Breeding crickets - light requirements advice

[Nathanb]

Hi,
I'm thinking about trying to breed crickets - there's no way I'm going to try it in the house (my wife will divorce me!) so I'm aiming for the garage - only problem, there's no windows/natural light, it's well insulated so warmth isn't an issue - how much light do they need? Will I get away with a single T5 tube or similar over the breeding tank/area set on a timer for say 10 hours a day?

Thanks

Nathan

 

[JessJohnson87]

I have never bred crickets but I would just get a simple heat bulb, like the incandescent reptile ones, and put that in a dome fixture to set on top of the container you choose to breed them in. I leave a light on 24/7 for my roaches so I would do the same for crickets, then you can always supplement a day/night cycle with the T5 tube.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...feeding-issues-/68574-cricket-guidelines.html <---check out this thread on cricket care/breeding.

 

[Nathanb]

Thank Jess - to be honest if I can get away with a simple dome/light fitting hanging over the area that I'm going to try and breed them in that would be even easier.
Is there any reason you use a heat bulb? I have a couple of spare ceramic E27 fixtures so if possible I'll just get a LED bulb to go in them and rig them up over the area (means less electric cost and means I've not gotta buy any more fixtures) I don't have a T5 setup at the minute - I was going to buy one especially

 

[JessJohnson87]

I use a 100 watt black light for my roaches because I already had that laying around and it's cheaper than setting them up with a heat pad and thermostat, they seem to be thriving with just that. Crickets need slightly cooler temperatures than what the dubia need, about 85* is what that care sheet said. You could either use a black light bulb or the moon light bulb for them, I would avoid the bright basking bulbs.

 

[Nathanb]

Ahh ok - they're going to be in a large temperature controlled propagator that I've got spare from the garden, so keeping the temp up isn't a problem; its just the light. Would a standard house bulb not work?

I'm intrigued - if not, why not?

 

[JessJohnson87]

It works, they heat up pretty well, I used a standard incandescent on my crested gecko tub when the temperatures were cooler than I liked. You can get a standard black party light and that would heat up just as good as a reptile one, when the 100 watt I have goes out, I was just going to replace it with one of those.

 

[thepianoguy]

From what i had read, generally crickets like moist n cooler temp about 23 so that their life span is longer(n happier), but when the breeding season had came, they need a higher temp around 27 30, i think a CFL would work, 6500k would work,5 watts or 9!) i would recommend heater when breeding them! And be sure to keep the box moister! Hope this helps!

 

[Zux]

Neither crickets or roaches need or want any sort of light to breed, in fact you may find breeding decreases markedly from the stress of being exposed to light. As-long as they have food, places to hide and warmth then you're better off keeping them in darkness as much as possible.