple diet-
don't waste money on "cricket gut-load". If you think about it, how much
nutrition do you really think they can harness in their tiny stomachs?
Not enough to matter. As long as you dust them, that's all they will
need. Also, chicken food is actually pretty nutritious anyway, so it's
not like you're feeding them candy. If you can't buy this you can use
any fruits and vegetables and potatoes work very well - they have high
water content. Make sure you have enough food in every cage.
Water:
To prevent the act of them trying to swim and you
ending up with more dead crickets, use a wet sponge. Just pour some
water on it every day. This should be in every cage also.
