Raise my own crickets?

[ZooKeeperKarin]

We go through a fair amount of crickets, and I'm planning on eventually getting more leopard geckos (we only have three now). I'm thinking of raising our own crickets, but want to know is it easy or hard? I've done a bit of research and it sounds like something I could handle. What do you guys think?

 

[Wreptile]

I'd suggest you raise mealworms. They are much easier then crickets, and crickets smell REALLY bad.

 

[Neo.Reptiliac]

I want to raise my own crickets too. I dont like the nutrition value of meal worms compared to crickets. I can easily gut load crickets and make them a much healthier meal for my geckos.

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

Well, I think I'm going to go ahead and try it. I bought 500 crickets from Flukers last week, and they have been easy enough to care for. I did some research online and took info from different sites I found. There's also info on YouTube! If it's a nightmare I can always quit!
I also like the fact they are easy to gut load. I've been feeding them tropical fish food and it's gone in no time. I'm going to add vitamins to the fish food. And all my geckos LOVE crickets. They're easier to coat with vitamins too!

 

[spykerherps]

Du-bi-a.
much hardier, longer lived, thrive better, no noise or smell.

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

I thought about dubias, but I don't know much about them. Is there a place I can learn about the different stages? And at what stage do you feed them to the geckos?
Also, can they climb the glass aquarium? (corners too?)

They give me the heebie-jeebies, but I guess if they are easier and don't smell I may give them a shot.

Are they just as easy to gut-load and shake-n-bake?