If Lubbers are poisonous, why are they in the Menu?

[jrh3]

Crickets are good i have tried lemon flavored crickets from mexico before, it is better to pull there legs off before you eat them.

 

[camshaft]

I accidentally stepped on an escapee cricket this morning. I was shocked at how gushy it was. I needed a paper towel to clean it up.

I can't imagine crickets tasting good. They stink something bad.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

I accidentally stepped on an escapee cricket this morning. I was shocked at how gushy it was. I needed a paper towel to clean it up.

I can't imagine crickets tasting good. They stink something bad.

I been told, and have used certain plant foods that seem to reduce bad smelling cricket odors. I use the word reduce, only because I keep, at any given time, a minimum of 5000 crickets.

 

[Retnuh]

Sorry to necropost, but has anyone had luck breeding Lubbers on a non toxic diet and feeding them to reptiles? I just caught about 50 lubbers in the wild and would like to start breeding them, but don't want to poison my pets.

 

[Beman]

@SauceGandhi can you answer the question above from Retnuh? This is far outside my area of knowledge. And the only thing I know is that lubbers should not be fed.

 

[SauceGandhi]

Lubbers are toxic no matter what you feed them. They are in a completely different family (Romaleidae) from what we consider typical grasshoppers (Acrididae). They have advanced toxin sequestration mechanisms that can mix and match compounds from non-toxic plants to create noxious chemicals, which are then stored in the thorax region of the exoskeleton. Theoretically, you can feed them immediately after molting, before they have a chance to rebuild their poison stores in the fresh exoskeleton, but given the narrow window, this is a tedious way to feed your animals