Another free lesson for the newbies

[srabeardie]

Yep, here I am again with a diet post. I placed a papertowel in the bottom of my cricket cage because I though it would keep the cage cleaner... long story short some of the crickets ate the paper and died :-[
Also does anybody know anything about organic freeze dried grasshopper pieces and secondly, I bought some crickets from a mom and pop store that are cannibals. Yes cannibals. No matter how many orange cubes I put in the cage they still ate each other. Anybody have a similar experience with crickets eating each other?

 

[egg 80]

yeh i had that prob when i accidently ordered some brown banded crix no matter what food etc i put in i was clearing out half eaten dead crix next day but i never had that prob with silent browns or black crix

paul

 

[staylor]

I had my crix each other when I bought them from a mom and pop place too. They would eat each others back legs off, then they would eat the rest of them. They would also attack my beardie too. Needless to say I have not bought crix from there again and they killed each other before I could feed them to my beardie.

 

[zebraflavencs]

You'll want living feeders, as either frozen or freeze dried leaves so much up in the air about husbandry, gut loading, and general information of those feeders before they were packaged... Not to mention the amount of preservatives that are normally used.
Have you given thought to.... roaches ?
Perhaps by using roaches, crickets and supers might be the ticket ?
Hope that helps out !
Janie

 

[egg 80]

roaches i wish i could get some over here they like rocking horse poop here ;D

paul

 

[zebraflavencs]

Why not Paul ?
http://www.roachshop.co.uk/
Hope that helps out !
Janie

 

[egg 80]

sorry for goin a bit off topic lol
i actually found them on the net earlier been searching for ages for roaches everyone always seems to be out of stock, ive been offered some lobster roaches from somone who is trying to reduce their colony on a uk forum near by for a few £ are they any good as a staple and east to keep

paul

 

[zebraflavencs]

Yup ! those'll do !
Janie

 

[egg 80]

cheers ill give them a go ;D

paul

 

[clh321]

Same thing happened to me my cricket cage had like 200 running pretty low and in the morning there wer like 70 dead

 

[zebraflavencs]

Check humidity, and air flow... those are the two that seems to be iffy usually when you see a high die off... also, check for any molded foods.
Hope this helps !
Janie

 

[northface75]

I always leave a nice big pile of cheap, dry cat food in the corner, the crickets seem to love that.

 

[staylor]

Do you have enough things for them to climb on. I keep a the egg crates they are shipped in I the crix keeper. Here is a picture of my set up. I have 1,000 in there and they are doing great and don't loose many. I feed them baby rice cereal and give water on a hermit crab sponge. I have a piece of an old tshirt over the air vent because I have tiny ones in there they got out with screen so I put the shirt back on. Another thing is they do shed there skin a lot as they grow and this can sometimes look like some died when in fact they just shed

 

[Stephanie is a Rockstar]

I have only seen the crickets I get eat each other when they are molting. I buy them daily since Lola only eats 30 large a day, if that. I tried buying in bulk and they kept dying on me. I love it though, I go to the pet store and they know what I need right away. Plus I love the look people give when I am walking around the store with a fish bag of crickets.

 

[srabeardie]

lol, yea they know what I want when I come through the door. I took beardie to the store the other day and he did really great. I was a kid magnet 8)

 

[Craiger]

I have only seen the crickets I get eat each other when they are molting. I buy them daily since Lola only eats 30 large a day, if that. I tried buying in bulk and they kept dying on me. I love it though, I go to the pet store and they know what I need right away. Plus I love the look people give when I am walking around the store with a fish bag of crickets.

Try licking the bag every once in a while. You're likely to get even more looks. LOL!

 

[northface75]

Sandra, I have the same set up, but to keep the crix from climbing the walls I put a couple rows of masking tape around the whole inside, they cant climb past the tape.

 

[staylor]

Sandra, I have the same set up, but to keep the crix from climbing the walls I put a couple rows of masking tape around the whole inside, they cant climb past the tape.

I don't mind them climbing. My daughter thinks its fun to keep them from climbing out when I am feeding. Its a game to her and she is so proud of herself for helping me and not killing any.

 

[northface75]

haha, well in that case you're all set. I just like to prevent any possible escapees....

 

[staylor]

I will keep that in mind for when she gets bored with it. You could get a cat...they take care of any run away crix