Crickets!

[CaHarding]

Hello everyone. I have a question on crickets. I’m looking for ways to keep the smell down. I’ve had to start ordering crickets online 1k at a time. I have them in 2 totes, ventilated with egg crates. The smell has gotten a bit unbearable even though I clean them both every other day and pull dead ones daily. I’ve heard of vermiculite keeping smell down. But is that only to be used for breeding? Does anyone have any recommendations to get the smell down or what do you all use that works? Any and all suggestions welcome! Thank you!

 

[HoomanSlave]

Banded crickets are less stinky than normal ones, or you could switch to breeding dubias and have better feeders. 1-3 inches of vermiculite can be used as bedding. You might also want to move the crickets to an area you rarely use. A garage will work if you can set them up with a heater and take them inside if it gets too cold or hot.

 

[averyhanna_]

crickets are the worst! the smell they give off even kills other crickets so your best bet would be to remove any dead ones. that can be annoying and time consuming, so i use dubia. i get mine deliverers as well

 

[CaHarding]

crickets are the worst! the smell they give off even kills other crickets so your best bet would be to remove any dead ones. that can be annoying and time consuming, so i use dubia. i get mine deliverers as well

I did Dubia for the first two months I had her. And she wouldn’t touch crickets. Then out of nowhere she won’t touch Dubias and will just grab them and fling them. And is all about the crickets now. I sure miss dubias and the no smell. Sadly stuck with crickets for now I suppose. But in bulk. Woof. But gah you are right. They are the worst and smell so terrible!

 

[CaHarding]

Banded crickets are less stinky than normal ones, or you could switch to breeding dubias and have better feeders. 1-3 inches of vermiculite can be used as bedding. You might also want to move the crickets to an area you rarely use. A garage will work if you can set them up with a heater and take them inside if it gets too cold or hot.

We used to to dubias. But she just quit eating them one day. Before she wouldn’t touch crickets. I’ll look into the banded ones. I’m not even sure what I have now. They are the small brown Petco ones. So the vermiculite is totally safe and I can pull straight from the bin to feed her those? Not sure if it sticks to the crickets or not. Thank you for the advice!

 

[HoomanSlave]

You might want to give the crickets a quick shake or rinse to get the vermiculite off, if you're paranoid about it. The problem with the banded ones is that they're easiest to find online, so in your situation you could probably set yourself up for a subscription or frequent delivery service.

 

[CaHarding]

You might want to give the crickets a quick shake or rinse to get the vermiculite off, if you're paranoid about it. The problem with the banded ones is that they're easiest to find online, so in your situation you could probably set yourself up for a subscription or frequent delivery service.

I was under the impression it’s only used for breeding. But I’m not doing that. So that’s good to know. Thanks for clearing that up! I will look into it.

 

[Knight98]

I use Dubai’s and they are hassle&smell free, I simply order enough for the week from a website here in uk and postman drops them off

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

I did Dubia for the first two months I had her. And she wouldn’t touch crickets. Then out of nowhere she won’t touch Dubias and will just grab them and fling them. And is all about the crickets now. I sure miss dubias and the no smell. Sadly stuck with crickets for now I suppose. But in bulk. Woof. But gah you are right. They are the worst and smell so terrible!

lol Stinky for sure. When you do find a solution that works spread the word! We all want to know. And, I'm feelin ya @CaHarding . My guy does the same thing. Dubias is all he wants then . . . bam! nope I want my crickets . . . nope I want my dubia back. Sigh. Makes pre-ordering difficult sometimes.

 

[CaHarding]

lol Stinky for sure. When you do find a solution that works spread the word! We all want to know. And, I'm feelin ya @CaHarding . My guy does the same thing. Dubias is all he wants then . . . bam! nope I want my crickets . . . nope I want my dubia back. Sigh. Makes pre-ordering difficult sometimes.

I think it will be the million dollar find! Lol. I’m glad I’m not the only one. I preorder also and so nervous she’s gonna quit the crickets after a thousand come! Picky eaters I guess!

 

[CaHarding]

I use Dubai’s and they are hassle&smell free, I simply order enough for the week from a website here in uk and postman drops them off

I surely do miss the dubias. She decided she won’t touch them anymore after only eating dubia in the beginning. She picks em up and flings em. I bought some dubia to see if she will switch back but she ain’t having that! Lol! They certainly smell better though

 

[averyhanna_]

I did Dubia for the first two months I had her. And she wouldn’t touch crickets. Then out of nowhere she won’t touch Dubias and will just grab them and fling them. And is all about the crickets now. I sure miss dubias and the no smell. Sadly stuck with crickets for now I suppose. But in bulk. Woof. But gah you are right. They are the worst and smell so terrible!

picky eaters are the worst!

 

[CaHarding]

picky eaters are the worst!

They surely are! You must have one lol

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

I surely do miss the dubias. She decided she won’t touch them anymore after only eating dubia in the beginning. She picks em up and flings em. I bought some dubia to see if she will switch back but she ain’t having that! Lol! They certainly smell better though

OMG! I can picture the flinging, probably followed by pouting. hahahahaha Believe it or not Sammy may get tired of just crickets and go back to dubia. Dex right now is in the combo stage. He wants his dubia to start out the day, but only wants crickets after that. So at the moment I'm buying both. Gah! lol

I also think the dubia are more hardy and easier keepers, so I'm hoping when Dex is at the age when he's eating more vege than bugs he'll prefer the dubia. Crossing fingers lol

 

[Knight98]

If they’re hungry you’d think that they would eat most live staple foods but my guy won’t touch crickets, so I don’t bother. feel like I’ve wasted my money then haha

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

picky eaters are the worst!

Hi Avery, long time not talk. lol Good to see you! And, yup, I got one of those.

 

[Dragon's Gramma]

So glad to hear that pickiness (sp??) Is normal! My 2 are driving me crazy! LOL! I can't tell if they're going to eat or not from 1 day to the next!!

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

So glad to hear that pickiness (sp??) Is normal! My 2 are driving me crazy! LOL! I can't tell if they're going to eat or not from 1 day to the next!!

It's frustrating for sure! Dex did the same thing when he was smaller. Would go a few days here and there eating very little. Now, not so much. He eats like a horse. lol And, he always looking for more.

 

[CaHarding]

OMG! I can picture the flinging, probably followed by pouting. hahahahaha Believe it or not Sammy may get tired of just crickets and go back to dubia. Dex right now is in the combo stage. He wants his dubia to start out the day, but only wants crickets after that. So at the moment I'm buying both. Gah! lol

I also think the dubia are more hardy and easier keepers, so I'm hoping when Dex is at the age when he's eating more vege than bugs he'll prefer the dubia. Crossing fingers lol

She did it once also with flinging a black soldier fly lava. It stuck to the glass. I cracked up and she was not amused. Apparently not a fan of those either! Fingers crossed for you as well she sticks to something easy! But why would they like to make it easy for Us? Lol! They sure are funny aren’t they? Kinda takes you by surprise when they don’t eat a lot and then you blink and are ordering bugs in bulk trying to keep up ha!

 

[CaHarding]

So glad to hear that pickiness (sp??) Is normal! My 2 are driving me crazy! LOL! I can't tell if they're going to eat or not from 1 day to the next!!

Just like a kid! Gotta keep you stressing. Maybe make you stress more than a kid if I’m being honest! Lol