Feeder enclosures

[Bathory]

So I'm getting really carried away with my cricket enclosures lol, started out with a small glass box and just upgraded to a big faunarium. 



Believe it or not, but there are actually 20-something crickets hiding in there. For easier cleaning i just put the food and water (soaked cotton pads) on top of some paper towels so I just have to scoop it all up when changing it. 



I know not to get attached to these guys but still, when I first brought them home and got them set up it did bring a smile to my face when they all crawled out and started eating like crazy. Do you guys get carried away with your feeders too or is it just me? I even got some into a separate enclosure with a bin filled with soil and I think I have some eggs!

 

[Connor]

Looks cool! Can’t say I get attached to my feeders lol. But to each their own!

 

[Bathory]

Looks cool! Can’t say I get attached to my feeders lol. But to each their own!

I get you. I just feel like they deserve to have a decent semi natural life before they get eaten alive, esp considering the conditions they're sometimes kept in at pet stores!

 

[Connor]

Well I hatch fly pupae for my feeders... not sure what BB flies would want ?

 

[Bathory]

A nice big carcass and some nectar? haha

 

[Connor]

Haha maybe I should grab some dog **** from outside.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Haha, not only is it nice to give the crickets a good life before getting eaten, the healthy diet makes them healthier for the mantids too!

 

[Connor]

Lol please read my edited post... didn’t mean to find some dog from outside?

 

[Ocelotbren]

Lol please read my edited post... didn’t mean to find some dog from outside?

It took me a good minute to figure out what you meant at first but I eventually realized what had happened. :lol:

 

[Connor]

 wasn’t planning on killing any dogs anytime soon lol

 

[callisto9]

I need to get a handle on my feeder situation. We were buying the crickets 20 - 30 at a time and keeping them in a bucket downstairs, but that wasn't working out. I kept forgetting to feed them and they'd get stinky and die. I just don't want to spend $20 on a cricket keeper! LOL

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I know not to get attached to these guys but still, when I first brought them home and got them set up it did bring a smile to my face when they all crawled out and started eating like crazy. Do you guys get carried away with your feeders too or is it just me? I even got some into a separate enclosure with a bin filled with soil and I think I have some eggs!

I found it was well worth keeping my crickets in a tank because the high walls meant no worries about escapees jumping out while I was doing things inside the enclosure. I enjoy all my feeders and never understood the hate for crickets, especially on a forum like this where we keep other bugs as pets. If you are keeping adult crickets, I highly suggest adding a small container with a couple inches of moist substrate. The girls will thank you for it. Whenever I got crickets from the petstore the first thing most the adult females would do is bury their ovipositors in the soil out of sheer relief at finally having a place they could deposit their eggs.

 

[Bathory]

I found it was well worth keeping my crickets in a tank because the high walls meant no worries about escapees jumping out while I was doing things inside the enclosure. I enjoy all my feeders and never understood the hate for crickets, especially on a forum like this where we keep other bugs as pets. If you are keeping adult crickets, I highly suggest adding a small container with a couple inches of moist substrate. The girls will thank you for it. Whenever I got crickets from the petstore the first thing most the adult females would do is bury their ovipositors in the soil out of sheer relief at finally having a place they could deposit their eggs.

They have a little plastic cup cut in half filled with coconut fiber now! Don't know if I'm getting any fertile eggs from it but the fattest females have slimmed down considerably 

 

[Krissim Klaw]

They have a little plastic cup cut in half filled with coconut fiber now! Don't know if I'm getting any fertile eggs from it but the fattest females have slimmed down considerably 

If you have male adult crickets in the cage too then they will most certainly be fertile. You have to keep the soil slightly moist for them to hatch as if it gets too dry the eggs will dry out. Assuming your house isn't super cold or something, if you just leave it in there long enough eventually baby crickets will start hatching out by the hundreds.

 

[Bathory]

If you have male adult crickets in the cage too then they will most certainly be fertile. You have to keep the soil slightly moist for them to hatch as if it gets too dry the eggs will dry out. Assuming your house isn't super cold or something, if you just leave it in there long enough eventually baby crickets will start hatching out by the hundreds.

I may or may not have fed all the males to my mantids... Haha but no, I did put some females and males in a container with soil avaliable and I saw some eggs so if I'm lucky I'll have thousands of pinheads! I separated the adults from the soil and now I'm just waiting tbh

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I may or may not have fed all the males to my mantids... Haha but no, I did put some females and males in a container with soil avaliable and I saw some eggs so if I'm lucky I'll have thousands of pinheads! I separated the adults from the soil and now I'm just waiting tbh

Good luck! I never bothered to separate the eggs and just let the nymphs grow up in the main tank.