Cricket alternatives?

[Ghostbirb]

So I’ve been feeing crickets to my girl and am curious what good healthy alternatives are? They seem to die off so quickly and honestly they don’t seem to eat well for me. Any other easy feeders to take care of instead of crickets? I currently feed Dubias, Hornworms, and Crickets

 

[MissSkittles]

Not exactly the easiest to care for, but awesome buggies. Bsfl would be an easy to care for choice.

 

[Ghostbirb]

Not exactly the easiest to care for, but awesome buggies. Bsfl would be an easy to care for choice.

Ok thanks! I’ll probably check out the bsfl

 

[jamest0o0]

Silkworms are great, but I always felt they’re very hit or miss. Sometimes you order them and they die so easily, other times they live long. Naturally they tend to be susceptible to a lot of pathogens and require a bit of upkeep.

You can order banded crickets, pet store crickets are almost always crap and just waiting to spread parasites. Banded crickets don’t die easily if kept correctly.

On paper BSFL are fairly nutritious, but I question their digestibility. They’ll often pop up in the poop undigested. Not to say you shouldn’t feed them and I think it’s great that they can hatch into flies as well. They’re just wayyyy overhyped. IDK how many people I’ve seen talk about them like they’re a super food that can replace everything without even needing dusting… having a good calcium to phosphorus ratio doesn’t mean they have every vitamin and mineral an animal needs lol.

There’s a lot of great feeders, search some of my more recent thread posts. I threw a lot of options out there in a couple of threads not too long ago.

 

[salty dog]

More crickets!! roaches are a good substitute or katydids if you can get em…. I can’t find em

 

[EmiliosMom]

Dubias are definitely a great feeder. They’re also easy to keep, ours pretty much eat everything we give them and they love the Repashy superload.

 

[Ghostbirb]

Dubias are definitely a great feeder. They’re also easy to keep, ours pretty much eat everything we give them and they love the Repashy superload.

Dubias are amazing !

 

[Enddays]

I feed my guy Seren dubia roaches, crickets, super worms, horn worms, and black solider fly larva. I also like to pupate the black solider fly larva and let those Solider fly's in his enclosure so he can hunt down flying insects.

 

[Lindasjackson]

I feed dubia sand they’re easy to care for and easy to feed fruits and veggies for gutloading. I also feed the bsfl and flies and I’ve never had them show up in Eustis poop or anything. He seems to digest them well.

 

[dinomom]

Silkworms are great, but I always felt they’re very hit or miss. Sometimes you order them and they die so easily, other times they live long. Naturally they tend to be susceptible to a lot of pathogens and require a bit of upkeep.

You can order banded crickets, pet store crickets are almost always crap and just waiting to spread parasites. Banded crickets don’t die easily if kept correctly.

On paper BSFL are fairly nutritious, but I question their digestibility. They’ll often pop up in the poop undigested. Not to say you shouldn’t feed them and I think it’s great that they can hatch into flies as well. They’re just wayyyy overhyped. IDK how many people I’ve seen talk about them like they’re a super food that can replace everything without even needing dusting… having a good calcium to phosphorus ratio doesn’t mean they have every vitamin and mineral an animal needs lol.

There’s a lot of great feeders, search some of my more recent thread posts. I threw a lot of options out there in a couple of threads not too long ago.

I second this on banded crix mine live 4 weeks or until gone

 

[Lindasjackson]

I second this on banded crix mine live 4 weeks or until gone

Me to when I feed them. I just hate crickets cause they won’t stay in the feeding dish. I haven’t been able to get Eustis to eat out of a feeder run and also crickets just plain stink! when I do buy them I get them from rainbow mealworms and they do last about a month when I get them. I believe they are the banded ones that I get.

 

[dinomom]

I must be lucky, my chams will climb INSIDE a large cup to pick the crickets off one by one.

I think the key to smell is size of container. I keep 1000 at a time in one of the large Rubbermaid bins, and have no odor whatsoever. The live ones don't smell, and if none die, no smell. Only the gutload will smell but I don't leave it in there long.

 

[Lindasjackson]

I must be lucky, my chams will climb INSIDE a large cup to pick the crickets off one by one.

I think the key to smell is size of container. I keep 1000 at a time in one of the large Rubbermaid bins, and have no odor whatsoever. The live ones don't smell, and if none die, no smell. Only the gutload will smell but I don't leave it in there long.

Years ago I used to have anoles as pets and I would buy a thousand or more crickets at a time and I kept them in a big black Rubbermaid type trash can with a well ventilated lid and the cricket company I got them from told me to feed them oranges and they would smell good and I did and they didn’t smell but we can’t gutload with oranges because it’s not good for the chams.

 

[cd1236]

I vote Red Runners. I think the concern for escape/infestation is overstated. In my view, they are the #1 cricket substitute.

 

[Khrysjam]

I hate the smell of crickets and the chirping gets old. As much as I love camping, I don't want to camp 24/7.

Lately, I have been bouncing back and forth with BSFL, grasshoppers and Dubia roaches. Occasionally, hornworms and superworms as a treat.