Crickets got out!!!

[maria.meihua]

Hey there, it's me again! I've been buying crickets for a month now, since I've gotten my Cham. I've never had any issue with how they were being held. I have the egg crate in there, and the flukers cricket quencher with fortified calcium. Today, though, there were upwards of 25 crickets. Loose in my room. I'm absolutely terrified of bugs so this was super traumatizing for me, but I think (hopefully) I was able to clean them all up. Those that remained in the plastic bag, I threw in a hard-plastic container. Once they escaped, i had verified there was a hole in the bag. Now I just have a bunch of crickets in a plastic container... I think I should be feeding the crickets a little bit more. Aside from that, though, what do you guys keep your crickets in?

 

[WashingtonCham]

Hey there, it's me again! I've been buying crickets for a month now, since I've gotten my Cham. I've never had any issue with how they were being held. I have the egg crate in there, and the flukers cricket quencher with fortified calcium. Today, though, there were upwards of 25 crickets. Loose in my room. I'm absolutely terrified of bugs so this was super traumatizing for me, but I think (hopefully) I was able to clean them all up. Those that remained in the plastic bag, I threw in a hard-plastic container. Once they escaped, i had verified there was a hole in the bag. Now I just have a bunch of crickets in a plastic container... I think I should be feeding the crickets a little bit more. Aside from that, though, what do you guys keep your crickets in?

A glass aquarium just glued smaller mesh to the bigger mesh top I bought to be safe although not needed. Only problem I had with this setup was they crawled up my thermostat wire and got out cuz I had a little hole where it came into the cage. So I drilled a hole in the top filled it with hot glue now I don’t have that issue. And it’s big enough where you can put a whole ziplock bag in there then throw a piece of egg crate in shake it and never lose a cricket.

 

[WashingtonCham]

A glass aquarium just glued smaller mesh to the bigger mesh top I bought to be safe although not needed. Only problem I had with this setup was they crawled up my thermostat wire and got out cuz I had a little hole where it came into the cage. So I drilled a hole in the top filled it with hot glue now I don’t have that issue. And it’s big enough where you can put a whole ziplock bag in there then throw a piece of egg crate in shake it and never lose a cricket.

Honestly though I’d suggest trying Dubia roaches or red runner roaches as a staple. They have much better nutrition and easier and less stinky to raise.

 

[maria.meihua]

A glass aquarium just glued smaller mesh to the bigger mesh top I bought to be safe although not needed. Only problem I had with this setup was they crawled up my thermostat wire and got out cuz I had a little hole where it came into the cage. So I drilled a hole in the top filled it with hot glue now I don’t have that issue. And it’s big enough where you can put a whole ziplock bag in there then throw a piece of egg crate in shake it and never lose a cricket.

Wow! I never thought I'd have a while separate tank for them. Thank you for showing me your setup, it helps a lot!

 

[maria.meihua]

Honestly though I’d suggest trying Dubia roaches or red runner roaches as a staple. They have much better nutrition and easier and less stinky to raise.

I've heard a lot about those little critters. I have to find out if they sell those guys at petsmart or Petco! I'm not quite up to raising my own bugs yet. Too scared :/

 

[WashingtonCham]

Wow! I never thought I'd have a while separate tank for them. Thank you for showing me your setup, it helps a lot!

Yah I tried the stupid little cricket keepers and they work ok but what your gonna do is end up to losing crickets probably trying to get them out of the container into a bag. Where as a 15 gallon tank is only 15 bucks or something and you can buy 200 at a time and have them all well properly gut-loaded by the time you feed them off. Keeping in mind the amount they will grow between time you get them and time you feed them so you don’t wanna buy to many. But If I were you I’d go buy a 25 or 30 gallon rubbermade tote and cut a hole in it get a ceramic heat lamp and order some Dubias. So much easier and much much healthier. I’ll show you my Dubia setup it’s super easy and even cheaper

 

[WashingtonCham]

I bought two of them and made both of them just so I can clean one and put them in the other. But that’s just to make it easier not a necessity could just dump them into a bucket while you clean. Idk if you know but Dubias can’t climb the sides they can’t fly they can’t live in your house unless you live in south Florida just overall easier. And their slow if one did get away from you their easy to catch.

 

[WashingtonCham]

I've heard a lot about those little critters. I have to find out if they sell those guys at petsmart or Petco! I'm not quite up to raising my own bugs yet. Too scared :/

Petco and Petsmart are cruel to their chams so I try to not support them and you can get much better ordering them from someone. Look at feeders on this website and you’ll see people selling them. But I buy mine from full throttle feeders or rainbowmealworms. I’ve even ordered crickets from them and they were actually all the right size not like petco where you might get one huge cricket your cham will choke on if you don’t pay attention. (That shouldn’t happen but still lol) They are all live arrival guaranteed and you know your bugs have been raised the right way if you know the person breeding them. The thing is you order 200 Dubias and you want one male to every 4 females. And you let them breed for a month don’t touch them. You’ll have Dubias for the rest of your days for free. Just feed them every other day gutload and your insects are not only gutloaded but all they eat is gutload from the time their born. so their just way healthier altogether. It’s just a much better option in so many ways. And Dubias breed just fast enough to keep up and prob have few extras. Red runners breed super fast but I have both just to give variety. Variety is key with chams never want one feeder all the time. But that being said Dubias are a great staple feeder

 

[Lennoncham]

Hey there, it's me again! I've been buying crickets for a month now, since I've gotten my Cham. I've never had any issue with how they were being held. I have the egg crate in there, and the flukers cricket quencher with fortified calcium. Today, though, there were upwards of 25 crickets. Loose in my room. I'm absolutely terrified of bugs so this was super traumatizing for me, but I think (hopefully) I was able to clean them all up. Those that remained in the plastic bag, I threw in a hard-plastic container. Once they escaped, i had verified there was a hole in the bag. Now I just have a bunch of crickets in a plastic container... I think I should be feeding the crickets a little bit more. Aside from that, though, what do you guys keep your crickets in?

Only 25 that’s not bad. A few weeks ago I had about 500 or more escape.

 

[CamoChameleonsHuman]

Hey there, it's me again! I've been buying crickets for a month now, since I've gotten my Cham. I've never had any issue with how they were being held. I have the egg crate in there, and the flukers cricket quencher with fortified calcium. Today, though, there were upwards of 25 crickets. Loose in my room. I'm absolutely terrified of bugs so this was super traumatizing for me, but I think (hopefully) I was able to clean them all up. Those that remained in the plastic bag, I threw in a hard-plastic container. Once they escaped, i had verified there was a hole in the bag. Now I just have a bunch of crickets in a plastic container... I think I should be feeding the crickets a little bit more. Aside from that, though, what do you guys keep your crickets in?

Great way to face your fears. Head on! Bugs have never bugged me. If they did I damn sure would've never bought a reptile that needs to eat them to survive.

 

[Thehippie]

It's ok I dropped a bag of 4 dozen large crickets in my room, after finding and catching the 4 dozen let me just tell u... There were definitely more than 4 dozen in that bag

 

[maria.meihua]

I bought two of them and made both of them just so I can clean one and put them in the other. But that’s just to make it easier not a necessity could just dump them into a bucket while you clean. Idk if you know but Dubias can’t climb the sides they can’t fly they can’t live in your house unless you live in south Florida just overall easier. And their slow if one did get away from you their easy to catch.

That's awesome!!!! Now I just gotta get over the fact that there are going to be ROACHES in my house. It's for Chryssa, so I'll do it !

 

[maria.meihua]

Petco and Petsmart are cruel to their chams so I try to not support them and you can get much better ordering them from someone. Look at feeders on this website and you’ll see people selling them. But I buy mine from full throttle feeders or rainbowmealworms. I’ve even ordered crickets from them and they were actually all the right size not like petco where you might get one huge cricket your cham will choke on if you don’t pay attention. (That shouldn’t happen but still lol) They are all live arrival guaranteed and you know your bugs have been raised the right way if you know the person breeding them. The thing is you order 200 Dubias and you want one male to every 4 females. And you let them breed for a month don’t touch them. You’ll have Dubias for the rest of your days for free. Just feed them every other day gutload and your insects are not only gutloaded but all they eat is gutload from the time their born. so their just way healthier altogether. It’s just a much better option in so many ways. And Dubias breed just fast enough to keep up and prob have few extras. Red runners breed super fast but I have both just to give variety. Variety is key with chams never want one feeder all the time. But that being said Dubias are a great staple feeder

I had no idea they mistreated their Chameleons! I got my Chryssa from a Petco, actually. That's terrible and thank you for the info on the roaches! I dont think I'm ready to breed them, but it would be the smarter investment. I'll look into it. Also... the Red Runners breed faster, does that mean they move faster?

 

[maria.meihua]

Only 25 that’s not bad. A few weeks ago I had about 500 or more escape.

I could NEVER lol

 

[maria.meihua]

Great way to face your fears. Head on! Bugs have never bugged me. If they did I damn sure would've never bought a reptile that needs to eat them to survive.

Thank you!! Yeah I just fell in live with Chryssa the minute I saw her. She came right down her branch to say high to me, and begged to be held. I did research, and decided i would put up with the bugs because she's worth it. The bugs are definitely harder to deal with than I originally thought, but she is still worth it

 

[maria.meihua]

It's ok I dropped a bag of 4 dozen large crickets in my room, after finding and catching the 4 dozen let me just tell u... There were definitely more than 4 dozen in that bag

Yeah, me too! The bag they ate their way out of was only supposed to have 25 in there. There were still upwards of 10 in the bag AFTER I collected the 25 wandering my bedroom.

 

[Beman]

I hate to tell you but with chams comes having bugs... You have to make sure the bugs are in proper containers. They have to be gutloaded. The containers have to be cleaned. It become part of the entire cham keeping process.. It is also important to offer a variety of feeders.. So you will deal with bugs you do not want anything to do with but it is a good thing for your cham so you have to. Black soldier fly larvae are basically maggots they are gross and you have to clean off the packing material they come in prior to feeding but they are extremely healthy for chams. So while you may hate bugs... it is a have to with Chams to deal with them.

 

[JoXie411]

Maybe you should have got a created gecko if you don’t like bugs

 

[Thehippie]

Maybe you should have got a created gecko if you don’t like bugs

Lol I hate medium sized bugs but some of us do it for our little loves who happen to come in the shapes of chameleons! I know I tolerate the bugs bc I would rather have a chameleon than a crestie not to bash on cresties but chameleons seem more interesting lol

 

[krikinit]

Hey there, it's me again! I've been buying crickets for a month now, since I've gotten my Cham. I've never had any issue with how they were being held. I have the egg crate in there, and the flukers cricket quencher with fortified calcium. Today, though, there were upwards of 25 crickets. Loose in my room. I'm absolutely terrified of bugs so this was super traumatizing for me, but I think (hopefully) I was able to clean them all up. Those that remained in the plastic bag, I threw in a hard-plastic container. Once they escaped, i had verified there was a hole in the bag. Now I just have a bunch of crickets in a plastic container... I think I should be feeding the crickets a little bit more. Aside from that, though, what do you guys keep your crickets in?

10 gal aquarium with a metal mesh lid.