Keeping crickets

Could anyone give me some tips on how to care for crickets to increase their longevity before feeding to my Ts?? I'm currently buying brown crickets but I only have 2 Ts so they don't seem to last long enough!!!

Thanks

I have kept them in a ten gallon aquarium planted with grass seed and misted on an irregular basis to keep the grass alive. That set up kept me with a constant supply of crickets since they multiplied like crazy. To keep just a few short term, put in a piece of potato or carrot or something. I've used spinach leaves with great success. I keep buy mine from a bait store now and if someone doesn't eat I might have a few left over so I just throw in some kind of vegetable till I can feed them off. I usually don't have to keep them more than a few days so it works for me. Some folks set up a tub or KK with substrate in a bowl or deli cup or something on one side for the females to lay eggs in. Once the pinheads emerge they leave the dirt so they are easier to catch. A shallow water bowl with gravel in it or water crystals or something like that and something for them to eat and you got yourself a cricket colony my friend. In the end, crickets are easy to keep alive except that they like to drown themselves if at all possible and they like to die for no apparent reason. Just make sure they have something to eat, something to drink and if you want a steady supply of them, somewhere to lay eggs.

They need to be dry and warm, with a lot of ventilation. Too much moisture kills them, as does too much food with a high moisture content. There's a reptile dealer near me that's raised them for decades. They keep them in large plastic storage boxes, screen top, no substrate, with egg crates on their sides. They're fed dry earthworm meal and romaine lettuce leaves. No water bowls.

I don't keep mine for more than a few days so moisture isn't a big deal for me. I throw in a small chunk of whatever vegetable I happen to be using when I cook supper and leave them to it. When I kept them in grass there was a population explosion and they eventually mowed the grass down. There were thousands of them and I just didn't need anywhere near that many so I just dumped them out. I had thought of trying it again but culling the females to keep the population down to manageable numbers but I never did.

Python said:

I don't keep mine for more than a few days so moisture isn't a big deal for me.

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Well, the OP is asking how to keep them longer than that. That means dry with good ventilation.

I am so glad you asked this as I was just telling my husband I'd like to raise crickets so my T has food on hand and I don't have to run out to the pet store. Now I know. Thanks for all the info!

For long term, like I said, I kept them in a ten gallon planted with ryegrass and misted often but irregularly. Just often enough to keep the grass alive. They thrived and I always had way more than I ever needed. As long as I had that setup, I never bought crickets.

That's really useful thanks guys I'll give it a go next week x