Homemade water crystals
- Thread starter lanceman
- Start date
PantherVeileD
Avid Member
water and a sponge 
panthercrazy
New Member
Michael's carries Water Jewels (little balls) or cracked ice, these are essential exactly what water crystals are. Add water and you have the same crystals as sold in the pet stores. I don't add anything to them, I just use for larger crickets & then provide additional sources of gut load - fresh veggies scraps, apple slices, carrots, etc.
Dave Weldon
Avid Member
Howdy,
Years ago I made my own nutritious "water crystals" from Agar Agar (http://www.bulkfoods.com/agar_agar.htm) mixed with one of the off-the-shelf health food store veggie drinks. I eventually switched to just supplying water using a cotton round similar to: http://www.labdelon.com/premium club pack xtra.html soaked in water, sitting in an upside-down mini deli lid. It's no big deal. It's just the way I ended-up spending more money than really necessary on a way to supply water to roaches etc.
.
Years ago I made my own nutritious "water crystals" from Agar Agar (http://www.bulkfoods.com/agar_agar.htm) mixed with one of the off-the-shelf health food store veggie drinks. I eventually switched to just supplying water using a cotton round similar to: http://www.labdelon.com/premium club pack xtra.html soaked in water, sitting in an upside-down mini deli lid. It's no big deal. It's just the way I ended-up spending more money than really necessary on a way to supply water to roaches etc.
.
Bay687
New Member
i buy the crystals! there cheap and affordable. i get them from aaronpauling.com.
http://aaronpauling.com/products/products.php
thats exactly where there at.. easy enough.. put crystals in and add water and give it time to work!
One Ounce Dry Water Crystals
Details
One Ounce of water crystals. Makes 1 gallon of hydrated water gel per ounce. These are the 2-4 mm water crystals.
Ounces Price per Ounce
1-4 $1.00
5-7 $ .95
8-15 $ .90
16+ $ .53 Just $8.48 per pound
48+ $ .50 Just $8.00 per pound
80+ $ .44 Just $7.04 per pound
http://aaronpauling.com/products/products.php
thats exactly where there at.. easy enough.. put crystals in and add water and give it time to work!
One Ounce Dry Water Crystals
Details
One Ounce of water crystals. Makes 1 gallon of hydrated water gel per ounce. These are the 2-4 mm water crystals.
Ounces Price per Ounce
1-4 $1.00
5-7 $ .95
8-15 $ .90
16+ $ .53 Just $8.48 per pound
48+ $ .50 Just $8.00 per pound
80+ $ .44 Just $7.04 per pound
casidonacid
New Member
just food for thought beware of water crystals if you have baby chameleons they can stick to the cricket and expand in the babies stomach and ultimately kill them. seen it happen and has happened to my adult but he passed it with ease.
IMHO, you could add supplements to the cubes, but feeding the feeder with grains, fruits, vegetables, and bee pollen, a home made gut load would be far better than anything you could add to water cubes.
Nick
Nick
Good stuff and cheap as dirt!
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Fruits and vegetables can provide 99% of the hydration roaches or crickets require.
Zen Reptiles
Avid Member
I stick a small jar of water upside down on a plate that has a paper towel over it.
I replace the paper towel once it gets kinda brown and doesn't wick water well.
I have used agar-agar in the past, and I don't like the idea of water crystals
because of what has been mentioned about them expanding in a small lizard's
stomach. Though if you are just feeding to adult chameleons, they should be ok
of course depending on the size of crystal you use...
The jar on a plate is by far the easiest way for me.
I replace the paper towel once it gets kinda brown and doesn't wick water well.
I have used agar-agar in the past, and I don't like the idea of water crystals
because of what has been mentioned about them expanding in a small lizard's
stomach. Though if you are just feeding to adult chameleons, they should be ok
of course depending on the size of crystal you use...
The jar on a plate is by far the easiest way for me.
lanceman
New Member
Thanks for all the tips i am just tryin to find an easy way to gutlaod my wife makes juice all the time from fresh fruits and vegtables. and im gone all day quite often not able to feed feeders easy so just thinkin a fruit and vegatable crystal would be a real easy way to keep things gutloaded when im workin a 14hr day and only have a few seconds extra to feed things.
chameleon97
New Member
do you feed her fresh fruits so shes more nutritious to feed to your dog?
Eric Adrignola
Avid Member
you can buy dry crystals from watergelcrystals.com (I think that's the page).
I use them to maintain my instects, but I avoid using them with small crickets destined for small chameleons - I lost a month old veiled to them. It ingested a partially dehydrated crystal - stuck to a cricket, or trasferred to their cage while I was feeding them - and died. I pulled it out of the dead lizard's stomach, swollen too big to pass.
I've had adults pass them with ease - but I see that it doesn't happen anymore, obviously!
Fresh fruits are best, but they go bad quickly, and I'm too busy to keep up with enough fruit for my roaches. Plus, when I go away, I need something that'll keep for a few days - agar goes bad and harbors bacteria. Plus it's expensive and a pain to make in comparison.
I think I got 5 pounds for less than $10.00. That's enough to last my hobby!
I find it to be excellent for maintaining and breeding the insects. When I go to feed them off, I usually give them greens and veggies before hand.
I use them to maintain my instects, but I avoid using them with small crickets destined for small chameleons - I lost a month old veiled to them. It ingested a partially dehydrated crystal - stuck to a cricket, or trasferred to their cage while I was feeding them - and died. I pulled it out of the dead lizard's stomach, swollen too big to pass.
I've had adults pass them with ease - but I see that it doesn't happen anymore, obviously!
Fresh fruits are best, but they go bad quickly, and I'm too busy to keep up with enough fruit for my roaches. Plus, when I go away, I need something that'll keep for a few days - agar goes bad and harbors bacteria. Plus it's expensive and a pain to make in comparison.
I think I got 5 pounds for less than $10.00. That's enough to last my hobby!
I find it to be excellent for maintaining and breeding the insects. When I go to feed them off, I usually give them greens and veggies before hand.
SSimsswiSS
Avid Member
If kept moist and warm, you should have pinhead size crickets in two weeks time.
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