Heat mat for crickets

[ReeceJones]

Will I need a heat mat for crickets?
I understand that heat mats are recommended for roaches because if you are planning on making a colony it helps with the reproduction. However if I was to have a colony of crickets so that my tarantulas food source is sustainable (also there interesting to watch (the crickets)) would a heat mat be needed?

 

[Whitelightning777]

I keep some crickets in a critter keeper. They live longer cold. It's not much of a big deal but I always make sure the spider is hotter then the feeder. I want to stack the decks for them in every way I can.

 

[Arachnoclown]

 

[Dustin Amack]

No matter what I try, I struggle to keep crickets alive. I usually just buy small amounts at a time. I prefer roaches due to their ease of care and cleanliness. And they a re quiet!

 

[Dave Jay]

No matter what I try, I struggle to keep crickets alive. I usually just buy small amounts at a time. I prefer roaches due to their ease of care and cleanliness. And they a re quiet!

Humidity is what kills crickets, they need a lot of ventilation. Here we have to buy them by the tub so I move them to larger containers to avoid cannibalism and so that its easier to catch one without them jumping out. If the container hasn't got enough ventilation they go dark in colour and start dying, but with ventilation they grow, I'm always buying fresh tubs of small crickets because the ones I bought 2 weeks earlier are now medium size, and the mediums are now large. I can't keep pinheads alive because I just can't get enough ventilation in a tub without them escaping. I spend a lot more time feeding crickets than I do feeding the actual pets.

 

[Mr. P]

Totally agree with Dave Jay and would like to add "Overcrowding". Most people buy a Cricket Keeper then add 250 crickets to it, way overcrowded. The problem is most feeder stores (online) only offer crickets in 250 and larger and a Cricket Keeper is just too small for that amount. A keeper that small is only good for 25-50 crickets tops for short periods, any more and you need to go to larger tubs especially if you want to breed them.
I have a cricket keeper and put no more then 20 in and I can keep them for a month. I have no intentions of breeding them but once a month I will buy 20 or so for feeding.

 

[Dave Jay]

I wish I had a shed to breed crickets in, I get complaints from the family no matter where I put adult crickets, even if I put them in the back yard! When I buy adults I have to put them in the fridge for 5 or 10 minutes and sort the sexes out, all the males go to the frogs and fish, then I can keep the females to feed the larger scorpions (and the larger tarantulas soon enough ). I tried breeding them outside in the summer, but the temperature changes are too extreme. I used very much the same setup as you show in the video, but I never did have any pinheads to show for it.