Cricket questions

[questnjurny]

Well I have found as I research chameleons, that not only do I need to learn how to keep them, but how to keep crickets as well! Being totally new to reptiles I have no clue on keeping bugs, usually I am trying to keep them out of my house, not in it. So, a few questions on keeping crickets.

This may be really obvious to most, but is a question I keep asking myself. So you keep the crickets in your cricket container, but how do you handle them, how do they not jump out when you open the lid, or do a few jump out? I just have images of opening the lid and crickets going everywhere.

How many would I order at a time for one adult female veiled? And at what size? The site I'm looking at has many different sizes, they seem to go up by 1/8" right increments.

Do I have to feed fruits/veggies or is just the gutload food adequate? Not that feeding fruits/veg would be a problem, just curious.

Would a basement be okay to keep the crickets in?

What is the best way to dust them, get a duster thing? (again teh visuals in my head...this one is the "shake n bake" method of coating...lol!)

Do the crickets need heat/light?

I want to get everything set up and ready to go before I adopt the cham I'm hoping to get and have come to realize that the keeping of food is just as much work to learn about as the pet! (okay, not quite, but still have a lot to learn).

Am loving this site, and it is amazing how much knowledge I've soaked up already. I'm ready to get to home depot and pick up my materials for an enclosure!
Carly

 

[DarkRapture]

i'll just tell you what i do and maybe it will help. my chameleon is about 6 months old and i am feeding about 6 1/2" to full size (3/4"ish) a day (also feeding 2 superworms and 2 silkworms). i buy about 100 med sized crix each time and it lasts uh, i think about a couple weeks, maybe even a few (not entirely sure, i have another lizard as well).

i use a 5 gallon rubbermaid that i converted into a cricket container. cost me 6 bux and some aluminum screen for about 5 - lots of extra left over too. i drilled 4 holes in the lid to get my jigsaw into and cut out a large window on the top. i also drilled and cut out a smaller triangular shape on each end for airflow. the more air the better. i roughly sanded the inside of the container around the cut edges (1" wide) and hot glued the screen to it. i had to make sure that there weren't any frayed edges and put glue at the outside of the corners to make sure. thats it.

crix need no light. i keep them in the closet. room temp is fine also. bigger containers limit escaping crix... they are easy to handle i have never been bitten. i grab them and hold by the legs, pinch one hopping leg off and put into a cup for my cham. (my cage is not cricket proof so i cup feed).

as for the rest of it, it is good to have a larger container to limit escapees. less mess! i use cardboard egg carton for them in there to hide. if they don't have anywhere to hide, they eat each other rapidly. yuk! i used 2 disposable plastic cups and cut the bottoms to use for food dishes. this keeps mess down too. one is for gutload powdered stuff, and the other is for veggies. i use the salad i have for my bearded dragon, but you can use dandelion greens, kale, carrot, beans... anything high in calcium and low in oxalates is fine. i have tried using the cricket gelatin water stuff (sorry about the name! haha) but i think that fresh veggies each day and a wet sponge is alright. wet paper towel works too.

every couple days when i take the dishes out to change the food, i tip the whole thing to the side a little and clean up the poops and dead crix. and there are a lot of poops! the dollar store has those mini dustpans with a brush, and its awesome!

well! i think thats it... superworms (zoophobas morio - looks like big mealworm, different species) are pretty much the same care but don't need dishes. i just put the food on them! lol

have fun!

crix need no light, i keep mine in the closet. room temps are fine, no heater req. bigger containers limit escapees, and airflow helps a lot to stay alive longer. good luck!

 

[Jordan]

Crickets and jumping. They are really not that good at it. This is really a list ditch effort for them to get away. They seemingly have no control as to where they are going to land. Another thing to remember is that in order for them to get a good high jump the have to travel outward from their starting position.

I have found that the best way to combat escapees is to have a bin that is some what narrow in width and depth, but good in height.

For a one chameleon owner there are some commercially available products that you may find worth the money. "Cricket Keepers" found in a number of different sizes at pet stores and on the internet. The ones I have in mind have tubes that insert into them. This makes catching the crickets very easy as there are usually some already in the tubes.

As far as a duster goes. There are a couple DIY threads on the website, try to do a search. I myself just use a tall, smooth, plastic Hardee's cup. I am very good at not getting any excess in there. I put the crickets (or whatever), add some supplements, swirl the cup around (suprised I have never seen a cricket puke) and dump them in the cage. There are some commercially available products for this but do the search first. I am sure you can come up with something for this without really spending money. You could put them in a plastic bag, then shake and bake them too, that works.

Crickets do need heat. Most likely your house is already warm enough. A basement...it will kind of depend on your basement. I would say 70s-80s for crickets. They higher the temperatures you keep them the quicker they will die off.

I do offer mine a day cycle, via the room they are in. They get natural sunlight through the window.

I would do a search in regards to gutloading. A lot of information on this here. You may also choose to do a search on the web. There is not a lot of information about chameleons in particular but search for iguana and bearded dragon fruits/veggies for there diets. There is an abundance of sites that contain nutritional amounts, ones to stay away from....etc... Keep in mind these reptiles are feed directly and your chameleon will eat them third party. Some of the same problems could potential still be passed on to your chameleon so it is best to head to the advice.

How many to order? Kind of depends on how much you want to deal with them and if you have the space. Keep in mind crickets are noisy and smell funny in large amounts. I have ordered them in bulk but have just opted to buy them from the pet store (100 at a time) because I do not like them in the house. I do house other various insects but I just do not like the crickets. Just my preferance though.

I am sure someone will jump in with more specifics as to care, temps...etc.

Welcome to the forums and good luck.

 

[DarkRapture]

handling, dusting

also forgot to mention how to handle! just put your hand in there, they run away... catch one gently they don't bite. i usually hold them by the legs or big abdomen, then i pinch one hopping leg off and put them into a regular sized ziplock baggie. i have about a teaspoon of calcium in there, and i shake them all up till they have a light coating. then i put them in a cup cuz my cage is not cricket proof. this way i can see how much he is eating as well.

there are a few threads about cricket dusting schedules, and i would suggest you check them out. make sure you have plain calcium, calcium with D3, and calcium with D3 and vitamins. use the vitamins every other week, calcium about 3X a week, and calcium D3 about 2X. it varies for your situation, but it is a general idea. i don't dust once a week so as not to over supplement.

 

[chamlover]

Talking about keeping bugs out. Try roaches. They don't smell like the crickets do, they live a long time, some of them 2-3 years ( compared to crickets that only live 8 weeks) and they don't jump ( some of them). I just started my roach colony to give my chams a variety and me less clean up. It does take awhile getting used to though doesn't it. LOL. I never thought i would get excited about having roaches showing up at my house. I think the UPS guy thinks i'm really weird. And good for you doing all that research before getting your animal. Pat yourself on the back, your cham will appreciate it and show it with good health from all your hard work. But check into other things besides crickets too, like silkworms, hornworms, and yes roaches. All of which you can get over the internet or at reptile expos. What kind are you looking at getting? Do you already have one picked out?

 

[littleliz]

well lots of great advice here already. I am not quite as brave as most owners it would seem LOL. I can not handle the crickets and have never done the removing of legs thing either. I do have diposable surgical type gloves which I wear to handle crickets although a sandwhich bag over my hand does the same job (I can not handle them without these but that is just me being squeemish) I plan to invest in a proper cricket keeper for them soon but I just use a critter keeper box at the moment. When removing the lid I find that it is wise to do this either inside my chams viv or insde of a deep bucket to avoid randomly jumping crickets from escaping into my house.

 

[questnjurny]

Wow, you guys are awesome!

The Cricket Keeper looks like a good idea, I searched around and found some pics online. I was going to use a 10 gallon aquarium, but the keepers aren't much money and made jsut for crickets. I also found what looks to be an easy to use duster, essentially a cup with a tub to stick the crickets down into the cup and then a grate at teh bottom for excess powder to fall through. Am going shopping tomorrow.

I'll be keeping them in the basement, but its a walkout basement, so its light during the day just from natural light. Is generally just a few degrees colder than the rest of teh house as the furnace is down there so heats up the basement to a certain degree as well.

The roaches...I'm not there just yet. lol! I'm just barely accepting of teh fact I'll have crickets in my house on purpose. Any worm type things that can be used as a staple as well? I'd guess they'd be a lot pricier than crix though.

I do have a particular cham in mind. Its with a rescue org, a female veiled. I can see in teh future wanting one with some of the bright colours that I've seen on here, I am constantly amazed at their beauty!

 

[dodolah]

Wow, you guys are awesome!

The Cricket Keeper looks like a good idea, I searched around and found some pics online. I was going to use a 10 gallon aquarium, but the keepers aren't much money and made jsut for crickets. I also found what looks to be an easy to use duster, essentially a cup with a tub to stick the crickets down into the cup and then a grate at teh bottom for excess powder to fall through. Am going shopping tomorrow.

I'll be keeping them in the basement, but its a walkout basement, so its light during the day just from natural light. Is generally just a few degrees colder than the rest of teh house as the furnace is down there so heats up the basement to a certain degree as well.

The roaches...I'm not there just yet. lol! I'm just barely accepting of teh fact I'll have crickets in my house on purpose. Any worm type things that can be used as a staple as well? I'd guess they'd be a lot pricier than crix though.

I do have a particular cham in mind. Its with a rescue org, a female veiled. I can see in teh future wanting one with some of the bright colours that I've seen on here, I am constantly amazed at their beauty!

you'll get there soon enough
I used to favor crickets over dubia roach.
But, now.. i take dubia anytime.

It was hard to fathom at first.. but Dubia roaches are cleaner than crickets.

 

[nickmas]

So that's the trick! I always wondered how people keep their crickets in a bowl to feed their chams and it's as simple as ripping a jumping leg off. Question though, how long will the cricket last after ripping it's leg off? I've had my cham for four days and he ate 4 crickets the first day and only one yesterday so I'm concerned about her eating. If the crickets can't jump out of the bowl I'll be able to track what she eats better. Do you include viggies in the cricket bowl? I put some thin carrot slices and kale chunks in mine.

Thanks
Nick

 

[DarkRapture]

So that's the trick! I always wondered how people keep their crickets in a bowl to feed their chams and it's as simple as ripping a jumping leg off. Question though, how long will the cricket last after ripping it's leg off? I've had my cham for four days and he ate 4 crickets the first day and only one yesterday so I'm concerned about her eating. If the crickets can't jump out of the bowl I'll be able to track what she eats better. Do you include viggies in the cricket bowl? I put some thin carrot slices and kale chunks in mine.

Thanks
Nick

if you pinch the leg off so it doesn't take the guts too, they last as long as you are feeding them. i use my thumb and index finger and press the top of the thigh in a pinching kind of motion. i when guts/water goo comes out, they usually only make it through part of the day if they aren't eaten.

i like to put veggies in there too, but make sure that anything you have in there is safe for your chameleon to eat, and is chopped into smaller pieces - you don't have to dice it. kale is great, carrots is ok if shredded, dandelion, mustard, and collard greens are all awesome as well. i have a lot of fresh veggies as salad for my bearded dragon so i just use it for all my feeder insects and chameleon also. i put in the occasional cilantro and bok choy too. it keeps the crickets gutloaded and provides a nice treat for your cham if he is so inclined. hope this was informative

 

[sharkey]

good for you to take in a rescued animal. you have a big heart

 

[LaserGecko]

Cricket Keepers suck for long term storage. There's not enough air circulation to keep the stink down and they'll die. They're good for gutloading the day before you feed them off, though.

Buy your crickets by the thousand. It will be far, far cheaper in the long run even for one chameleon.

 

[questnjurny]

Sharky, I like to help with rescue where I can. Because I show my dogs in conformation I have to get them from a breeder, so as much as I'd love to give a rescued dog a home, I just don't have extra dog spaces. They're full up with either retirees, dogs in the height of competition or up and comers...right now its a mix of those. So I like that I can help out a different sort of rescued animal. The reptile rescue where I'm getting this girl from is busting at the seams and I figured it was a good time to get off my butt and actually do something about getting my chameleon rather than always saying "one day!".

Laser, how big of a container would i need for 1000? A rubbermaid tote with a screen lid? I was reading on one site not to get more crickets than I can feed in a couple weeks, 1000 would last longer than that, I guess just get them small? I did notice the HUGE price difference in ordering even 500 online ($0.03 each) as opposed to the pet store ($0.20 each). I guess even with losses I'd still come out way way ahead. Maybe the best way to deal with that is just get another chameleon! lol! Think I'll start with one for now.

A worm question, am I right in remembering that zoophoba are the best worm as a "staple" worm...what kind of worms are those?

 

[LaserGecko]

Check out the Cricket Outhouse in my Gallery on here. There's plenty of room for 1,000 in there.

It's based on the design of the one listed at Reptile Rooms, but the screen bottom lets poop fall through to the other container.