Female Crickets on Sand Substrate

When using adult female crickets as feeders I usually only give them to inverts that will eat them right away so they will not lay eggs in the invert cages. The thought has occured to me that maybe the females will not lay eggs on pure dry sand or at least maybe the eggs won't hatch. If so, females could be left in the enclosures of inverts on dry sand without fear of having pinheads infesting the cage.

I have a little experiment going. I put three adult female crickets and one adult male cricket in an enclosure with an inch of dry sand substrate. I am going to feed them and give them water via a wet paper towel in a small cup so the sand stays dry. I will see if they have babies.

Has anyone had baby crickets hatch in an enclusure with dry sand substrate?

Well I still have my experiment going on (11 days now) and still no pinheads. I'll keep it going for a bit longer but it appears that female crickets can't lay eggs in dry sand. I will now start tossing females in my desert scorps enclosures that have pure sand as substrate when feeding.

The eggs if they lay any will not mature in dry sand. If anything they will try to lay their eggs on your watering paper towel. They will also poo there and in general make it the worsts smelling/looking thing in the universe. Honestly crickets are so gross I'm not sure how anyone raises them. That being said I buy 50 or so of varying sizes every few weeks cause they are the best available food here.

In my experiment I have the watering paper towel in a small dish and replace it daily. I hate putting females in an enclosure with coco fiber or some such substrate were you can have a pinhead infestation. I try to use males for that.

I use females for critters that will eat right away, and now, for critters on sand. I use males for critters on moist substrate that don't like to eat quickly.

I hate crickets also. I like to buy them the day before feed day to gut load them.

Dry sand will certainly prevent any eggs from developing. Cricket eggs need moist warm substrate to incubate. I keep my incubator tubs at 90F, although anything over 80F will do. The eggs start to hatch about a week after being layed.

Well I think I can now agree! I'm glad to be able to feed large females to my desert critters! Thanks for yall's input.