cricket species...

[armando]

Im currently making a little experiment....
I have two colonies of different cricket species...

1. Acheta domesticus (the ones that can be bought at a regular store)
http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/ekmps/shops/thepinkskink/resources/Image/silent%20brown%20crickets%20large.jpg

2. Gryllodes sigillatus (Also known as banded crickets) ..
http://api.ning.com/files/FPdBgJRJ02B5W1gqqe14jA97OJQH0CAeQxZqa3kSMKjtDvVigUPTKBsmsYfKjK-*Fo*2exxiWJ9vN28xT3Q17jzUULJHU0F8/crickets.jpg
(I havent seen this last ones on sale, but these are the ones that I can find where I live)...

The thing is that Im trying to get to know this two species better, to see whats the best option...

So far... it seems that acheta domestica has a much harder body than Gryllodes sigillatus. You can even feel the softnes of the body on Gryllodes.
I belive that this would make it easier on my chams digestion... (correct me If im wrong)

Also another good thing about Gryllodes sigillatus is that they dont chirp much...
Acheta domestica is SOOOO NOISY... they wont stop chirping. And they do it all day long! I cant believe it!

It also seems that Gryllodes sigillatus dont stink as much as acheta does...
(They do, but like I say not that much....)

I just dont know about nutrients on them, and I dont know about how big are their stomachs (when it comes to gutloading)...
anyone knows about this?

So far.. it seems that Gryllodes sigillatus seem to be a better option for me and my little Dante

What do you guys think?

 

[armando]

Oh, I almost forgot...
I found that Gryllodes grows slower than the other kinds of crickets, wich seems to be good as they live longer than their cousin species...
They dont cannibalize as much as the other species.
And it seems that they dont bite reptiles. It says that not even the adult big ones are harmfull for chameleons!

 

[armando]

I guess no one cares hahaha

 

[Meow Kitty]

very interesting but are their husbandry easy? do they gutload well? do they breed easy? Where can i buy them? stuff like that, as Ive never seen them on feeder websites there is most likely a reason such as them being expensive to breed or some other reason. most important are they edible (poisonous, or dirty, bacteria ect)

 

[Kent67]

Due to the Acheta virus and the low production of Gryllus I think we're going to start seeing Gryllodes here very soon. I still haven't seen them but know Ghann's is switching to them.

 

[armando]

The husbandry its just the same way as the "normal ones"...
I live in a warm place, and they seem to breed all year long. So Im guessing that as long as they are kept warm enough, you will get tons of them!
I dont know where you could buy them... I caught about 50 of them and bred them a while ago... My colonie keeps going and going.... I have 3 totes... The breeders, the hatching ones, and the ones that are growing and used as food.
They are so much softer than Acheta domesticus, and they seem to eat well!
My chameleon loves them!!

Best of all is that they dont chrimp much...actually mines dont do it often... x)

 

[JMDaniels]

Very interesting info. It seems that Ghann's was unable to make enough profit with the Gryllus assimilis. I wonder why they did not try the Gryllodes sigillatus from the beginning.

 

[SpartyTessy]

Very interesting info. It seems that Ghann's was unable to make enough profit with the Gryllus assimilis. I wonder why they did not try the Gryllodes sigillatus from the beginning.

Just a guess but possibly due to how fast you can have an entire cycle going with Acheta compared to the Gryllodes. The mass breeders love how fast and how many you can breed to sell to the many customers. It would be slower for the Gryllodes I assume.