Exo Terra 18x18x24 Vivarium Build by jhouse

[jhouse]

Ok great! That is good to know, because I am in fact losing crickets already. I kept some anoles last year, and the crickets did better on the individual water and food cubes but I never explored other food and water options. I'm going to try these other suggestions too, thanks all!

[beckdg]

i found this at home depot on a shelf near the indoor tropicals... Schultz :: Moisture Plus Watering Crystals - 10712 - 10728

[jhouse]

Originally Posted by beckdg

i found this at home depot on a shelf near the indoor tropicals... Schultz :: Moisture Plus Watering Crystals - 10712 - 10728

ooo...looks like a run to Home Depot is in order today.

My cricket casualties continue. I am also going to move them out of the small Cricket Keeper. I was thinking about the largest model they have at Petsmart but it has 4 *massive" cricket tubes. I could block a couple off to give more room for egg carton and access. Another option would be the basic critter keepers that just have a lid.

Any suggestions on a good cricket habitat? I also have a Little Dripper that is not in use.

[Klowne]

Mine are in a 10 Gallon tank leftover from moving my snake into a 20 Long. You cna pick up a tank and lid for $15 or so from Wal-Mart. Or you can get a rubbermaid sweater box and use that.

[froggsong]

Go pick up a sterilite container (I like the ones with the locking lids) and if you don't have a drill or a soldering iron/wood burner, grab one of those too. Then put a row or two of small holes around the top edge of the container, near the lid, and some holes IN the lid, all for ventilation. The add your egg carton, food and water sources, and your crickets! I recommend heating them with a heat mat, rather than a bulb (if your room temps are too low, crickets do best when kept between 80-85 degrees, in my experience). Ventilation is key, as well as PLENTY of room to climb around where they can't get piled up on top of one another. My favorite thing to offer for them to crawl on is actually paper rolls, like come out of paper towels, toilet paper, and boxes of foil and plastic wrap (those are actually my favorite, they seem to prefer the tighter tubes, and it makes harvesting extremely easy). They are easy to stack in the tub, and you'll collect them faster than egg carton, unless you eat a ton of eggs.

[Klowne]

I use old TP rolls too, but one video I saw on youtube the guy was breeding roaches and he just called walmart and asked for empty eggcrates and they gave him some.

[froggsong]

Well, yeah, but that's far too much of a hassle for me, lmao.

EDIT: Plus, roaches do better on carton, and crickets do better in tubes. That's just from my not-unsubstantial experience.

[Klowne]

Well then I am definetly glad I use tubes

and the walmart is less than one mile from my house, yet I am too lazy to ask them as well

[jhouse]

I do have a small collection of various tubes and cardboard containers (I keep stuff like that for my daughter's experimental and creative nature, science experiments, etc).

I think I have a solution for the cricket container. I am about to tear down my AGA 10 gallon planted tank and switch it over to an ADA 45-F. That 10g tank was used years ago as a home to a couple of small brown anoles so I still have the wire top for it. I was thinking I could set it up next to the viv on the same shelf, and I can Y off the computer fan control so I can have random airflow throughout the day. I can put in some substrate, little dripper, etc. and make it sorta half-way fun to look at maybe. I have alot of options on that shelving unit.

[jhouse]

Hmm...well not sure about the 10g. I just measured and it would be a 3" overhang on same shelf as viv. I could move it to the lower shelf, but I am not sure I can find a PC fan extension cord that long, I'll have to check at the comp store tomorrow.