Cricket Disaster!

[Blink]

Thought I'd share a horrifying cricket crisis I had today. I was cleaning out one of my crickets tubs, and wanting to thoroughly scrub and sanitize it, I moved all of the crickets into a smaller container while I washed the large one. Needless to say, clumsy me knocked the container over. A rush of hundreds of crickets scurried out across the room, under radiators, doors, and tables, and even into crevices in the wall!!! With a little help, I caught maybe half of them. Worst cricket experience ever! I am, however, thankful that they were not full adult crickets (chirping nightmare) and our cats will probably catch them all before they mature.

 

[doto]

This is my fear starting a dubia colony. Especially since my wife thinks they are yellow dotted beetles and doesn't yet realize they are roaches. Good luck .

 

[kinyonga]

Just one of the "joys" of keeping insectivores! Expect to hear chirping...doubt if the cat will get them all.

 

[pgr7]

Just buy a couple house geckos and turn em loose in the house they take care of the crickets

 

[CraftingDreams]

I feel you.. I was talking to my future son in law and my 3 year old son took one of the tubes and shot it at me.. I thought I was hit with sand until I saw him standing there with the tube from the little crickets, and realized I had a bunch of them running around and on me... ugg.. and he laughed.

Here is a tip though.. a friend told me to buy a glue trap for mice and put it out.. I did, and sure enough it caught like 20 of them. Not sure what it is, but they seem to go to it. Go figure.

As far as dubia.. lol.. my husband doesn't known what they are, and I am trying to keep it that way. I have a 5 1/2 gallon tank I am keeping them in and plan on starting a small colony.. the screen top has a locking lid, but my son can pick up the tank.. so I have to be careful when I have it down... I found a high shelf to put them on, so Im hoping I wont have THAT issue arise.. lol..

Good luck with your crickets..

 

[Fireofmarajade]

OMG. I fear this come fl winter. I try to keep all insects in the lanai. Though u r right. I'm sure my cats would love the joy of hunting them. Wonder if they would eat them like the flies they think r treats?

 

[jcarlsen]

Thought I'd share a horrifying cricket crisis I had today. I was cleaning out one of my crickets tubs, and wanting to thoroughly scrub and sanitize it, I moved all of the crickets into a smaller container while I washed the large one. Needless to say, clumsy me knocked the container over. A rush of hundreds of crickets scurried out across the room, under radiators, doors, and tables, and even into crevices in the wall!!! With a little help, I caught maybe half of them. Worst cricket experience ever! I am, however, thankful that they were not full adult crickets (chirping nightmare) and our cats will probably catch them all before they mature.

Though it's not as cost effective, this is what I've always feared myself. I try to keep as few feeders as I can to feed through a week and just get more at my local pet store. Even when a single cricket gets loose, that chirping from a hiding spot drives us NUTS. Been keeping dubias in an extra tall container since moving away from crickets.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Just buy a couple house geckos and turn em loose in the house they take care of the crickets

You forgot about his cat.....

 

[Carlton]

OMG. I fear this come fl winter. I try to keep all insects in the lanai. Though u r right. I'm sure my cats would love the joy of hunting them. Wonder if they would eat them like the flies they think r treats?

I would secure your insect bins with bungi cords or tie down straps. If they are in a rack shelf unit you could anchor them to the unit.

 

[Carlton]

This is my fear starting a dubia colony. Especially since my wife thinks they are yellow dotted beetles and doesn't yet realize they are roaches. Good luck .

Dubia won't survive to breed unless your house is over 80 F year round. The worst aspect of loose roaches is just finding them everywhere for a while.

My dubia colony fell off its shelf over the water heater one night (I suspected they were holding a dance) releasing hundreds of adults, probably a thousand nymphs of varying ages indoors. Once they reached cooler areas they slowed down so I did recapture many of them, but I didn't worry about them breeding.

 

[Craigwyatt]

I had a very similar situation happen to me. I was unloading my cricket shipment splitting them into 1000 per tub. Well my 4 year old which was 2 at the time knocked over a container. I feel your pain. It was a disaster.

 

[Candybugs]

My cat did it to me.