bredding crickets

[adam woods]

what do you think about breeding crickets?
i am getting a sling next week and i do not want to keep buying crickets. i was thinking if i bred them i would save money but how easy are they to breed?

[Jimmy Dale]

Adam, crickets are very easy to breed but most people agree that it is not worth the effort. To get pinhead (baby) crickets all you need to do is buy a box of adult crickets (with wings) and remove the females, the fat ones with ovipositors (long stick poking out of their back ends). Place them in another clean cricket box lined with a thick layer of moist kitchen roll. they will lay eggs almost instantly, then you just need to wait for them to hatch. baby crickets will eat small peices of carrot and powdered good quality dog biscuit. It is important to feed them on a quality diet as this nourishment will be passed onto your slings. good luck.

oh yeah - you might want to buy some sticky cockroach traps too.

[Colin D Wilson]

The main point Jimmy makes about it not being worth breeding is valid in my opinion if you only have one sling.
The hassle of keeping several tubs with varying stages of cricket development is a bind (unless you turn this into a hobby too)
One tub of micro crickets will cost you around £2.50 (ish) and there's literally hundreds in there, give them a little food and they'll last for ages.

[adam woods]

i was jjst asking to see if it would be worth it but now i know i think i will buy them lol

Thank you for you answers

[Mark Pajak]

there's literally hundreds in there, give them a little food and they'll last for ages.

Here here! I found this out the hard way when I accidentally knocked their plastic tub over and my whole carpet got invaded. I gave up trying to catch most of them because they just kept on coming! Luckily they don't seem to be capable of surving loose in my house - there must be enough loose spiders to take care of them.