Surprise!

[Jay_Bunny]

Remember how I said the crickets had been laying in the damp paper towel I had in there for them to drink from? Well I had put it in a tupperware container to see if anything would hatch. Well nothing did so I just left it there. It began to mold over so this morning I find it and go to throw it away but what do I find inside? Pinhead crickets! Not a lot of them, since the mold inside probably killed off a lot of them, but several are still alive. I put them in a tub with some food and water. I guess the high temperatures of the room made them hatch. Would putting the egg laying substrate in my bp incubator (I incubate at 88.5) help make them hatch faster?

[journeyoftheanimals]

I am not sure but wanted to chime in anyways. I had something similar happen when I first started keeping reptiles I had this idea of buying a lot of crickets at one time and always having them on-hand. Well I put them all in a 10 gallon tank with peat-moss as a substrate (can not remember why I did that but I noticed the crickets putting their rear-ends in the peat-moss but I thought nothing of it. A while latter (after my crickets were gone) there was a ton of pin heads. I have wondered how fast they grow and if it would be worth it to raise them.

[Jay_Bunny]

I want to raise them because my leopard gecko prefers crickets to mealworms and my sister has a bearded dragon. I could sell any extras. I'm not sure how long it takes them to grow up. Mine are still pin heads at this point. I'm giving them veggies for moisture and feeding them dog kibble and oats. Not sure if they are dying off or not as I don't know how many I started off with.

[suzuki4life]

I want to raise them because my leopard gecko prefers crickets to mealworms and my sister has a bearded dragon. I could sell any extras. I'm not sure how long it takes them to grow up. Mine are still pin heads at this point. I'm giving them veggies for moisture and feeding them dog kibble and oats. Not sure if they are dying off or not as I don't know how many I started off with.

entire life cycle is 6-8 weeks total

[bsd13]

I want to raise them because my leopard gecko prefers crickets to mealworms and my sister has a bearded dragon. I could sell any extras. I'm not sure how long it takes them to grow up. Mine are still pin heads at this point. I'm giving them veggies for moisture and feeding them dog kibble and oats. Not sure if they are dying off or not as I don't know how many I started off with.

Should do roaches instead. Much less hassle. I feed blaptica dubias to my tokays and leos. They reproduce like rabbits on speed.

[suzuki4life]

Should do roaches instead. Much less hassle. I feed blaptica dubias to my tokays and leos. They reproduce like rabbits on speed.

they produce roughly 20-30 per month where as cricket produce more and grow to size much faster.

[bsd13]

they produce roughly 20-30 per month where as cricket produce more and grow to size much faster.

I started with about 250 males, females, and nymphs in January and have the damn things coming out my ears now. I get 20-30 newborns a day. And the initial 250 cost me under $50

[suzuki4life]

I get 20-30 newborns a day.

that's roughly 30 producing females....


A single bearded dragon will EASILY eat 30 nymphs a day

[bsd13]

that's roughly 30 producing females....


A single bearded dragon will EASILY eat 30 nymphs a day

I'm not sure how you're doing your math to get that it takes 30 producing females to give 20-30 nymphs per day. Regardless I still think one is better off in the long run with the roaches. Maybe not out of the gate but once they start producing. I could easily more than quadruple my output if I wanted by raising the temps a little and supplying more food. Besides how many full grown adult males will a bearded dragon eat per day?

[suzuki4life]

I'm not sure how you're doing your math to get that it takes 30 producing females to give 20-30 nymphs per day. Regardless I still think one is better off in the long run with the roaches. Maybe not out of the gate but once they start producing. I could easily more than quadruple my output if I wanted by raising the temps a little and supplying more food. Besides how many full grown adult males will a bearded dragon eat per day?

you said they produce 30/day. A single female will produce 20-30 a month...so under optimal conditions (ie 30 offspring per female roach per month= 1 female roach) times 30 days in the average month = 30 adult female roaches...which would equal 900 nymphs per month


My adult German giant will eat 10-15 adult male dubia a day easily. I have switched in more veggies and hornworms. He ate 8 3" hornworms his first try. I try to keep his diet at a heavy salad mix, 2 large hornworms and some crickets (so he gets extra exercise chasing them). This lasts maybe an hour and then he starts looking at me for more. And yes I have offered in the past. He will continue to eat if offered.