Bugs in cricket cage

[RaeAnn]

Hello all,
I just received my first large order of crickets in the mail today. Upon opening the box I noticed quite a few of these little black Beatle looking things in there with them. They were pretty small, didn't fly, but able to climb the tub! Also there were little black worms that almost resembled little cintipedes. Any idea on what this could be? Could they be harmful to my girl?
Thanks

 

[Hdrydr31]

Those are cleaner crew bugs totally normal to find in the shipments.. They are good to have just don't feed them to the beardie..

 

[RaeAnn]

Those are cleaner crew bugs totally normal to find in the shipments.. They are good to have just don't feed them to the beardie..

Thank you. Makes me feel much better! I was extremely grossed out when I seen beetles crawling out of the box at first instead of crickets Guess this is one more reason for me to ditch the crickets lol

 

[Hdrydr31]

Thank you. Makes me feel much better! I was extremely grossed out when I seen beetles crawling out of the box at first instead of crickets Guess this is one more reason for me to ditch the crickets lol

Yea I freaked when I first saw them too thinking omg what are those...crickets are good you just got to keep them clean and take care of them well..I love the dubia for ease of care and more bang for the buck and in my health I needed easy feeders for my 2..

 

[MikeNTalysDragon]

You should consider switching to Dubias.. crickets have been a nightmare for me and my beardy. We both got sick of chasing them all over the place pretty quickly. I just ordered a thousand small dubia's off of amazon for 46 dollars. My beardy can't get enough of them, whereas he'll give up on chasing crickets and is only vaguely interested in the worms, he will chase the dubias all over the place eating as many as possible.

 

[RaeAnn]

We are planning on making the switch to Dubias asap. We are currently waiting on a small order just to kind of get a idea of what they are like and see how our girl takes to them. I can not wait to get away from crickets all together! They are such a nightmare. Its like no matter how secure their container is a few always manage to escape somehow.
We will definitely check Amazon out, that's an incredible deal compaired to a lot of the prices we've seen online.

 

[Hdrydr31]

We are planning on making the switch to Dubias asap. We are currently waiting on a small order just to kind of get a idea of what they are like and see how our girl takes to them. I can not wait to get away from crickets all together! They are such a nightmare. Its like no matter how secure their container is a few always manage to escape somehow.
We will definitely check Amazon out, that's an incredible deal compaired to a lot of the prices we've seen online.

Yea you really do need to do your research on where to buy from as it can vary alot... I spent a pretty penny on them in the beginning waiting for my colony to take off once and awhile it's good to get some again just to change up the "gene pool" not that I think it matters.... lol

 

[RaeAnn]

Yea you really do need to do your research on where to buy from as it can vary alot... I spent a pretty penny on them in the beginning
waiting for my colony to take off once and awhile it's good to get some again just to change up the "gene pool" not that I think it matters.... lol

I have definitely noticed there is no "price range" on feeders. Some places charge an arm and a leg for a few, while others seem to have great deals for a bunch. I will definitely need to spend some time doing more research to find the right bug at the right price lol

 

[laswabbie]

Falkor tells me that he likes dubia 10x more than crickets. He also asked me to tell you that he also loves Superworms and BSFL for his daily snacks.

 

[RaeAnn]

Falkor tells me that he likes dubia 10x more than crickets. He also asked me to tell you that he also loves Superworms and BSFL for his daily snacks.

Lol! Tell Falkor I said thanks for the heads up. I'm new and want to give my girl the best I possibly can so I'm sure she will appricate the input as well. I've tried out phoenix worms but she wasn't crazy over them. Although i believe the reason for that was that I ordered way to small of a size, she won't even mess with crickets if they are to tiny for her. I ordered small Dubias so hopefully they will be the correct size! (I've never seen one in my life). What age/size should she be before I try super worms as a snack? Right now she is about 4 months old and only 11inches long.

 

[laswabbie]

Falkor is only 31 grams and 8.5 inches and he goes through them like my grandsons go through doughnuts. He's plenty big enough if he likes them. My Petsmart has them in a box of 50 for less than $5.

They're cheap enough to try out. If your dragon doesn't like them you can sautee them in butter and garlic and eat them on pasta. Just remember to remove the heads first.

 

[RaeAnn]

Falkor is only 31 grams and 8.5 inches and he goes through them like my grandsons go through doughnuts. He's plenty big enough if he likes them. My Petsmart has them in a box of 50 for less than $5.

They're cheap enough to try out. If your dragon doesn't like them you can sautee them in butter and garlic and eat them on pasta. Just remember to remove the heads first.

Awesome! I saw them at my pet smart as well but was hesitant on picking up a pack just because I wasn't completely sure she was big enough yet. I will definitely pick up some next time I'm in there. Please tell me your joking about eating them in pasta! It's a huge step for me to even toss one to her much less eat it myself lol. But aye, it's far from being the strangest thing I've herd

 

[Hdrydr31]

She should be able to do supers they do chew them in half typically, give her one and see how she does with it just don't overload her with too many at first.. They do sell small supers online. Their belly acids and them chewing them does the job

 

[RaeAnn]

She should be able to do supers they do chew them in half typically, give her one and see how she does with it just don't overload her with too many at first.. They do sell small supers online. Their belly acids and them chewing them does the job

Thank you. I would love to try them out. I'm all about adding as much variety as I can into her diet. I've also herd that these make great snacks every once in awhile.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Thank you. I would love to try them out. I'm all about adding as much variety as I can into her diet. I've also herd that these make great snacks every once in awhile.

supers are great staple food item I feed supers and dubia... just know supers are fatty and they can be addicting to your gal hint hint

 

[RaeAnn]

supers are great staple food item I feed supers and dubia... just know supers are fatty and they can be addicting to your gal hint hint

I will keep that in mind. She has an addictive personality as it is lol. We gave her some mango the other night and she has been trying to cut out greens and veggies now and just pick out the mango instead. So now she gets no fruit until she eats some veggies. They are so much like children in many ways

 

[Hdrydr31]

I will keep that in mind. She has an addictive personality as it is lol. We gave her some mango the other night and she has been trying to cut out greens and veggies now and just pick out the mango instead. So now she gets no fruit until she eats some veggies. They are so much like children in many ways

VERY much so!! lol

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yep my 2 get their greens first and once they have some of that then they get their bugs.. lol

 

[laswabbie]

Awesome! I saw them at my pet smart as well but was hesitant on picking up a pack just because I wasn't completely sure she was big enough yet. I will definitely pick up some next time I'm in there. Please tell me your joking about eating them in pasta! It's a huge step for me to even toss one to her much less eat it myself lol. But aye, it's far from being the strangest thing I've herd

I was kidding. But, I've eaten many types of insects in various places around the world. Most were much better than you'd think. The Superworms actually look like they would be pretty good. Kinda like popcorn!

 

[RaeAnn]

I was kidding. But, I've eaten many types of insects in various places around the world. Most were much better than you'd think. The Superworms actually look like they would be pretty good. Kinda like popcorn!

Lol! Me and Spyra have boundaries in our relationship. one being I don't touch her food and she doesn't touch mine. I get my pizza all to myself and she gets her bugs all to herself. So far it's working and it's really helping us to form a healthy bond.