Cricket Breeding Potential Problems (And Resolutions)

So you're trying to breed your crickets when you come across an issue, in this article we will discuss some issues I've faced and how I have solved them.

 

My Crickets keep dying! – In my experience, poor sanitation is 9 times out of 10 to blame. Mortality is to be expected to a small degree with a colony of crickets. But if they are dying in great numbers, they may have a disease. In this case, prevention is much easier than the cure. However, if they already are diseased, the only thing you can really do is keep removing dead crickets and try to keep the habitat as clean as possible. There is also potential to have a bad batch of crickets from the store. I have had it where, in a perfectly clean habitat with plenty of food, they still all died. Unfortunately, it just happens sometimes.

 

My Crickets aren’t laying many eggs – this can link to the previous, if the crickets are diseased, they aren’t likely to lay many eggs. Alternatively, if it is very cold, activity of the crickets is slowed and leads to less reproduction. In my experience, if the crickets are chirping lots, they are quite content, and you should get ample baby crickets.

 

My Crickets laid plenty of eggs, but they aren’t hatching – This likely has to do with the moisture content in your substrate. If it gets too dry, the eggs won’t survive. Apply water as regularly as possible to keep the substrate constantly dampened.

 

My Crickets aren’t growing – Cricket growth and activity is directly related to heat. If it's too cold, they won't grow. Move your crickets to a warmer location in your house, or if an additional heat aid is needed, use the heat pad to boost the temperature.

 

I just bought Crickets, but they aren’t laying any eggs at all – if the crickets have had ample time to settle into their new habitat after you bought a new batch, and they still aren’t laying eggs, they may not be mature enough. Crickets need to reach full maturity to breed, if the female crickets in your colony don’t have full length ovipositors, and they have what looks like a little stump instead, they aren’t old enough. Fully mature females have an ovipositor that is around Another good indicator of age is chirping. Male crickets only start to chirp once they have started to reach full maturity. Between these two factors you should be able to tell if your colony is mature or not.