Raising Banded Crickets Bioactively in 2024!

I raise Banded Crickets (Grylloides sigillatus) in a Bioactive enclosure. I have been raising these crickets as live food in this enclosure for more than a year and a half. It is an extremely easy way to raise your own crickets as a live feeders for reptiles, amphibians, and other pets! This method greatly reduces any odors (it smells mostly like forest soil), and I vastly prefer it over traditional methods of culturing crickets.

[RidiculousRocketry]

I just started my first cricket hatchery last week. I found your video and method to be very helpful.

[dirtycorn]

I never attempted breeding crickets before but found your videos and liked the idea of non smelly crickets so decided to try this. About a month ago i set up my bin and just bought 25 small crickets (dont know the species) and put in the bin. 2 weeks later i heard my first chirp. Tonight, when going to mist the enclosure, about a month after setting it up, i noticed i had teeny tiny cruckets. I havent been that excited in a while lol. So far this seems to be working great for me! Hopefully the babies grow up and don't die off on me. Thanks so much for the tutorial videos! 😀

[mountainhobbit]

very nice setup, those banded crickets seem to be thriving. Thanks Rus and happy Friday.

[Valhalla]

Answered my question before I could even ask it! I was excited to see this update video after hearing about it from the live stream (that I missed) and here you are already! Really appreciate all you do thanks again Russ

[LakeLandAquatics]

Going to try this today. Omw to expo Thanks so much Rus!

[cabk.]

So excited to see an update! I've had trouble with getting pinheads to hatch and live personally.

[GNoldman]

Hi Rus! Great video :) You have so many cool insects! I'm reconnecting with my inner-child holding a butterfly net....

I was wondering around how many crickets this setup makes for you (weekly / monthly, or whatever is easiest to guesstimate). I am thinking of getting an Ackie monitor, and they have quite the appetite!

Also, for hydration, I saw a cool setup in a video by "Beaches Scaly Beasts." He has a mostly sealed plastic container with a wicking rope leading out that the crickets drink from readily. His video is "How To Breed Crickets For Your Pet Reptile!". He uses a a bit of chicken wire to keep the soggy rope off the cardboard.

[Konniebugg]

A couple of inquiries:
1. How do you maintain springtail population whilst cleaning out substrate?
2. What kind of heater can go on a plastic bin like that, safely? All the ones I have ever purchased always say "for use on glass only".

[sparklepupfaeri]

My guess with the isos and crickets is the powder isopod is very protein hungry.. I bet you they were eating crickets. Im not ever going to crickets ever again (i just dont like them 😅) but i still love learning. Thanks for the awesome video!

[Ramingor]

Happy new year Rus, hope you and your family are doing well. Could it be time to update the isopod keeping guide with your renowned knowledge? Would also love to see the blue death feigning beetles again at some point

[Jacob_Waring]

I want to do something like this but add a rocky geo structure, maybe with gems on some shiny rock to pretty it up with a waterfall providing a light stream for the crickets. Is that doable?

[evankenison]

Great video. Thank you!!! You mentioned you do not have isopods in there. I thought I saw little white bugs crawling around. Were those baby crickets? Do you add Springtails? Just wondering what you added to keep the smell down. Thank you again!!!

[AnthonysFishyFriends]

Definitely have to give this a shot. Haven't had any luck with crickets

[loona]

Can I ask for an advice? If I have two bins next to eachother (crickets and dubias). Would it make sense to put the heat mat on the side of one bin without the polysterene so that heat would go to the other bin as well (if it is in between)?
Do you think it has to be written on the product that it can be placed on plastic? I only saw that for the habistat's heat mat which is expensive and cheaper amazon ones do not mention what material it is suitable for and on some of them it says glass only...

[seansspoods]

Ive tried alot of different ways to breed crickets, without much success, ill give this way a go and fingers crossed

[Euro.Patriot]

How do I warm them? I have an 80L tub with about 2 inches of vermiculite as the substrate and a 4"×10" mesh hole for ventilation. I have a small heatpad but it's not enough, it's winter in Australia and recently to temperature started dropping to 10°c at night. They chirp sometimes but they've beem mature for about 2 weeks and I haven't seen any breeding and the egg container is empty.

[MarianneMonagle]

I am new to this, so not sure, but are the little white bugs running around - are those springtails or baby crickets?

[donteague]

When you harvest for size how do you separate?

[jeanniewilson]

Thank you for this video. What crickets did you start your colony with? Did you just start with some random ones? Im at the point i could benefit raising my own. :)

[ashsoj]

Great video and can you please make more beetle content