Hi - I think the issue with the water crystals is that they are made from polyacrylamide. Non food grade polyacrylamide often contains acrylamide which is a neurotoxin. Also, polyacrylamide depolymerises to acrylamide at high temperature, i.e. if you roast/fry a cricket. So if a cricket is cooked with acrylamide in its system then it may become toxic
You are correct Adam. That sounds too risky for me. When I roast my crickets, I'd rather risk having some apple left in their system than risk having some polyacrylamide left in their system.
Lots of interesting ways, I personally like your method as it reminds me of mine, as I use dishes filled with aquarium pebbles to avoid cricket drownings and found it works for babies aswell as adults, however the only draw back is it needs to be refilled often as the dishes I used are quite shallow.
hi, thats something im about to try (for both pinheads and adults) a chicken feeder with aquarium rocks\marbels all the way up on the side plates. is that working well?
@craftcrickets847 I grab a medium sized "to go" box, chop it up a bit and use pieces of it to build a ramp up to the to go box. I fill the box with old towel parts (but clean) and then fill it up with clean water. I use clear gorilla super glue on the ramp, very thin, and then pour sand onto the glue on the ramp. When it dries, in about an hour 30, its scratchy so the crickets and pinheads can walk on it. The top/lid of the to go box provides a ceiling to hold in moisture. So its a box full of water, with towels that can be reused, and pinheads dont have to jump into it, just walk up the ramp and bite the towels for water. Change twice a week, (towels can be cleaned in the dish washer as well) but the crickets wont die if you go on a week long trip, unless you have a high number of crickets.
Hey Austin just had a quick question. Have you ever tried the food grade orbie type things that they sell at frozen yogurt places as a topping. They are safe for us to eat so why wouldn't they be safe for the crickets?
I lab I worked in use to use whicks and mad a water for them with that. the crickets can't get to the reservoir of water. Certain bugs though we mixed a dry powder of nutrients in with agar and that was their food and water.
When you setup the feeder for baby crickets, how do you baffle the flow of the water? I did your method with coco husk and the water coming out was too much. I think i have the same size feeder as you too. Thanks, very informative video
So the thing about eating the crystals if it takes a teaspoon to make a large plastic container of gel it probably wouldn't be good to eat but chemically it's the same as what they use in jello. So yes for human consumption it ok to eat but not until prepared
Thank You for the chick feeder idea! I'm new at this and their compost dries out too fast. I have clay pebbles from an aquaponics set-up that I'm going to try in a chick feeder. I also have organic coffee filters to see if they work together or which one works better.
Good day, I was wondering, how important is the right humidity for cricket breeding? At this stage, I don't have a humidifier. My crickets have been exposed to approximately 10% humidity and cricket development is not as expected. To enhance and catalyse cricket development, will a humidifier be necessary? Regards,
I haven't used sand or gravel. As long as there are no viruses hiding in the gravel, I imagine it would work. The crickets shouldn't drown at least. If you give it a try, please share how well it works.
I am really enjoying your videos! Great job. I was wondering if it would be okay to use fabric in the chick feeders? We are trying to be as zero waste and sustainable with all our urban farming endeavors so paper towels are out of the picture.
I haven’t tried it myself but have heard of others doing so. I imagine it would work really well as long as the fabric doesn’t have any dyes and is very clean. Whatever you use, expect that the crickets will try to eat it.
Great videos!!! with the ground up coconut husk u didn't mention do u fill the chick water(er) with water so as the husks dry out the water will keep the husks wet or will the husks give enough water (which is a substitute... as this is the substitute for water) for the week??? or are u confident that the husks will actually last the week??? Thanks
Hello. I fill the chick waterers with water in order to keep the coconut husk wet for the whole week. If I only soaked the husk one time, it would dry out pretty quickly when the ambient air temp is in the 80s or 90s. By filling the chick waterer, the young crickets will not drink through the whole quart in a week (in my setup), but I replace the water and coconut husk after a week to keep things clean.
I don't ship live crickets. I process them and sell them as food for humans. The crickets I sell are dried and packaged in sealable kraft pouches. As for buying starter crickets, there are a number of sellers on Amazon which well sell live crickets at a variety of sizes.
It depends on a number of variables. Can you get affordable real estate, heat, etc...? Can you create enough demand without spending too much time? Can you properly scale the farm to a size large enough to yield a profit...
Hi - I think the issue with the water crystals is that they are made from polyacrylamide. Non food grade polyacrylamide often contains acrylamide which is a neurotoxin. Also, polyacrylamide depolymerises to acrylamide at high temperature, i.e. if you roast/fry a cricket. So if a cricket is cooked with acrylamide in its system then it may become toxic
You are correct Adam. That sounds too risky for me. When I roast my crickets, I'd rather risk having some apple left in their system than risk having some polyacrylamide left in their system.
Lots of interesting ways, I personally like your method as it reminds me of mine, as I use dishes filled with aquarium pebbles to avoid cricket drownings and found it works for babies aswell as adults, however the only draw back is it needs to be refilled often as the dishes I used are quite shallow.
hi, thats something im about to try (for both pinheads and adults) a chicken feeder with aquarium rocks\marbels all the way up on the side plates. is that working well?
Very informative. Thank you for sharing.
@craftcrickets847 I grab a medium sized "to go" box, chop it up a bit and use pieces of it to build a ramp up to the to go box. I fill the box with old towel parts (but clean) and then fill it up with clean water. I use clear gorilla super glue on the ramp, very thin, and then pour sand onto the glue on the ramp. When it dries, in about an hour 30, its scratchy so the crickets and pinheads can walk on it. The top/lid of the to go box provides a ceiling to hold in moisture. So its a box full of water, with towels that can be reused, and pinheads dont have to jump into it, just walk up the ramp and bite the towels for water. Change twice a week, (towels can be cleaned in the dish washer as well) but the crickets wont die if you go on a week long trip, unless you have a high number of crickets.
Thanks for thr info ..I love crickets very informative
Thank you, I am enjoying your videos, Austin.
Dude, that sweater is so awesome!
Hey Austin just had a quick question. Have you ever tried the food grade orbie type things that they sell at frozen yogurt places as a topping. They are safe for us to eat so why wouldn't they be safe for the crickets?
I lab I worked in use to use whicks and mad a water for them with that. the crickets can't get to the reservoir of water. Certain bugs though we mixed a dry powder of nutrients in with agar and that was their food and water.
When you setup the feeder for baby crickets, how do you baffle the flow of the water? I did your method with coco husk and the water coming out was too much. I think i have the same size feeder as you too. Thanks, very informative video
What do the craft pouches look like and are you looking to purchase dehydrated crickets
What about using sand instead of rock?
nice! keep the videos!
So the thing about eating the crystals if it takes a teaspoon to make a large plastic container of gel it probably wouldn't be good to eat but chemically it's the same as what they use in jello. So yes for human consumption it ok to eat but not until prepared
Thank You for the chick feeder idea! I'm new at this and their compost dries out too fast. I have clay pebbles from an aquaponics set-up that I'm going to try in a chick feeder. I also have organic coffee filters to see if they work together or which one works better.
Please share how well it works. I'll be curious especially about the coffee filters...I have never thought of that.
Good day,
I was wondering, how important is the right humidity for cricket breeding? At this stage, I don't have a humidifier. My crickets have been exposed to approximately 10% humidity and cricket development is not as expected. To enhance and catalyse cricket development, will a humidifier be necessary?
Regards,
Misting gently the breeding substrate with water is necessary so that their eggs do not dry to death.
Can i give them distilled water? Or can i use fish water dechlorinator ?
hi! have you considered using sand or gravel with the chicken water vessels? Love to know any positives/ negatives you can think about that
I haven't used sand or gravel. As long as there are no viruses hiding in the gravel, I imagine it would work. The crickets shouldn't drown at least. If you give it a try, please share how well it works.
Craft Crickets gravel works great but has to be changed often as poop and such will collect wash it before u put it in the waterer
When I use the sponges the Crickets just ate it, that's why I use veggies instead.
I had that issue as well. I would much rather have my crickets eat veggies instead of sponges.
Crickets can drown in standing water, so...
The solution is simple: provide sitting water.
Or better still, prone water.
Water trying desperately to hide in the very floor, even.
What about natural sea sponges?
I am really enjoying your videos! Great job. I was wondering if it would be okay to use fabric in the chick feeders? We are trying to be as zero waste and sustainable with all our urban farming endeavors so paper towels are out of the picture.
I haven’t tried it myself but have heard of others doing so. I imagine it would work really well as long as the fabric doesn’t have any dyes and is very clean. Whatever you use, expect that the crickets will try to eat it.
habla demasiado, para personas que no hablamos inglés requerimos más imágenes, o tal vez RUclips pueda traducir con subtítulos, gracias
Great videos!!! with the ground up coconut husk u didn't mention do u fill the chick water(er) with water so as the husks dry out the water will keep the husks wet or will the husks give enough water (which is a substitute... as this is the substitute for water) for the week??? or are u confident that the husks will actually last the week??? Thanks
Hello. I fill the chick waterers with water in order to keep the coconut husk wet for the whole week. If I only soaked the husk one time, it would dry out pretty quickly when the ambient air temp is in the 80s or 90s. By filling the chick waterer, the young crickets will not drink through the whole quart in a week (in my setup), but I replace the water and coconut husk after a week to keep things clean.
I was thinking about a water dish with perlite
What kind of boxes do you use to ship your crickets, and where do you buy them
I don't ship live crickets. I process them and sell them as food for humans. The crickets I sell are dried and packaged in sealable kraft pouches. As for buying starter crickets, there are a number of sellers on Amazon which well sell live crickets at a variety of sizes.
Is there really a worthy enough profit in selling crickets ?? I am very curious about this business model !
It depends on a number of variables. Can you get affordable real estate, heat, etc...? Can you create enough demand without spending too much time? Can you properly scale the farm to a size large enough to yield a profit...
Do you use chlorine water like city water or well water
We always use filtered water as crickets have been known to die from too much chlorine etc.
distilled water? and soak their food in it.
Can I use wet toilet tissue
25 second video would have been enough.
Just set the playback speed to 1.25 or 1.5 and its perfect.