Skial

You breeding crickets? For reptile food?

Generally for fun. Used to raise hissing cockroaches when I was a teen too.

However, with the amount that are expected to hatch, I'm planning on selling a good few of them to help thin out the literal hundreds I can expect

With the amount of people that keep reptiles and amphibians nowadays, you should have no problem turning them into cash.

Well I've just now brought some springtails and woodlice to keep ontop of the shit. They shouldn't eat the eggs, but if they do I'm hoping there'll be plentiful to hatch still.

These two types of critters will ensure the tank stays fresher for longer, and I don't need to worry about the springtails as I'm getting like 250 of them, and the woodlice should be protected against the crickets.

Ah yes, Detritovores, unlikely to consume living organisms - the eggs should be safe.

The only problem I've got is the cardboard structures I'm leaving out for the crickets to climb in and on, woodlice will likely gobble them, but I've got plentiful material to work with. Likely gonna have to mist more often to make sure the woodies dont dry out, been quite humid with the British heat so should be fine for them

What about adding a piece of decaying wood? the Woodlice will take up residence under it and will prefer that to the cardboard, they will breed quickly if they have a good food souce, water and shelter. Adding things like a mini solar-powered water feature would be good for keeping humidity up, although I don't know what size set-up you have - my guess is you have something around 4' x 3' x 2'?

I'll have to measure. Brought a small glass fish tank on the spot cos we were at Pets at Home. I should consider a little water feature, but the problem is that crickets love drowning themselves. I usually mist every few days and leave a lamp on for a few hours, current heat outside does the rest for me.

Get paid Tuesday, so Wednesday I'll probably pop back to PaH and buy some more things for the tanks. Using a coconut fibre substrate, plentiful cricket eggs all around the enclosure ready to hatch likely next week.

Also selling a bunch of figures to raise a small income, so will likely buy more for them then as well, like plants and maybe some more inhabitants

There's like 12 males and around 8 females left of about 3 packs, so may freeze them once the eggs hatch and change the tank after the pinheads molt for the first time. Might try adding in some wood shavings for their enclosure so they've got little hidey places and also to make the woodlice happy.

Might be better off with leaf litter then wood shavings. A millipede would be a nice compliment, not sure how much the crickets would annoy it though, I mean they have a tough outer, so should be ok, just might get mobbed a lot. I've never bred crickets, so not that up with their behaviour, all I know really is they bounce around the tanks a lot.

I have in the past kept many, many inverts and reptiles, at one point must have had about 80 enclosures, lots of tarantulas, mantis, loads of different species of stick insects, millipede, beetles, moths, scorpions, one thing I never kept was a centipede.. fuck that, they are nasty bastards. You honestly would not believe all the animals I have kept.

I honestly could tbh. Wanted to get an emperor scorp or Atlas Moths but my partners deathly afraid of Moths, especially big fuck off ones. Millipede may be a good addition, I'd need to get a heat mat for it though. Tbh yhe black field crickets I'm raising don't really jump other than when I reach in to sort their food. I don't have to secure the tank much due to them not being able to climb the glass or flying

Am considering getting thorny devil sticks or possibly hissing cockroaches if there's not too many, but the eggs are definitely getting ready to hatch.

Also planning on leaving some logs out in the back garden to hopefully attract some stag beetles around August time. Most likely won't get anything till next year, though, but to see one would be my wish.

If I remember correctly, you're in the West Midlands? I think stag beetles are as rare as rocking horse shit around there.

Yeah pretty much, but they're not very common to begin with. I know they're all around the UK last time I checked, just more common in foresty areas. Our house has a little foresty area with a ream at the end, so there's a decent potential it should attract something

From all I've read, they're more or less limited to south/south east now, occasionaly seen further afield, but pretty rare. I did see a female here in Burnham-on-sea last summer, but that's the first one I've seen in about 40 years. Last one I saw was when I lived in Northampton. A good one to find in my opinion would be a coach horse beetle.

Ah, I've seen a couple Devil's Coach Horse, love the little guys. Quite fond of Earwigs too tbh. Currently growing a patch in the garden to encourage hoverflies, bumblebees, and bee flies. Think the rarest thing I came across was a Wasp Beetle back when I was in Penarth, gorgeous little thing it was