# Acoustic foam for Crickets?



## tigahawk (Feb 4, 2018)

Further prep / research into getting my Northern Spiny-Tailed Geckos....

Crickets....

Noisy buggers - with no cooling available - only heating. So i'll be able to breed them during the cooler months but will have to buy them during the hotter ones due to not having air conditioning to regulate the temperatures.

I wont put them the garage - that place is a toaster during the day. I've yet to have a winter to test the temps inside so just assuming it'll be too hot so... looking at inside the house.

Inside the house... it's double story. I'm downstairs next to the garage. Upstairs are the other two residents that live here.

If i get an oversized tub (id prefer my captives to have more space than advised to live in and keep them in smaller numbers than recommended if possible for said space so they're more comfy) and build a frame around it covered with acoustic foam..... 

has anyone tried this?

In my head it's foam - the air should still travel through *sorta* freely. It'll have a door to open that would be done at least once a day for food and water changes. I could rig up some PC sized cooling fans to ensure adequate airflow if it's insufficient. 

My question is - would this work in reducing the noise they make when chirping since i cant regulate the temperatures to make it cooler so they don't want too?


I'd offer to give away excess in the Brisbane / Boondall region for free - i'd be looking at keeping a small colony that would be adequate for feeding two geckos from winter - spring. It would be learning / a hobby a long with securing food for my guys. I've been checking in on the two local pet stores and it appears they infrequently get new crickets in - so the smalls are mediums. mediums are larges.... etc. Heck you'd be lucky to get 10 out of a pack if i got them from the pet store..... TLDR - I'd prefer to raise my own for the reasons stated above......

The only concern is noise as i'm one of those people that will wake up at the slightest noise (except for conditioned white noise like a fan. it took me a year to get used to the garbage trucks when living in the city - but earplugs are wonderful and im happy to sacrifice to work towards an interim) for keeping them inside the house? During winter - after i temperature check the garage if it's adequate i can move them there and use heating if it's too cold. What i cant handle is if it's too hot.

Something else iv'e wondered about is purchasing an old bar fridge - drilling holes into it safely or removing a door to allow airflow (again - first thought of the idea i've yet to look into it with further detail these are just top of the head ideas) and again building a fame around it for the acoustic foam to help dampen the noise. If that would work i could probably purchase an aquarium water cooler and hook that up to a thermostat in summer to test how that would work with cooling (it would not be the crickets water - but a separate water source self contained within the barfridge to help regulate temperature)


Anyone else have experience or comments relating to this that may help?


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 4, 2018)

Have you considered woodies instead?? No noise, a lot less hassle, more nutritious.


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## Foozil (Feb 4, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> Have you considered woodies instead?? No noise, a lot less hassle, more nutritious.


Also, even if you don't try, they'll breed like crazy


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 4, 2018)

Foozil said:


> Also, even if you don't try, they'll breed like crazy


And won't cannibalise the young.


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## vampstorso (Feb 4, 2018)

Another thing about woodies is they don't just drop dead like crickets, and they don't freaking reek! 

I bought a couple of hundred crickets to breed once for frogs. 2 days later, I got rid of them. I found them revolting and they stank! 

Ex used to breed woodies and had kilos of them in a tub...they never smelt and I found them amusing to feed (how long will it take them to consume this whole apple? Let's see!)

I know it might more mental time to adjust to roaches vs crickets...but they are better in most ways once you get over that.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 4, 2018)

vampstorso said:


> Another thing about woodies is they don't just drop dead like crickets, and they don't freaking reek!
> 
> I bought a couple of hundred crickets to breed once for frogs. 2 days later, I got rid of them. I found them revolting and they stank!
> 
> ...


Haha I used to play that game with a whole carrot.... took only 2-3 mins.




My outdoor woody bin will consume an entire loaf of bread in 10 mins.
[doublepost=1517696915,1517696692][/doublepost]Woodies also live for 12-14 months whereas crickets only live for 3 months (if you are lucky.)


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## vampstorso (Feb 4, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> Haha I used to play that game with a whole carrot.... took only 2-3 mins.
> View attachment 323133
> View attachment 323134
> 
> ...



I was going to say it only took like 20 minutes to finish an uncut apple, but thought it might seem unbelievable! I strangely got a real kick out of it hahaha


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 4, 2018)

vampstorso said:


> I was going to say it only took like 20 minutes to finish an uncut apple, but thought it might seem unbelievable! I strangely got a real kick out of it hahaha


My outdoor woodies eat everything from egg shells, potato, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato peels, lettuce leaves, stale bread, banana peels, Apple and pear cores, Orange, mandarin and onion peels, the tips off green beans, cucumber, celery, snow peas and sugar snap. Basically anything that passes through our kitchen (except meat) goes into my woody bin. They are excellent compostes. Great feeder insects in return and the local wild frogs visit the bin at night for a free feed.



[doublepost=1517697951,1517697688][/doublepost]I do breed crickets as well just because I can but they are a serious pain in the butt... loud, demanding, have toi have multiple setups and continually separate them according to size... ahhh they're a nightmare... woodies, a lot less of a headache.

Here's a new batch of pinheads, about 1/4 of these would make adulthood... actually more like a tenth.


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## Scutellatus (Feb 4, 2018)

To answer your original question.
No, you wouldn't be able to use acoustic foam.
It is very dense so as to stop any noise passing through.
You wouldn't get the airflow required, most probably wouldn't get any airflow at all if it is true acoustic foam as it is designed to absorb the sound not transfer it.
Even if you placed it just around the sides and have a mesh top to allow for airflow you would find that the sound is amplified, similar to putting your phone in a open-top box and hearing the sound increase due to echo and reverb.


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## vampstorso (Feb 4, 2018)

Sorry I didn't address the acoustic foam part originally as I am clueless about such a topic. 

To further scutellatus, 
Air flow is probably also a major concern. As I believe crickets are very sensitive to humidity and mould


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## Buggster (Feb 4, 2018)

My NST currently only each small crickets- so no noise for me! Unfortunately I can only buy a hundred or so at a time or they’ll grow too big for the geckos to eat...


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## tigahawk (Feb 6, 2018)

Thanks for all the info!

Was going to do woodies too but have told they're not as good due to them hiding / burying themselves under the substrate. And i'll be aiming for hatchlings so they'd be a bit big unless i had a few tubs breeding at different stages?


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## Foozil (Feb 6, 2018)

tigahawk said:


> Thanks for all the info!
> 
> Was going to do woodies too but have told they're not as good due to them hiding / burying themselves under the substrate. And i'll be aiming for hatchlings so they'd be a bit big unless i had a few tubs breeding at different stages?


In my opinion woodies are the way to go. If you're worried about them burying themselves you could try to tong feed the geckos. Woodies are super easy to breed, and they are waaaay more nutritious than crickets, make less noise and don't smell.


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## SpottedPythons (Feb 8, 2018)

They also don't hop, which is a definite plus. I've kept woodies for ages and had only one or two escapes from the tubs, whereas I find crickets in the corners heaps!!! And my tub is secure (I've checked for holes and etc.).


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## dragonlover1 (Feb 8, 2018)

It's only adult crickets which make noise and these would probably be too big for your geckos anyway.If you can only buy a hundred at a time,buy the smallest ones you can.
Or else follow everyone else's advice and breed woodies but you will still end up with bugs too big to feed out.So find a friend with dragons LOL


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