How is everyone keeping there crickets (if you do keep them) Ive been using the rubbermaid totes but always a hassle trying to clean it. I remember seeing somewhere a wooden cricket box that had a light bulb for heat as well...is that better? having hard time with temps always cold in the basement and snake room too hot so I was thinking about building a wooden one with the light and I hope they regulate there temperature.

Seen those wooden boxes at the bait store and honestly they stink worse than the rubbermaids....the smell would just get trapped in them IMO

I just use the big rubbermaid totes. Bottomline is crickets stink. If you keep'em clean its not as bad.

I would suspect that keeping them in wood, the wood would absorb their cricket funk and it would be damn near impossible to get that smell out.

If heat is a problem I would use a heat mat or a piece if flexwatt on the bottom of the tote controled with a dimmer switch or rheostat. Id cover about 1/3 of the bottom with heat.

I dont know how hot you keep your snake room but if its 80-85 or so the crickets should do just dandy.

I dont know how hot you keep your snake room but if its 80-85 or so the crickets should do just dandy.

so your crickets do ok in those temps? my room is usually between 78-86 but i thought that one of the boxes I got crickets in said do not go over 70 degrees.

My background temps in the reptile rooms are about 80 degrees. The crickets do just fine.

Crickets will thrive, breed and grow faster at higher temps. 80-90 seems to be ideal. Although 75 is just fine, too. If your room is 76-86 I dont see a problem at all.

At lower temps they live a little longer. So maybe thats what the box meant. If you keep them at 70 they will live as long as possible. But they wont grow much. So if the goal is not to raise them/breed them/ or get them to grow then yeah it might be advisable to keep them at cooler temps. But if you just got in a bunch of 1/4" that you are trying to beef up Id go with the higher temperatures.

And really, we're only talking a short amount of time added to their natural lifespans. Which isnt all that long anyway.

I keep mine in large rubbermaid garbage cans.
Tall enough so i dont get anyone escaping and i can leave the top off so it gets some air circulation.