• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Anyone Breeding their own Crickets?

O

Ophis

New member
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
Messages
859
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
56
Location
Here and there
I placed laying containers holding a damp 75/25 Vermiculite/Perlite mix into a cricket enclosure containing 250 1/2" crickets. Considering the size and quantity of the crickets in the enclosure, I have the following questions:

1) How long should I leave the containers in the enclosure.

2)How long after I remove the containers for incubation at 85 degrees F should I expect to see pinhead crickets hatch?
 
I raised them last year and will again very soon with all my new baby veileds growing fast so here is what I did:

I used vermiculite 3" deep in shoebox conatiners, they tend to borrow down some and that gives them some room.

I also covered the top of the vermiculite with burlap, to prevent them from eating the eggs

Then with 1/2" crix you will have to wait a bit til they are adults, I use full grown adults, 1000 in a 55 gallon tub and leave the containers in there for 3 days then put in new ones.

I take off the burlap and put on the shoebox lid with lots of airholes in the top then incubate at 90 and put in a few fake plant leaves on the top of each conatiner so they can have something to climb out on and in about 10 days you have tons of pins, then just take out the containers and put them in the raising tub.

The easier way I found to incubate is in a large rubbermaid tub with a heating pad under it with a termostat set on 90 or outside in natural heat (outside did the best) When using the tub, I put the pad under the tub, then put a few empty sandiwch sized containers on the bottom and sat the egg tubs on top of those so it didn't cook them with direct heat.

As soon as I put them in the raising tub I take off all of the lids and use total cricket diet, they tended to drown on cricket crystals until they are larger and to TCD gutlaods and waters in a harder gel form so they don't drown.

Hope that helps some!
 
I'm not calling you stupid but if you don't already know, an adult cricket has wings. Not everyone knows this. Heck even the person who answers the phone at Timberline Crickets doesn't know this.

We order 3000 prewing crickets every week. They keep sending adult crickets. Finally got tired of it and called them. I asked the lady why they keep sending us adult crickets when we order prewing. She actually said, "How do you know they are adults?" What a ditzy person to have answering the phone. Maybe she was just questioning me to see if I actually knew what an adult cricket looks like, who knows.
 
Karen, I don't think you are calling anyone stupid lol not even sure what brought that up but yes I do know that adult crix have wings, when I buy them for my adult veileds and for breeding I buy full grown winged adult crickets.
 
I meant that post for Ophis since he didn't buy adult crix to start with. Sometimes when you post something it comes off sounding bad when you're trying to be informative. That's why I said that.
 
No problem at all, I know you are always very nice in your post and figured I took it wrong and I know that you are dealing with some not so intelligent people on other threads Ive been reading lol

Also if you are having problems with timberline, try ghanns or premiumcrickets, Ive never had problems with either of them sending me to small for my 1/4" or adults for my 3/4" or prewinged.
 
Also just incase Ophis didn't know. Once you have pinheads, stop putting adults in the tank to keep breeding. The adults WILL eat the pinheads.
 
... chiming in here with a question. Every time I've tried breeding crix, the lay boxes get totally moldy and mostly the eggs dont hatch. I try more ventilation and the egg substrate dries out and mostly the eggs dont hatch. How do you prevent the mold?
 
Yeah, thats why I put egg lay containers in the adults tub then move the egg boxes to an incubation tub then move them to a raising tub, well all of that is in the long post above lol
 
Wendy, I do move em to a separate tub for hatching.... that is where the mold commences... :( I suck.
 
I only had a mold problem a very few times and it was usually when I left the egg lay box in with the adults for too long and they pooped in it. I had a guy (sorry I don't remember who) from FL tell me how to breed the crix and he said to move the box after 3 days and put the lid on the shoebox with lots of airholes to incubate, the airholes let out some of the excess moisture without allowing the vermiculite to dry out.

Im hoping to have good luck with the crix again this year, I still have all of my breeder tubs but stopped breeding them when I sold my adult veileds in Sept last year but now I have 50+ babies and want to keep 20 of the females so I will have to breed crix again very soon to be able to keep them.
 
Do you use burlap on the top of the egg lay box when they are laying? I use that then take it off when I go to incubate, maybe that takes off any goop that would cause the mold?

Hey I sucked at it for over a year and gave up then had some great help and advise with it!
 
ok I will try burlap. Ophis, sorry if I seem to have hijacked your thread. But you know, its all about me :p

So where does one buy burlap?
 
I get it at Walmart, I get the open weave burlap (yes Im a sewing person) but Ill take a pic for you tomorrow, everyone but me is in bed lol

Its about 80 cents a yard so its not that expensive and once I use it in one box I wash it int he sink and reuse it for the new ones.
 
cool! this could save me a lot of $$ if I can make it work (finally) Thanks!
 
With all of this breeding work does it actually save money? Seems like a lot of work considering how cheap it is to buy them. In one breeding tub how many are produced each time?
 
To me it saves alot but I only feed crix to my chameleons I haev 50+ baby veileds right now and they are eating 3000 crix a week as as they get older they will eat even more. I plan to set up my breeder tubs today acutally and should have done it when they hacthed last month.

I guess it depends on how many reptiles you are feeding on if its worth it to get free crix or not. From just a dozen adult crix you will get several thousand pins, but to have enough to raise up and feed out to alot of reptiles at the same time I use 1000 to start the breeding, then I can feed them out as they breed and get the eggs too.


Here is a pic of the burlap, I thougth I still had some but I can't find it lol
http://www.looseends.com/cgi-bin/showitem.pl?ProductId=50502
 
Karen Hulvey said:
I meant that post for Ophis since he didn't buy adult crix to start with. Sometimes when you post something it comes off sounding bad when you're trying to be informative. That's why I said that.
Click to expand...

I do know the diff between an adult and a 1/2" cricket. I started out with 1/2" crickets because I am using them as feeders as well and need to start with 1/2" crickets to make full use of the quantity I bought in relation to how many crickets I am feeding per day vs the life span of the crickets.

I think this may be a mistake however, because by the time they reach maturity, there won't be many left to breed and lay eggs. Maybe I should just get 1000 adults and use them strictly as breeders untill they kick off.

P.S. I hate crickets!
 
I hate crickets too!

I bred fire belly toads once. There were 142 good babies. It was more economical to breed my own crickets than buy them. Those little guys can go through an astronomical amount of crickets.
 
yep I hate crickets too, thats actually why I sold my breeder veileds, my panthers, and got all of my leos switched over to mealies with only cirx 1-2 times a week.

But when these dag on veiled eggs hatched I fell in love with the little buggers all over again and want to keep a lot of htem bad enough to go threw the crix again. I do have a spare room in the basement so its easier for me and no stink upstairs but still, crix are nasty, a pain in the butt and I hate them lol

Depending on what you need to feed out you could get 500 10% winged and they would lay pretty quickly, I just go threw so many with my veileds that I go with 1000 to start the colonies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top