Alternative diet for a baby veiled

[ashmichaelson]

Hey all,
So I'm going on a Petco run tonight to get some crickets for my baby veiled, but my local Petco really sucks at restocking their items, especially their insect feeders. I went a while back and took three 15-count bags of small crickets, all of which seemed to be thriving and doing fine. I looked at a 30-count bag on the same rack as well but some of them were dead, so I left it and took just the other bags. However, I returned for more crickets about four days later and found that they hadn't restocked anything, so my only choice was to take the 30-count bag I had previously looked at, which had more dead crickets than before. This was on Monday of this week.

I guess my question is this: If they haven't restocked their small crickets (which would be incredibly ridiculous if they haven't at this point, but I'm still concerned about it), is there anything else as far as insects go that I could feed my baby girl until I've ordered some small crickets online and they've arrived? I hesitate to give her anything bigger than the crickets I buy her on a regular basis because she's tiny and I don't want her to have issues trying to swallow a cricket that's too big for her mouth. Any advice is appreciated, Thanks in advance!

 

[AESara]

Do they only have the pre-bagged ones? Usually you can ask someone who works there to get you some, unless they are actually completely sold out.

Petco also sells Calciworms aka Phoenix Worms, which are a great feeder as long as they aren't too big. These are typically pretty small worms and my baby veiled loves them.

Just be sure to open the container to check the worms before you buy. It hasn't happened to me yet, but other forum members have ended up with a cup full of flies if the worms were sitting for a long time. They're black soldier fly larvae. The flies are safe for your cham too, as long as they aren't too big.

 

[ashmichaelson]

Do they only have the pre-bagged ones? Usually you can ask someone who works there to get you some, unless they are actually completely sold out.

Petco also sells Calciworms aka Phoenix Worms, which are a great feeder as long as they aren't too big. These are typically pretty small worms and my baby veiled loves them.

Just be sure to open the container to check the worms before you buy. It hasn't happened to me yet, but other forum members have ended up with a cup full of flies if the worms were sitting for a long time. They're black soldier fly larvae. The flies are safe for your cham too, as long as they aren't too big.

They have the Vita-Bug crickets in little plastic boxes as well, but all they had left of those were large crickets. Obviously that wouldn't work at all, my Pascal would probably be eaten by those honkers!
I will definitely go and look for those Phoenix Worms. Thanks so much for your help, AESara!

 

[ashmichaelson]

AESara, just so you know... They didn't have the pre-bagged crickets that I normally get, but they had the Vita-Bug crickets in the little plastic boxes I was talking about. I was nervous last time I bought those that they were too big to fit into Pascal's mouth, so I just fed her the smallest ones first. All the ones I bought this time around were much smaller and equal to the size she should be eating, so I got two boxes of those (approximately 72 crickets). I did also look for those phoenix worms you were talking about, but I didn't ever fin them with their other feeders; the only things I found were mealworms :/ I do appreciate your advice however, and if I ever find myself in this situation again I shall remember. THANK YOU!