Crickets/Locusts escaping from my feeder!

[OptimusCham]

Okay so I'm currently using an old Coke bottle as the bottle feeder for my cham but within minutes (sometimes even seconds!) of putting the crickets or locusts in there, they jump right out. It's a pain in the a*se because unless they're in the feeder, he doesn't seem interested in eating them or can't find them as they're still in the viv by the evening.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can prevent or at least minimise escapees, I'll love you forever!

This is the new feeder I'm working on for his new home. There's a plastic coke bottle in the cork bark (hidden as much as possible) & will have mesh stuck the to back for the crickets/locusts to climb up.

 

[NosyBe15]

Cool looking set up there. But Ive always just free-ranged my crickets, never used feeder cups. Dust em and dump em on in. They usually just crawl up the screen and get picked off one by one.

 

[renderit1]

Theres a video on youtube about using a Sunny D bottle then adding a screen mesh on the inside so they can climb(that way your cham can see them). If you already have the screen mesh, I believe they are jumping out because the width of you bottle is too short. Hope this helps.

 

[OptimusCham]

Cool looking set up there. But Ive always just free-ranged my crickets, never used feeder cups. Dust em and dump em on in. They usually just crawl up the screen and get picked off one by one.

Thanks It's really empty as it's early days still, glad you like it so far though!
Maybe I could try adding the occasional strip of mesh up the side of the walls so if they continue to escape, they'll have that option to climb up & hopefully he'll see/eat them

 

[EmmaChams]

locusts I would remove their back legs so they can't jump out of cups, hard to do it with crickets though :/

 

[OptimusCham]

locusts I would remove their back legs so they can't jump out of cups, hard to do it with crickets though :/

Ah man, I couldn't do that :c even though they're getting eaten anyway, I couldn't take their legs off. I'd feel so guilty doing that aha. If I come up with a solution, I'll be sure to post it to this thread or the build thread I've got going on

 

[Chameleon Creator]

Ah man, I couldn't do that :c even though they're getting eaten anyway, I couldn't take their legs off. I'd feel so guilty doing that aha. If I come up with a solution, I'll be sure to post it to this thread or the build thread I've got going on

Then just use a piece of thread and tie their legs together lol

 

[Swayne8998]

Very cool looking setup!

As mentioned I would add the strip of mesh to the back of the feeder. I don't know much about locusts since I live in the USA and they are illegal to buy here, but I would suggest hand feeding those with feeding tongs if you can, because I'm not sure how you can avoid them escaping.

Best of luck

 

[OptimusCham]

Very cool looking setup!

As mentioned I would add the strip of mesh to the back of the feeder. I don't know much about locusts since I live in the USA and they are illegal to buy here, but I would suggest hand feeding those with feeding tongs if you can, because I'm not sure how you can avoid them escaping.

Best of luck

Thank you

Yeah, seems like I'll just have to deal with them escaping for the mean time until I'm able to work something out. If I find a solution I'll be sure to post it!