advice on cricket keeping

[wacky22jacki]

Ok so I'm getting kind of sick of all my crickets eating each other!!! I buy 4 dozen every 3 days. The crickets do not eat each other all the time but sometimes they like devour each other that instead of having 4 dozen I now have 2 ! I've heard that feeding them multiple items and having more hiding places will do the trick… I do feed them cricket crack, but what other safe foods are there that I can try to give them that won't harm my cham ?

Thanks !!

 

[SaintJimmy]

Maybe try switching to dubias? They're a lot better than crickets in a lot of ways. They can be expensive at first but give it a couple of months of stablising a colony and you'll never have to buy 4 dozen crickets every 3 days again...

Crickets smell, eat each other, jump away, infest your house, make noise, etc etc etc... Dubias have none of those problems and are much easier to breed than crickets.

Also if you're set on keeping crickets only (really a good cham diet is based off of 2-3+ feeders.. variety = good) then just try buying gutload like pumpkin meat, spaghetti squash, oranges, strawberries, kale, lettuce for water, a WEE bit of mango, etc.

 

[Andee]

Do you feed them any sort of wet food? Cricket Crack is a dry food source if I am correct. They may be looking for a source of water. They can eat mustard greens, dandelion greens, butternut squash, kale every now and then, apple, potato, carrot, papaya, mango, etc.

 

[wacky22jacki]

I've never tried dubias before because where I am located no one sells them but I'll definitely look into it! And I do have a cricket quencher, i forget the exact name of it but its like a yellow gel substance and I always see them drinking/eating it! I will definitely try your suggestions, thank you for replying

 

[SaintJimmy]

You can order dubias off the internet.

 

[absolutbill]

That yellow gel is made by Flukers and it's a water supplement. Crickets will drown in a water dish (even a shallow one), and so you need to have some type of water crystals in there. I use the plastic lid to a 1 gallon container and fill it with pre-mixed water crystals which does the trick. I'm curious, how large is the container you are keeping the crickets in? Also, do you have any egg crates in there with them? I buy 1000 at a time, and keep them in a 10 gallon fish tank, with an egg crate or 2 cut in 1/2. I also have the dish of water crystals, along with cricket crack, potatoes, carrots, and bug burgers.

 

[CarlC]

If given enough space and lots of food they will not eat each other, atleast the cricket species commonly sold won't. Black field crickets are a different story.

If you go to your next local reptile show I'm sure you could find roach's. Even checking the classifieds here you'll find them offered.

Carl

 

[ridgebax1]

I used to have a terrible time with die off when I bought crickets at a local pet store. I get them now from Ghann's and the die off is minimal. I have 500 in a big plastic container with lots of egg crates and paper towel tubes and I have another 250 baby crickets in a plastic drawer/storage container again with lots of places to hide. I have a water dispenser that Ghann's has on their website plus feed them dry gutload with occasional fruits and vegies. I think where you get them from makes a difference. It was really more costly to drive to the pet store every few days because the cheap crickets died. If you check out the sponsers of the forums they are excellent sources for live feeders.

 

[Deevo]

sweet potato and kale are great gutload for crickets. I also use the repashy gutload and have some water crystals to keep them hydrated. They stay alive a lot longer that way. I also have dubias but my cham hasn't gone for them too much yet...

 

[Ninkylou]

I thought kale was a no no because of the ca to phos ratio. I have avoided it but it would be nice to be able to use it. I always have kale in the house but buy mustard and collards (blech) just for the bug gut load.

 

[wacky22jacki]

That yellow gel is made by Flukers and it's a water supplement. Crickets will drown in a water dish (even a shallow one), and so you need to have some type of water crystals in there. I use the plastic lid to a 1 gallon container and fill it with pre-mixed water crystals which does the trick. I'm curious, how large is the container you are keeping the crickets in? Also, do you have any egg crates in there with them? I buy 1000 at a time, and keep them in a 10 gallon fish tank, with an egg crate or 2 cut in 1/2. I also have the dish of water crystals, along with cricket crack, potatoes, carrots, and bug burgers.

I use a 10 gallon tank as well, I will definitely try the water crystals and offer different types of feeding, I have multiple egg crates !! I think I might try to order them from one of the sponsors like mentioned above and give that a try, I just am sick of them eating each other and the only way to get the roaches is to order them from online so I'll try ordering crickets and roaches from sponsors and see how that goes.. Thanks for all of your input really appreciate it !!!

 

[Ninkylou]

I use a 10 gallon tank as well, I will definitely try the water crystals and offer different types of feeding, I have multiple egg crates !! I think I might try to order them from one of the sponsors like mentioned above and give that a try, I just am sick of them eating each other and the only way to get the roaches is to order them from online so I'll try ordering crickets and roaches from sponsors and see how that goes.. Thanks for all of your input really appreciate it !!!

For free egg flats go to your local grocery store bakery or a breakfast restaurant (I get mine from the cafeteria at the hospital that I work at). If they have them they will usually just give them to you, the worst they can do is say no…The charge an absurd price for them online at every place I have looked, i understand they are bulky. The other thing is to see if you have a local farm supply store, save on shipping costs.