These are the methods I use. They are by no means the best, but I have very few or no deaths and I have bred them very successfully.

AVOID :-
There are certain things I avoid when I keep crickets. They are cold, damp conditions, poor quality food and total darkness

HOUSING :-
I used to keep my crickets in a 18" x 18" x 24" tank with a mesh top. For hatching I used the same thing, except the top also had aluminum mosquito mesh on it to prevent the pinheads from escaping.
For raising crickets I now use large RubberMaid containers with aluminum mesh screen lids (there is a link to them in the contents bar on the left). I used to use the oiginal lid with two large holes cut in the lid, but I found spiders were getting in. The heat lamp simply sits on top. This is easier because they are lighter, taller and much easier to clean than aquaria (and a lot cheaper!)
For hatching eggs, I simply place the tubs on top of one of my dragon cage lids and in the winter I keep them on a radiator!

CONTENTS :-
I have a substrate of dry peat moss about 1" deep. I use plenty of egg box (paper not styrofoam) stood on edge for them to hide in- THIS IS IMPORTANT because they will eat each other- especially when changing skin.

HEAT :-
For heat I use a reflector lamp just like the ones shown in the books and sold at pet stores, except I buy mine a Builders Square or the Home Depot and they're about half the price!

For the hatching cage I use an under tank heating pad- it's not as severe, but once they've hatched they get a reflector too.

I keep them quite warm :- 25°C - 30°C- this does speed up their metabolism which ultimately shortens their life, but they do fatten up quickly- 100 half size at the beginning of the week are nearly plump adults by the end of the next.

FOOD :-
Cricket food must be of good quality - there are some good ones available, but you can make your own. This is the recipe:-
Rolled Oatmeal (4 cups)/ Dried Milk Powder (2 cups) / Dry Cat Food (low-protein), crushed (2 cups), Rep-Cal Calcium with D3 (2 teaspoon). Mix it all together and feed it to your crickets, it's a lot cheaper than buying it- don't forget fresh vegetables and half an orange!

Fresh food consists of the same vegetables I feed to my dragons- collard greens, broccoli, red tip lettuce etc and for moisture, rather than spraying them and keeping them moist (which can aid in the spread of a virus that will kill them all very quickly - very smelly and brown and slimy) I put in half an orange which they like. The advantage of this high quality diet is that unlike crickets which are gut loaded' before feeding, my crickets are permanently full of the best food- they are gut loaded' all the time!

Provide all food in dishes or trays as this helps prevent mould forming on the substrate.

BREEDING :-
Provide pots filled with damp vermiculite (about as damp as for planting houseplants)- plastic margarine tubs are good 3" - 4" deep. Keep the vermiculite moist at all times- this is important because the tubs are in with the adults, exposed to high heat, so keep them at the opposite end to the heat lamp. I don't recommend sand, because if it gets dry it can form a hard crust which is difficult to lay in and even harder for pinheads to emerge from.
I used to recommend moist peat, but vermiculite gives a much higher hatching rate

The crickets will burrow into the laying pots as well as laying- this seems inevitable. Remove the tubs weekly and transfer them to another tank (see above) and replace them with new one(s).

CLEANING :-
Once a month you should prepare a fresh cage for you crickets and clean out the old one. Bleach solution works well and make sure you rinse and dry thoroughly. Viruses which I mentioned earlier can devastate your colony over night. There are commercial anti virus sprays available, but I won't use chemicals around my BD's and if warm, fresh air and light do the trick, why bother risking the health of your loved ones'?

BUYING CRICKETS :-
If you can only buy your crickets at one place and they don't look very healthy, try and find out what day they come in and buy them then. Also, you might try buying them from a reputable mail order source and then breeding your own.

OTHER INFORMATION
There is an excellent website about breeding and raising House Crickets by Ian Hallett. His method takes up less space than mine- it's probably easier too!

It can be found at .........
http://www.sonic.net/~melissk/crickets.ht ml

And check around the web- there's all kinds of stuff there- try using your search engine for any or all of these words/ phrases :-

Achetus domesticus House Cricket
Gryllus bimaculatus Black Cricket (S. Europe & Africa)
Gryllus campestris Field Cricket (Europe)
Gryllus pennsylvanicus Field Cricket (USA)

And if you find out anything useful- LET ME KNOW!