i want to start breeding my own crickets but how do i get them when petstores/online suppliers only sell the males?
The pet store I work at (PetSmart) only sells females. Luckily I managed to find males as well at another pet store..and I started breeding my own. I thought pet store usually only sell females because of the noise the males make?
The gender of crickets is not immediately apparent until later in life. I'm curius as we have raised/kept crickets over the last several years and have never found anyone who sells only one sex or the other. My wife works for PS as well and as far as we are aware they all get their crickets from the same supplier. Most of the crickets come in too young to tell. I cant even imagine the having to hatch and raise millions of crickets for a couple months then sorting them by sex! Unless there is some method that we are not aware of? You can tell adult female crickets by the presence of an "ovipositor," a long black tube that extends from thier hind ends. Males dont have this. Good Luck!
Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? You should hear the noise my pet shop 'females' are making right now Tokaylove is right, any retailer or supplier of crickets has both male and female and they are not separated out or divvied up based on sex. That would be a daunting task and when you consider they sell for .05 - .10 each it's hardly worth the trouble. When you go to a Petco, PetSmart or local shop you are going to get a mix of male and female. If it your intent to breed them just let them mature, you should end up with enough of each sex to successfully start a colony.
RE: Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? I usually just hit the trendy cricket nightclubs. Sure I have to buy them quite a few teeny tiny appletinis before I get any takers, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.
RE: Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? You might try buying your crickets at the bait shop. The few times my pet shop has been out of "pre-wing" crickets, i've had to get full grown crickets from the bait shop. My bait shop gets their crickets from the same supplier as my pet store, but he just orders the full grown ones who are noisy and chirpy. They are already breeding and ready to lay for you immediately. Just throw them in a breeding box and PRESTO! eggs galore! p.s. I agree with tokay and clem... I've never encountered anyone anywhere who seperated crickets by sex. Anywhere you buy them, you will recieve both male and female.
RE: Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? if you are buying 1/2 crickets or smaller you cant tell if there male or female. you need to buy 6 week old crickets that has started breeding already. if your having problems finding the right size crickets you need just order them online. cricketsdirect.com sell 1000 crix of any size for $10.50 plus shipping.
RE: Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? if you bred them like in your house, wouldnt it be almost impossible to sleep at night with all of the *chirp chirps*? because i am currently looking at getting an emperor scorpion, and keeping the crickets is a cause for concern from everyone that lives with me.
RE: Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? If you don't need many crickets at a time then , just pick a few selected individuals, and keep them apart in a breeding habitate. A single female can lay up to 100 eggs each. Like everyone else said burchase older crickets so that you can tell the difference. I have a setup with 10 of each in it, and its not noisy at all. The warmer you keep them the loader they get.
RE: Re: RE: where do you get female crickets? Your welcome in case you need some ideas on a small habitat heres a link you can go to. http://skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/ It will give you a basic idea and how warm to keep them how to set it up etc.
