# Help with crickets...



## MingMing (Jun 29, 2009)

Helloooooooooooo, well Yesterday I bought some cricket warms (?) but i got no idea what i ahve to do... should i add some water? to make the dirt wet or should i add maybe mmm i dont know... stuff with protein? I got no idea what to do with them... does any of you guys breed crickets or know what to do once you got some cricket warms ready? or how long should i wait?


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 29, 2009)

Hey Ming Ming! I think you mean cricket eggs (huevos, or is that only chicken eggs?). Here's a site that might help,

http://skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/, but I'm sure that when Rick comes on, he'll have lots of good advice for you. I don't think that that site gives the time from when the eggs are laid to when they hatch. It's about a week to ten days depending on how warm you keep them. Good luck!


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## MingMing (Jun 29, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Hey Ming Ming! I think you mean cricket eggs (huevos, or is that only chicken eggs?). Here's a site that might help,http://skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/, but I'm sure that when Rick comes on, he'll have lots of good advice for you. I don't think that that site gives the time from when the eggs are laid to when they hatch. It's about a week to ten days depending on how warm you keep them. Good luck!


Whoha... that site was really helpfull  thanks Phill I had no idea the dirt have to be kept so humid...

I just did everything that is said in there... but I still have another doubt. I put on some water around 10 mins ago and there are already some "brave" eggs or warms (they look more like warms to me) on the top of the tupper and they just keep going up and out of the dirt, should i just leave them or put them back in the humid dirt?

Im using stolen food from my dog and instead polen.... is that ok? it says nothing about the feeding... :S


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 30, 2009)

ming ming said:


> Whoha... that site was really helpfull  thanks Phill I had no idea the dirt have to be kept so humid... I just did everything that is said in there... but I still have another doubt. I put on some water around 10 mins ago and there are already some "brave" eggs or warms (they look more like warms to me) on the top of the tupper and they just keep going up and out of the dirt, should i just leave them or put them back in the humid dirt?
> 
> Im using stolen food from my dog and instead polen.... is that ok? it says nothing about the feeding... :S


I'm never surprised that things are going well for you, Ming Ming, you always seem to win out somehow!  

It's hard to tell without pix, but I wonder if Los Huevos Valientes aren't newly hatched crix. Remember that the dirt (substrate) should only be moist (humedo) not wet enough to drown the poor little buggers (hombres!). Eggs may get floated out by too much water, but if they are moving on their own, they have hatched. Felicitacion mamasita!

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "stolen food from my dog and instead polen," though I _always_ steal my dog's food while he is sleeping, otherwise he tries to bite my hand. You can feed your babies on oatmeal, and if you are feeling very motherly, you can feed the newly hatched ones on baby food oatmeal that comes in those little jars. Here's a pic to give you the idea: http://www.manbottle.com/picture_library/mexican_baby_food

Good luck, and keep us up to date on your adventures!


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

1.- Thanks for the pic haha, Gerbers here looks exactly like that... or alike...

2.- Why the heck would I want to spoil my mantis food? Its like... breeding chickens, spoiling them, then just killing them and make soup with them... its cruel  They should realise from the very begining they are only food.

3.-I meant that instead of investing any money on crixs special food im stealing 30 pieces a week of my dogs food  or at least I tried to say something like that. I know my english is retard, but I try my best


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 30, 2009)

ming ming said:


> 1.- Thanks for the pic haha, Gerbers here looks exactly like that... or alike...2.- Why the heck would I want to spoil my mantis food? Its like... breeding chickens, spoiling them, then just killing them and make soup with them... its cruel  They should realise from the very begining they are only food.
> 
> 3.-I meant that instead of investing any money on crixs special food im stealing 30 pieces a week of my dogs food  or at least I tried to say something like that. I know my english is retard, but I try my best


Yeah, that's fine for the bigger ones, but oatmeal (the cheap, regular kind) might be easier to manage for the first instar nymphs. You feed them fruit and veggies, too, right, for moisture? I wasn't suggesting that you give them names or anything  :lol:


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## Katnapper (Jun 30, 2009)

I would crush the dog food for them, ming ming.


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

Yep, I give them lettuce, carriots and potatoes Kat, not sure if thats enough for them? sometimes i give them also apples and a tiny piece of orange... when they are lucky  mmm maybe something like chicken food or rabbit food instead of dog food?

Oh I dont have any big crickets... all my crickets are either eggs and warms ( 5 days old ) or 2 day old crixs... they look like tiny ants....


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## Katnapper (Jun 30, 2009)

It sounds like you are feeding them just fine! Good choices for food.


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

merci... I was checking on the crickets a sec ago and well the "eggs" or "warms whatever they are, are gigantic... compared to the mini crickets I used to buy... probably twice or even 3 times the size of the crickets.... is that normal???????????? Im trying to find the charger of my good pro cam but i cant find it, and I only got a stupid digital samsung that refuses to cooperate so its taking me a while to post pics, as soon as I can Ill post some


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## Katnapper (Jun 30, 2009)

Instead of "eggs" or "warms," I'd just call them "baby crickets!"  Hey, here is a link to my cricket breeding set-up, if you'd like to see it. There are some pics in there of the baby crickets taken with a macro lens. They are very tiny, but with the macro lens you can see them much better! http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?au...d=30&amp;cat=23


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## Katnapper (Jun 30, 2009)

Ahhhh!!!!




I think I know what you are talking about now! Do house flies get into your cricket bins? I'm thinking what you are seeing are house fly maggots. I've had a problem with them in my containers of sand. The flies lay their eggs in the sand. And when you mist or add water to the sand to keep the cricket eggs moist, or to give the baby crickets a drink, the fly larvae (they look like short, white/cream colored worms) come up to avoid drowning. What do you think? See here: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/u...house_fly01.htm


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 30, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Ahhhh!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I think I know what you are talking about now! Do house flies get into your cricket bins? I'm thinking what you are seeing are house fly maggots. I've had a problem with them in my containers of sand. The flies lay their eggs in the sand. And when you mist or add water to the sand to keep the cricket eggs moist, or to give the baby crickets a drink, the fly larvae (they look like short, white/cream colored worms) come up to avoid drowning. What do you think? See here: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/u...house_fly01.htm


I bet you're right Katt! Do they have wiggly noses and tiny black eyes, Ming Ming? They could be the maggots of phorid flies, too.


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

Oh oh... ok found the charger, I was taking pics minutes ago, im posting them now... :S hope they are not flies... God, im sorry to say this but appart from mantis and butterflies I friking hate insects lol, I was so not made for this....

- okay I reject saying I hate buggs, I just dont like some of them... the ones that love dirt or poo or anything like it. Im not a fan of coachroaches, or flies or crickets but here I am doing this for the mantis. I dont mind doing this but after trying ff that cant fly, normal flies or buying hydei and getting just a mix of dead larvae Im getting annoyed, im desperate. I found a good cricket provider but he sold me this bunch of dirt with cricket larvae on it... I had no clue the larvae was from flies... This morning I even though I was over feeding all of them...

Sorry for saying I hate insects.


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

ok ok here is the link for the crixs stuff, the warms and a pic of the baby crixs next a needle... hope it works :S


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

sorry, the link  

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?au...um&amp;album=98


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 30, 2009)

Yay! Great pix! Katt was right, those are almost certainly housefly maggots. See how they wiggle their noses?

Actually, this is good news. When you added the water yesterday, you forced them to the surface. Each maggot is a full meal for a happy mantis nymph! Don't think of them as insects, but "meals on legs!" They are not slimy and nasty, so you can pick them out and put them in a regular deli pot with a little moist (not wet) paper towelling. The maggots will climb onto the paper and turn into brown pupae (I think that i can see a few already). Don't mess with trying to put adult flies into the pots; just pop a couple of the pupae into each pot, and when the flies emerge, the mantids will invite them to dinner.

You just keep on getting better and better at this, Ming Ming!


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## MingMing (Jun 30, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Yay! Great pix! Katt was right, those are almost certainly housefly maggots. See how they wiggle their noses? Actually, this is good news. When you added the water yesterday, you forced them to the surface. Each maggot is a full meal for a happy mantis nymph! Don't think of them as insects, but "meals on legs!" They are not slimy and nasty, so you can pick them out and put them in a regular deli pot with a little moist (not wet) paper towelling. The maggots will climb onto the paper and turn into brown pupae (I think that i can see a few already). Don't mess with trying to put adult flies into the pots; just pop a couple of the pupae into each pot, and when the flies emerge, the mantids will invite them to dinner.
> 
> You just keep on getting better and better at this, Ming Ming!


D: oh oh.... I actually tried removing them all and put them in a bit of water and before reading ur post I added acid and bleach... How retard am I? Im sorry for the masacre to the black fly larvae lovers :S

God... Now I need to find more...:S if i shake carefully the dirt would the cricket larvae die?


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 30, 2009)

ming ming said:


> D: oh oh.... I actually tried removing them all and put them in a bit of water and before reading ur post I added acid and bleach... How retard am I? Im sorry for the masacre to the black fly larvae lovers :SGod... Now I need to find more...:S if i shake carefully the dirt would the cricket larvae die?


No problem, Ming Ming! Vamos a superar!*  

I think that there are a whole lot more in the dirt. If you wait until the dirt has started drying out and add some more water, I think that a lot more will come out. I looked at a pot, yeterday, that I was using to raise these maggots, and was disappointed, because I thought that I only had about 50 instead of the 100 that I had hoped for, but when I emptied out the pot and counted them, I had over 250!

BTW, up here, we call the kind that you probably have, houseflies, which are friendly and sociable. What we call "black flies" are those nasty flies that like to sit on you and bite you and give you diseases. Still if you put the pupae in the pots, they wouldn't be able to do much harm!

Edit. My son says that "Venceremos!" is better. What do I know?


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## MingMing (Jul 1, 2009)

:S Black flies down here are the HUGE fat bird-sized flies that make helicopter like sounds... they are annoying..

I ve done that the last few days... nothing :S well, too bad...


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 1, 2009)

ming ming said:


> :S Black flies down here are the HUGE fat bird-sized flies that make helicopter like sounds... they are annoying.. I ve done that the last few days... nothing :S well, too bad...


Oh! We have flies like that in Yuma, too. The locals call them buitres!  :lol: 

Obviously, there must be flies around to produce the maggots. You might try making up the mixture I mention here: http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=14414, put a whole batch in a large, wide mouthed bowl, leave it outside and let the flies do their thing. If you use a glass, Pyrex, bowl, you should be able to see the maggots crawling around, and when they get big enough, you can just add enough water to force them to the surface and pick them out and put them in a deli pot with some moist paper. You must be careful though, to always keep the mixture moist, or it will dry out, turn to concrete and entomb whatever's inside.I really hope that this works for you.


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## MingMing (Jul 1, 2009)

mmm but isnt it easier to have crickets?

They are stinkier and kinda uglier but at least they dont fly


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## beckyl92 (Jul 1, 2009)

crickets don't smell do they?

mine don't anyways  yay!


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## d17oug18 (Jul 1, 2009)

if you give them subtrate and clean there containers weekly then the smell is VERY minimal, if you respect the cricket itll respect you lol


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