Keeping crickets alive?

[Fiona]

I have been buying mine at petco or petsmart either place...when I got just large I had a lot of die off as she was not eating very much. now that I have her warm and awake she is eating a lot!!! so now I get some large and a lot of small.....the small ones I put in my plastic tub that I have cut the lid to make windows and covered holes with screen.....and I put the large in the cricket keeper....and I discovered how to get her to eat kale.....not in the dish just put it on the ground.....guess she likes the natural way of eating.

also I was going to ask them about the super worm and roaches....(insert yuck face here) and I forgot...might be for the best cuz I have no idea where to keep them alive and how often do you feed them. I think I rather deal with worms then roaches.

also I was wondering.....because the kale goes limp so fast I cut the ends off and put it in water like flowers.....if I put some calcium in the water do you think it will soak it up...

 

[PatsyB]

I have been buying mine at petco or petsmart either place...when I got just large I had a lot of die off as she was not eating very much. now that I have her warm and awake she is eating a lot!!! so now I get some large and a lot of small.....the small ones I put in my plastic tub that I have cut the lid to make windows and covered holes with screen.....and I put the large in the cricket keeper....and I discovered how to get her to eat kale.....not in the dish just put it on the ground.....guess she likes the natural way of eating.

also I was going to ask them about the super worm and roaches....(insert yuck face here) and I forgot...might be for the best cuz I have no idea where to keep them alive and how often do you feed them. I think I rather deal with worms then roaches.

also I was wondering.....because the kale goes limp so fast I cut the ends off and put it in water like flowers.....if I put some calcium in the water do you think it will soak it up...

I keep my supers in a 10 gallon tank on a bed of wheat germ or oatmeal. Once a week or so I will throw in a carrot or beardie salad. Make sure you have good ventilation to prevent mold growth, you don't wan the substrate to get wet. With proper care they can last for months. I think I bought my last batch in Feb. and still have a bunch left.

I can't do roaches. I know they are nutritious and they like them but I can't deal with the ick factor.

I wash all my greens, chop them and dry them real good and put them in ziplock bags with a dry paper towel to catch any moisture. They stay good until it's all fed off to my critters. Kale is best to be mixed with other greens and veggies.

 

[Fiona]

when we got her we were told zucchini and sometimes a little broccoli. after joining this group and learning we were told all wrong I went a little nuts at the grocery store...as she stopped eating zucchini and would only eat crickets....I have now learned kale seems to be her favorite green, i have also tried collard greens, she also like yellow squash a little. you said kale is to be mixed with other veggies..is it not good for them? I also put the greens in her tank in the morning and don't feed crickets until evening.....so much like a child she is.

I will be sure to try the super worms and find a way to keep them if she likes them. the roaches are just a yuck thing for me too...we lived on the water and had huge roaches. they did not get into anything in the house but they were just gross...

 

[MisterD83]

I order my crickets from great lakes hornworm in batches of 500 to 1000 at a time and the only time I get a mass die off is when I need the sanitize their tank.

I also make my own cricket food, practically the same things I'd feed my beardie just pulsed through a food processor to blend it up a bit. I"m not seeing any die off, actually I think I'm seeing accelerated growth.

I feed my girl crickets, silkworms, and soon hornworms (waiting on them to hatch and grow).


Unfortunately petsmart (I'm a former employee) and petco (I'm friends with a former employee) don't train their people as well as they used to. They are apt to pass out a lot of misinformation to people not knowing how much harm it may do to the critters.

For breeding crickets I heard to place a bot with topsoil in the breeder's bin for a few weeks then change it out. Once it has eggs in it place it in another bin and wait for the eggs to hatch the nymphs (pinheads) will appear white on the topsoil

 

[PatsyB]

I order my crickets from great lakes hornworm in batches of 500 to 1000 at a time and the only time I get a mass die off is when I need the sanitize their tank.

I also make my own cricket food, practically the same things I'd feed my beardie just pulsed through a food processor to blend it up a bit. I"m not seeing any die off, actually I think I'm seeing accelerated growth.

I feed my girl crickets, silkworms, and soon hornworms (waiting on them to hatch and grow).


Unfortunately petsmart (I'm a former employee) and petco (I'm friends with a former employee) don't train their people as well as they used to. They are apt to pass out a lot of misinformation to people not knowing how much harm it may do to the critters.

For breeding crickets I heard to place a bot with topsoil in the breeder's bin for a few weeks then change it out. Once it has eggs in it place it in another bin and wait for the eggs to hatch the nymphs (pinheads) will appear white on the topsoil

Where do you get your silworms from? I order my hornworms and super worms from Great Lakes, great customer service.

We just had a new Petsmart open up in our neighborhood and I was excited because they seem to have more selection on reptile stuff than our Petco does. Well we went opening day and they have one shelf full of turtle food and some boxed crickets, they don't even have live reptiles. Which it's good that they don't have live ones if they aren't going to train staff but stinks that they can't at least sell some supplies.

 

[MisterD83]

I get my silkworms from www.coastalsilkworms.com, but knowing you have many more reptilian friends than I do, you might get a better buy from www.floridafreshsilkworms.com.

 

[MisterD83]

Where do you get your silworms from? I order my hornworms and super worms from Great Lakes, great customer service.

We just had a new Petsmart open up in our neighborhood and I was excited because they seem to have more selection on reptile stuff than our Petco does. Well we went opening day and they have one shelf full of turtle food and some boxed crickets, they don't even have live reptiles. Which it's good that they don't have live ones if they aren't going to train staff but stinks that they can't at least sell some supplies.

My closest petsmarts treat their store brand product like its name brand and have very minimum of zilla, exo-terra and zoomed. they have 1 6 foot x 8 foot section for all the lights, hoods and dome lights. The dome lights and hoods are either Nat Geo brand or "All living things" which is petsmart's 4th or 5th store brand name. On top of that Petsmart will sell any one a compact UVb bulb saying its better than the traditional tubes.

Way back when I was caring for my brother's dragons (the 2 in my profile avatar), I picked up a 50 gal tank from petco and looked at the dragons there. Petco had the enclosure too cold, the dial thermometer was in the basking spot reading close to 90 degrees F and the hydrometer was near 40%

 

[June]

Where is everyone getting crickets from that keep dying off so fast? Is it online or at a pet store? The reason I ask is the place that I order crickets from offers plain old crickets or something called vita-crickets that are supposed to be better. I order the 3/4" vita crickets for my frogs and never have any issues with die off but I just ordered the 1/4" inchers for my chameleon and I felt like a lot of them died off so I'm wondering if the "vita" has anything to do with it.

Another question for everyone with dead crickets. Are you keeping track of how many crickets you are feeding and how many you should have left? It's normal to have some die and when you order online they give a bit more to compensate for die off. Crickets shed their extoskeleton just like worms and roaches and a lot of what looks like dead crickets is actually just cricket shells.

You mentioned you use a 10 gallon tank for the crickets. About how many do you put in at a time? What online store do you order the crickets from?
I'm using the large cricket keeper which is fine, but I haven't gone over 144 small crickets at a time, and I'm making a trip to the pet store about every 5 days. I was hoping to get a tank and keep more at a time to save on the trips.

 

[PatsyB]

I buy 1000 at a time actually now I'm buying like 1/2" crickets, it's just easier to feed the frogs and the chameleon the same size. I order from Josh's frogs they are in MI and they are somewhat close to me so the crickets don't have a long travel time. I put in lots of egg crates for them to hide and I use old plastic lids as plates for my cricket quencher and cricket feed. Then I just put bunches of greens randomly around the tank. They seem to be happy!

 

[June]

I buy 1000 at a time actually now I'm buying like 1/2" crickets, it's just easier to feed the frogs and the chameleon the same size. I order from Josh's frogs they are in MI and they are somewhat close to me so the crickets don't have a long travel time. I put in lots of egg crates for them to hide and I use old plastic lids as plates for my cricket quencher and cricket feed. Then I just put bunches of greens randomly around the tank. They seem to be happy!

Wow. I didn't think I could get that many in a tank! I think using a tank is the best option for me. Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate it. The cost is much better online than in the pet stores. I have only two pet store choices and sometimes they are out of the small crickets so I have to drive to another city.

 

[PatsyB]

Just make sure they have hiding places and they should be okay. Like I said, egg crates or even toilet paper rolls work good. Oh and egg crates should be cardboard.