Cricket chaos!

[lysinlight87]

So I bought one of these, thinking it would make feeding Neelix a doddle... You just take out one of the tubes, put calci-dust in the cap and give it a good shake. Then watch at 10 little crickets calmly march out the tube onto his branches...ha!

What actually happened was, I took the cap off & a swarm of about 30 crickets all leapt out at once, half going in the cage and half going on my living room floor! Neelix is having a field-day but I am not lol. I'm having to keep a glass and a piece of paper handy to catch them as they appear.

Anyone have any tips? Most of these guys are 5mm (1/4 inch) in length so picking them up with tweezers usually ends up in squished crickets, and I end up spending ages chasing the little buggers around the tank before I catch one anyway. Putting them in the fridge for 30 mins doesn't seem to calm them down much either. Can't wait till Neelix can handle the big-boy crickets! The only pet shop I can get to by bus doesn't have any intermediates between tiny and giant lol. Guess I'll be hitching a lift to the other pet shop to get the slightly larger crickets.

 

[skittles1234]

Sounds like they creep you out. I pick them up by hand and with my hand I can most of they time apply just enough pressure to snatch them without squishing them. Ditch the tweezers they Do Not bite. I got over it by holding the smaller ones. Then graduated to larger ones. At least they are babies though. The chance of them surviving to adulthood to breed is small. Good luck though! And think of the crickets as cute. It helps lol
Edit - and I usually put my crickets in a large tupperware to gut load them and the I place the Chams food bowl inside the container and break off their lil legs so they cannot hop and put them into the feeder. But most of my chams handfeed

 

[AngieL]

If you google 'soda bottle cricket trap' you'll get an idea of how to catch them. My bf made one and put a nice juicy grape in the bottom. Didn't work for us but we only had 1 loose cricket! It ended up going to the light of the window so look out for them there

 

[lysinlight87]

Sounds like they creep you out. I pick them up by hand and with my hand I can most of they time apply just enough pressure to snatch them without squishing them. Ditch the tweezers they Do Not bite. I got over it by holding the smaller ones. Then graduated to larger ones. At least they are babies though. The chance of them surviving to adulthood to breed is small. Good luck though! And think of the crickets as cute. It helps lol
Edit - and I usually put my crickets in a large tupperware to gut load them and the I place the Chams food bowl inside the container and break off their lil legs so they cannot hop and put them into the feeder. But most of my chams handfeed

Yea, they do creep me out a bit, which is funny cos I study zoology & that involves a fair amount of bugs- my summer project to is catch and photograph 25 different bug species. I think that'll get me over the fear for sure!

I've just started to hand-feed, so I'll try just holding one out to him. Found out my friend did this when she baby-sat him and she lived to tell the tail lol

 

[Miss Machine]

I use on of these too, for my pygmys. I first shake most of the crickets out, then when there are about 10 left, i shake it empty in a plastic container, dust and then feed it.

(I mean to take out a black tube and then shake it almost empty)

 

[lysinlight87]

I use on of these too, for my pygmys. I first shake most of the crickets out, then when there are about 10 left, i shake it empty in a plastic container, dust and then feed it.

(I mean to take out a black tube and then shake it almost empty)

ok, i'll give that a go too. thanks

 

[lysinlight87]

If you google 'soda bottle cricket trap' you'll get an idea of how to catch them. My bf made one and put a nice juicy grape in the bottom. Didn't work for us but we only had 1 loose cricket! It ended up going to the light of the window so look out for them there

that's a good one to remember! think I rounded most of them up this time, luckily

 

[hpc1979]

Cricket chaos

Its been a while since logged on here and had a good laugh. I think its funny how some people take your story so seriously....i read it and smiled. I remember watching how my mom used to act when i had a bearded dragon when i was a kid, eventually as i got older and left home, she took care of my lizard when i joined the military, and then refused to give in back when i came home to get him. She used to be petrified of those crickets.

 

[lysinlight87]

Its been a while since logged on here and had a good laugh. I think its funny how some people take your story so seriously....i read it and smiled. I remember watching how my mom used to act when i had a bearded dragon when i was a kid, eventually as i got older and left home, she took care of my lizard when i joined the military, and then refused to give in back when i came home to get him. She used to be petrified of those crickets.

It's hilarious when I ask my mum to stop by and feed my axolotls. They're hand-fed earthworms and she hates having to pick them up. She usually just drops them in the tank and runs I think lol. It's gonna be fun on the occasions when I ask her to feed Neelix.

 

[Kate]

I had one of those boxes and didn't like it. When the crickets go into the tube there seems to be a certain amount of moisture in there and after several days I ended up with a soggy mess of dead crickets. I use a similar box without the tubes and tube holes. My dog likes to catch the escapees. I can cope with locusts but avoid extra large crickets. There is something evil about them. I stick to med/ large. And then there is the smell!!!!!!!!!!haha.

 

[Ashleigh]

So I bought one of these, thinking it would make feeding Neelix a doddle... You just take out one of the tubes, put calci-dust in the cap and give it a good shake. Then watch at 10 little crickets calmly march out the tube onto his branches...ha!

What actually happened was, I took the cap off & a swarm of about 30 crickets all leapt out at once, half going in the cage and half going on my living room floor! Neelix is having a field-day but I am not lol. I'm having to keep a glass and a piece of paper handy to catch them as they appear.

Anyone have any tips? Most of these guys are 5mm (1/4 inch) in length so picking them up with tweezers usually ends up in squished crickets, and I end up spending ages chasing the little buggers around the tank before I catch one anyway. Putting them in the fridge for 30 mins doesn't seem to calm them down much either. Can't wait till Neelix can handle the big-boy crickets! The only pet shop I can get to by bus doesn't have any intermediates between tiny and giant lol. Guess I'll be hitching a lift to the other pet shop to get the slightly larger crickets.

I have one of those just like that! I want to avoid touching crickets at all costs!!! I have 25 med to large crickets in mine right now and I feed them bug burger in the little trays it came with so I don't have any moisture or mold issues, and I have a bottle brush to clean out the tubes when I clean it once a week. I just take out a tube, shake a few into a separate shaker cup that has my calcium dust, shake them around in the calcium and shake them into the cup my cham feeds out of. Works for me!

 

[lysinlight87]

I have one of those just like that! I want to avoid touching crickets at all costs!!! I have 25 med to large crickets in mine right now and I feed them bug burger in the little trays it came with so I don't have any moisture or mold issues, and I have a bottle brush to clean out the tubes when I clean it once a week. I just take out a tube, shake a few into a separate shaker cup that has my calcium dust, shake them around in the calcium and shake them into the cup my cham feeds out of. Works for me!

Have to admit-I do love the little tray, that does make easier lol

I remember feeding my friends bearded dragon and using her dog to catch the escapees. Unfortunately, my cat isn't interested in catching them, he just watches them hop under the sofa

 

[absolutbill]

I'm a huge fan of buying a dustbuster (not sure if they are called that in the UK, but a mini vacuum cleaner), and only using it for feeders. It will suck up any escaped crickets, but you can also use it to suck them up from their container (I have 1000 at a time in a 10 gal. tank). I just suck up the amount I want, then empty it into a cricket keeper (minus those black tubes). I add my supplements and give a good shake, then shake the cricket keeper into Kimani's feeding cup. You won't kill the crickets, and it makes them quite easy to capture without touching them.

Michelle

 

[lysinlight87]

love it lol maybe something to consider if I find myself with more than 1 reptile

 

[Psychobunny]

I'm a huge fan of buying a dustbuster (not sure if they are called that in the UK, but a mini vacuum cleaner), and only using it for feeders. It will suck up any escaped crickets, but you can also use it to suck them up from their container (I have 1000 at a time in a 10 gal. tank). I just suck up the amount I want, then empty it into a cricket keeper (minus those black tubes). I add my supplements and give a good shake, then shake the cricket keeper into Kimani's feeding cup. You won't kill the crickets, and it makes them quite easy to capture without touching them.

Michelle

I do the same. I need a lot of cricks to feed 4 guys (3 chams and 1 leopard gecko) so I keep them in a large plastic storage bin.
Keep my little "DirtDevil" battery op vacuum right next to it, and thats pretty much all I use it for is cleaning the crick bin.

If I suck up some live cricks, no harm done, I just open the little vacuum cleaner up over the bin and let them hop back into it