Once you've bought your delicious BioSupplies live crickets and you've got them home, what next?
I find the easiest way to unpack and keep the crickets long term is put them straight into a plastic storage tub. You can buy these from most hardware and department stores. A good size is around 50 litres. Put some substrate in the bottom to help absorb moisture and/or provide extra food. I use chicken crumble, but you could also use kitty litter or vermiculite.
Inside the calico bag are the crickets with egg crate for protection during transit.
Open the bag and empty the contents into the tub, including the egg crate. If you are worried about crickets jumping everywhere you can cool the bag down to under 10c. This will slow the crickets down enough to put them in the tub, but they will quickly warm up and start moving again.
Put some food and water in. Medium and large crickets will eat carrots and the smaller ones like cos lettuce.
Water should not be in an open dish as they will all jump in and drown. A wet sponge is a good way to provide a safe water source.
If you put the lid on the tub make sure its on upside down. If you lock the lid on you may get too much condensation building up and that will decrease the lifespan of the crickets. They like it dry and hot, not humid.
Enjoy the crickety goodness!