Is this cricket enclosure okay?

[kookamonga]

Hello I'm quite new to breeding crickets but I'd thought it'd be cool to do since I have some (toads?) and mantis's. I used the link http://skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/ that I found in another person's post about how to start it up. I was just wondering if anyone can tell me if anything is wrong or potential dangers?

The red cup is the water feeder and the green cup has the food (dried dog food/mashed potatoes/mesa/oatmeal) finely mashed together. Got some cardboard on the sides of the soil so I the crickets can climb in/out when they need to. I have about 30 large crickets/30 medium crickets inside it. Just bought them yesterday for 4 dollars. Any help would be much appreciated , thanks :>.

My primary concern is that it isn't tall enough. 11 inches tall, 13 wide, 18 long.

 

[massaman]

well it looks ok but my set up is far more simplier with just a tupperware container and some egg cartons for the crickets and some veggies to feed them but I dont breed crickets and since this forum is more on mantis breeding and caring and such there may be more people able to give their points of view as well!

 

[Rick]

It will work. Once they lay eggs in the tub you may want to remove it after a few days to its own enclosure. Make that your pinhead enclosure. Put a low wattage lamp over it and keep it moist. The eggs usually take a week or so. May I also suggest putting a half inch of plain dry oatmeal in the bottom of the adult enclosure as a substtrate. It will help them walk across the smooth surface and they also snack on it. Also I would turn the cardboard tubes on their sides. Make sure they can crawl up the cardboard ramps to lay their eggs. That looks like it might be too smooth but if they can walk up it you can leave it be.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Like Rick says. A good alternative to the soil, and much easier to handle, is florists' foam, those usually green blocks that florists make arrangements on. If you weight it down and cover it with water, it will become completely waterlogged in a cuppla days and you can put chunks in the enclosure, replace them every days - week and hatch the eggs elsewhere.

 

[Rick]

I've also used the coco fiber/eco earth/bed a beast stuff for egg laying.