Stray Feeders

schendricks

schendricks

New Member
Hello everyone,

I'm interested in the different methods keepers employ in dealing with escaped feeder insects, especially noisy crickets. I suspect many probably just "deal with it," but if you can testify to minimization efforts or successful prevention, please chime in.

Thanks,

S
 
My dog chases down the escapees, she always right there when I'm feeding to stand guard. No really, when are yours getting out? Is it jumping out of the feeder cup, free rangers, the bin you keep them in? I rarely have stray crickets crawling around. If I do, it's because they jumped out of my hand when I was scooping them up to put in the feeder bowl.
 
They tend to come to light. I turn off all lights in the house except where I am sitting. When the crix show up I pounce, grab them, and put them back in the colony box.

Oh this morning I had the WORST case of stray feeders you can imagine. I have a large productive colony of dubia roaches in a large dark plastic tote bin on a shelf near my boiler closet. Sometime last night the bin slid, tipped over (no idea what happened), fell 5 feet to the floor and landed upside down scattering roaches, food, poop, egg crates everywhere. I didn't hear anything so they had the freedom to roam for hours. A huge mess, as the bin was due for a major cleanout anyway. Who knows how long I'll be finding nymphs and dying roaches all over the house. Well, maybe not all over as the warmest place is that boiler closet.

Thank goodness I live in Alaska and my general house temperature is too low to keep them alive for very long. Still I hate to think of all the dead ones showing up in the crawl space, under moldings, behind appliances, etc. etc. if and when I need to move!
 
Don't do what I did 5 years ago I ordered 1000 crix picked them up on my way home from school, got home and had to fly to school. Anyways I was in a rush and the cricket shipping box had a tab you popped out to get to them I popped it out poured some out real quick for a feeding pushed the tab back in and was on my way. Get home and see a cricket struggle its way out of the small gap in the tab. Well anyways he was probally number 499 to escape my room was teeming with crix! Nothing you can do really just pick up what you see and let the rest die off.
 
Carlton said:
They tend to come to light. I turn off all lights in the house except where I am sitting. When the crix show up I pounce, grab them, and put them back in the colony box.

Oh this morning I had the WORST case of stray feeders you can imagine. I have a large productive colony of dubia roaches in a large dark plastic tote bin on a shelf near my boiler closet. Sometime last night the bin slid, tipped over (no idea what happened), fell 5 feet to the floor and landed upside down scattering roaches, food, poop, egg crates everywhere. I didn't hear anything so they had the freedom to roam for hours. A huge mess, as the bin was due for a major cleanout anyway. Who knows how long I'll be finding nymphs and dying roaches all over the house. Well, maybe not all over as the warmest place is that boiler closet.

Thank goodness I live in Alaska and my general house temperature is too low to keep them alive for very long. Still I hate to think of all the dead ones showing up in the crawl space, under moldings, behind appliances, etc. etc. if and when I need to move!
Click to expand...

That's a nightmare!
 
Yeah, it's going to be a mess. I know the darned things won't reproduce and establish themselves in the house but no one else will! There's a chance I will be moving this summer and I dread trying to clean up every single dead dubia that may be stuck in the crawlspace, the baseboards, under cabinets, the stove, etc.

I have a pair of insect eating birds who will pick off any strays they see, but maybe I should live trap some wild shrews and release them indoors.

The only theory I have about just why the tote threw itself off the shelf is that the colony held a big dance.

Well, I suppose this isn't any worse than the hundreds of European nightcrawlers that got loose on their first night here a few years ago. You have to keep a light on over their bin so they don't live up to their name and scatter in the dark. The light bulb burned out at some point. I woke up to step on dozens of the things as they marched across the carpets. Worms are amazingly athletic and can climb almost any surface! As I tried to gather them up all I could think about was how much they cost apiece (mail ordered).
 
LMAO - Yeah, it's mind boggling how those Dubia's do that wacky dance, you're probably right. As for the Nightcrawlers, :eek: stepping on them was, I'm sure a squishy feeling. Just goes to show that bugs are smarter than we think they are. :D
 
I never expected the nightcrawlers to be so hard to cater to. I spend more mental time trying to keep them fed, watered (no softened or hard water allowed), their bedding correct, and in their proper place than any other feeders I have. Their bin now sits on a stool in my bath tub with a special photo sensor light bulb hanging from a curtain rod above. Taking this contraption down before each showers is a pain (and explaining it all to houseguests who see it). Even with the light they just get the urge to crawl sometimes...at least they tend to stay in the tub. But, my frogs love them and they are a healthy feeder for them.

Up until this morning the dubia have been a breeze. There are a couple of lizard keepers over in Juneau who barter groceries for them...I just don't tell the air taxi pilots what's in the little boxes I send over occasionally. We don't have road access to the rest of the planet...air or marine barge freight only.
 
Carlton said:
I never expected the nightcrawlers to be so hard to cater to. I spend more mental time trying to keep them fed, watered (no softened or hard water allowed), their bedding correct, and in their proper place than any other feeders I have. Their bin now sits on a stool in my bath tub with a special photo sensor light bulb hanging from a curtain rod above. Taking this contraption down before each showers is a pain (and explaining it all to houseguests who see it). Even with the light they just get the urge to crawl sometimes...at least they tend to stay in the tub. But, my frogs love them and they are a healthy feeder for them.

Up until this morning the dubia have been a breeze. There are a couple of lizard keepers over in Juneau who barter groceries for them...I just don't tell the air taxi pilots what's in the little boxes I send over occasionally. We don't have road access to the rest of the planet...air or marine barge freight only.
Click to expand...

You can't keep a lid on the bin with a screen top and sit a light on that?
 
Always works

I get egg crates and put a carrot on it and put a lamp on the edge of the crate.
Heat+food+egg crate= crickets come and stay!!!!!!!
 
draetish said:
You can't keep a lid on the bin with a screen top and sit a light on that?
Click to expand...

No, the worms can squeeze out of the tiniest openings or around the edges. I've tried various types of screen, but again, they find their way out from under the top even if it fits snugly. If I keep the whole top unobstructed to the light they stay burrowed. Earthworms are pretty amazing things. I still find a dead one up inside a cupboard or on a shelf once in a while. They even get stuck in a loop of carpet fiber.

The best tool for getting rid of loose crickets is a tame marbled godwit (large shorebird with a long slender bill). I was rehabbing one with a broken wing in N Dakota while living in a research bunkhouse. All summer the field crickets would keep us awake nights when they got under the baseboard radiators. Once the godwit knew where to hunt for them he could clear a room in a few minutes by fishing the noisy things out with that fine tipped bill. The supposedly more intelligent humans never did figure out a better way to reach them.
 
draetish said:
My dog chases down the escapees, she always right there when I'm feeding to stand guard. No really, when are yours getting out? Is it jumping out of the feeder cup, free rangers, the bin you keep them in? I rarely have stray crickets crawling around. If I do, it's because they jumped out of my hand when I was scooping them up to put in the feeder bowl.
Click to expand...

Ha, my girlfriends cat waits under Whomi's cage and pounces on any that don't make it into the feeder!
 
Carlton said:
They tend to come to light. I turn off all lights in the house except where I am sitting. When the crix show up I pounce, grab them, and put them back in the colony box.

Oh this morning I had the WORST case of stray feeders you can imagine. I have a large productive colony of dubia roaches in a large dark plastic tote bin on a shelf near my boiler closet. Sometime last night the bin slid, tipped over (no idea what happened), fell 5 feet to the floor and landed upside down scattering roaches, food, poop, egg crates everywhere. I didn't hear anything so they had the freedom to roam for hours. A huge mess, as the bin was due for a major cleanout anyway. Who knows how long I'll be finding nymphs and dying roaches all over the house. Well, maybe not all over as the warmest place is that boiler closet.

Thank goodness I live in Alaska and my general house temperature is too low to keep them alive for very long. Still I hate to think of all the dead ones showing up in the crawl space, under moldings, behind appliances, etc. etc. if and when I need to move!
Click to expand...

i was actually thinking of putting my new dubia colony in the utility closet with my water heater, dark and warm for them...that kinda makes me think twice about it...
 
I usually dont even try to capture them i just treat them like escaped convicts, shoot first ask later lol. On Monday one of the cats was toying with one and i thought he killed it cuz it wasnt moving but i put it back in with the other crickets and 10 minutes later it was alive. Only to be eaten the next day =(
 
I hope my wife does not read this thread. She will never let me start a dubia colony after reading this!
 
My other half almost fel over laughing when i mentioned this thread. I am terrified of all things crawly. My solution for getting rid of them is to run around the house screaming until Chris comes and bags the little blighter :eek:

I was feeding them to Gizzy the other day when i noticed one on my hand - i launched the poor old Cricket and screamed my head off. I`m not too sure who had the biggest shock me or the cricket.
 
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