OK...first of all, let me say I'm one of the least "girly girls" I know. I have a Roach phobia though. (SHIVERS). I have 4 herps that eat crickets in their staple diet, and 3 that take them as an occasional snack. I was spending nearly $60 a month (3 dozen crickets every 3-4 days) plus a tub of 50 superworms every 2 weeks. I decided to order bulk from Flukerfarms.com. I got 1000 crickets and 500 superworms. (With overnight shipping it came to about $50).

The worms were no big deal...I opened the box and dumped them in an unused 10 gal tank...life's good...

The crickets...EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I HATE HATE HATE crickets. lol I don't know if it's because the remind me of roaches or what. I could NOT stick my hand in the box to pull out the egg crates. Every time one would jump on me I would cringe. I rigged the box and cut off one of the ends and sort of dumped the crickets into another 10 gal tank I had available. I took out the egg crates and placed them standing up in the tank.

I stood in my animal's room in horror. I now have 1500 creepy crawlies!!! BLUH! As much as I don't like the crickets, I know I have to suck it up for my babies...they depend on me, so I'm learning to cope with my "(?) fear (?)". If I wanted to start a colony, what would be the best way to do that? I currently have papertowels as the substrate. I have a dish with Flukers cricket gut loading meal, a dish with Flukers Thirst Quencher, and another dish that has the same salad that I feed my Uros and Bearded Dragons. I sprinkled some calcium powder on the veggies, and the crickets love it! I spent about 20 minutes just laying on the floor and watching them. I guess it'll be the only way to conquer my ick of crickets. Anyway, so I would like some advice on starting a colony, for BOTH the crickets and superworms.

Keeping and Breeding Superworms - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database
Keeping and Breeding Crickets - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

That was just about my reaction when I got my first order of crickets. I'm immune to them now.

Here are some hints.

Get your self a large rubber maid storage tote. Make sure its the kind with the super slippery sides. The crickets won't be able to climb up. This means you won't need a lid and it will help with the smell. 10 gallons isn't big enough for 1500 crickets! *note* Wedge the container so it can't tip. I had and one of my cats knock it over when I left on vacation. If you don't like crickets, imagine 500 of them loose in your house!

Oh yeah, did you know crickets smell? If you don't you will find out soon enough. To help with the smell, take a shop light with a 40 - 60 watt incandescent bulb and put it on a 12 on/off timer. The drying heat will help with the smell. Plus the crickets will bask in the light.

Ditch the gut load. Feed your crickets lots of fruits and veggie scraps, and a few chunks of cat/dog kibble. Be sure to offer them water too. Note, crickets are stupid and will drown. What you feed your crickets is what you are feeding your animals! *hint* if you have an animal with orange colors, feeding sweet potatoes and carrots to your crickets will bring out the oranges. Last night I made a new cricket salad that consisted of collard greens, scrap of green pepper, few chunks of sweet potato, half an apple and some kibble. I'll have to replace once every 3 days (if there is anything left of it). It costs me roughly $5 a month to feed the crickets.

DO NOT feed your crickets calcium unless you want them dying an early death.

I never reach in and pull out he crickets. Open box, dump. Then I pull out the shipping potatoes and add a few clean egg crates.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Wow, I didn't know about the calcium. What's the reason for that? I have them in a 10gallon tank with 2 large eggcrates (1000 crickets). You don't think that's big enough?? ****. Well, it's my first bunch, so hopefully I'll go pro after a few. I DO know they smell, trust me. BLEH. I considered putting the tank outside (in some shade). No? Geeze...I should have done more research. Hopefully I can go through these pretty quick...

Last night I threw in some left over Bearded Dragon / Uro salad that consists of collards, baby spinach, squash, small pieces of grape, and I threw in some large apple chunks. Whats the reason for throwing out the cricket gutload stuff? I feel like a dork. lol

For the crickets I'd use a large rubbermaid container. Leave the lid off and cut some screen into the side(metal screen). They won't last as long in a small container.
Put a clamp lamp on the lip and a low wattage bulb as Liz said. It will keep them drier. The buildup of moisture is what's causing the smell.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

So cut a large piece out of the container and replace it with screen? Is this mostly for ventilation to prevent odor? (They don't smell yet, but in 2 or 3 days, I'm sure it'll be horrible).

I have no screen on my cricket bin, but it's also in the basement away from everything.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Yeah, just cut a square out of the side. Around 8-10" is fine. Hot glue some metal mesh over the hole. It will create air flow through the top.
Also make note that all crickets are not created equal. If you have too many die, I would try a different source.
One source I have usually only ends with less than a dozen dead out of a thousand. It's worth paying a little more for those.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

I've gotten a lot of great ideas and with the caresheets that Merlin posted, I'll have this going in NO time! Thank you all guys. Brilliance! It's nice to come somewhere that I don't get the strange looks. lol Most people are like...you have a serious problem. lol

You should see the look from the shipping department at work when my crickets come in!

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.