Probably a dumb question....

[ryanra22]

But how exactly are you supposed to get a specific number of crickets into your cham's cage?

Everywhere I've read says to regulate the number of crickets you're giving, but I've looked around a bit and haven't found anyway that counting out crickets could/should be done.

I'm sure there isn't one single way, but crickets don't seem like the type of bug that would sit around and let you count em out and pick em up. So how exactly do you guys get a specific number of crickets from their enclosure into your chams??

Thanks in advance to everyone who's been great in my research thus far

 

[Hoj]

there are no dumb questions. i just take a rought count when they are in the dusting container, u should be able to count out say 10 or 15 and maybe be plus minus 2 or so, witch would be fine.

 

[camothe]

Usually, you can go to petsmart or petco and buy bags of 12 or 24 (ten cents per small cricket, 11 cents for big ones) and I usually put 6 crickets in my enclosure and leave the other 18 in a tubberwear bowl with a wet paper towel and some collard greens (for gut loading). You just have to be fast when catching the crix

 

[DavidBuchan]

Personally I will pick up the crickets one at a time so I'm getting exactly the size I want (I breed my own so the sizes all mix up). Then drop them into the calcium dusting tub and shake it up a bit. It's more hassle when they are babies and they want 15 small crickets, but when they are older and want 5 medium ones it takes no time

 

[Graanto]

I grab a cup, and i grab a piece of card board out of the cricket pen that i feel as a good number of crickets on it. I hold both the cup and carboard over the pen and bang the card board against the opening of the cup. After that i look in th cup and see how many are in the cup. if too many i pour some out back into the pen. if too liitle add more. Once i think i have a good number of crikets in the cup i dust and feed. hope that helps

edit- i hope this post dosent come off condesending, bcause i genuliy trying to help lol.

 

[ryanra22]

I grab a cup, and i grab a piece of card board out of the cricket pen that i feel as a good number of crickets on it. I hold both the cup and carboard over the pen and bang the card board against the opening of the cup. After that i look in th cup and see how many are in the cup. if too many i pour some out back into the pen. if too liitle add more. Once i think i have a good number of crikets in the cup i dust and feed. hope that helps

edit- i hope this post dosent come off condesending, bcause i genuliy trying to help lol.

lol no not at all i appreciate it! as well as everyone else's responses, very helpful!

I think in reading all of the stuff about chameleons I've scared myself into thinking everything must be exactly 100% perfect or the cham will suffer, when it seems like a little variation shouldn't really be too concerning when it comes to things like this

 

[K9Luvn]

Remember No question is a dumb question on this forum. We are all here to learn from more experienced people that can answer our questions

Something else that has helped me in catching crickets is taking a toilet paper roll and sliding in into the corner of the bin that they run to if you don't get them out of the egg carten in the container. I put a peice of foil on one end so they can't jump back out... then I scoop them in and drop them into the cup. At least that works for me...

 

[ryanra22]

Awesome thanks so much guys! Now the hard part, trying to save up some money to get me setup!!

 

[thatoneguy]

honestly its not a big deal to know exactly how many hes eating everyday. do you eat the same exact amount of food everyday? as long as your not starving him he should be fine. they can go days without eating. alot of them eat cause its their instinct to get food when its available and not necessarily cause they are hungry. if hes eating 1 a day even he will still be fine. not all of them have the same appetite.

but if you would like to keep track of them i would suggest cup feeding, its the easiest way to keep count. hope this helped good luck

 

[Beachbabies]

skip the crickets all together! I switched over to roaches and worms and have been cricket free for 8 months now! i love it, my chams love it! win, freakin win!
seriously, we're out of town alot for shows and stuff, i take a tall deli cup and drilled a few very small holes on the bottom (for dranage), then i add about a tablespoon of gutload and dusting powder (i combine calcium, multivit, and superpig) and then i throw in 1/8 cup roaches. the roaches get moisture when the misters go off, they have food in the cup, so theyre constantly being gutloaded, and the cham always has food. this works with crickets too, but crickets are gross! good luck, and dont worry.