Crickets not eating gutload??

[MantisFTW]

My crickets dont seem to be eating the gutloads I made. I rarely see them on it except to just walk over it and occasionally one will sit for a minute or two... but its rare to see and they never stay long. I tried an experiment and put a small piece of collard green in there, and I actually notice them go on it and eat. I also always see them swarm over their water pillow.

I was thinking that maybe it was the way the gutloads are prepared? The dry gutload was not made using a coffee grinder, but its still fairly fine with a few larger pieces and bits here and there. The wet gutload was made using a blender so its pretty mushy, but should be solid enough for crickets to stand on and eat with no problems.

The ingredients:
Dry:
sunflower seed
hemp seed
dried mango bits
peanuts
dried papaya bits
cranberry raisins
flukers dry gutload

Wet:
carrots
oranges
apples
dandelion leaves
potatos
lemons
green beans
bell peppers
collard greenss
flukers orange gutload chunks


I give it to them in a jar lid, and sometimes I'll even put in half dry and half wet. I dont know if im just being paranoid of them not eating, or if its just rare to see a cricket eat. My very first cham came in just last week so im still new to this. Some of the stuff in the wet gutload was sitting in my freezer for quite a while and was probably freezer burnt. Could that have something to do with it?

 

[Solid Snake]

Im not sure why they wouldnt eat it?
I have had them gang up on one thing and ignore another, but if its all mixed together IDK. I never really see my crickets all eating at once like in some of the pics I see. But the stuff disapears so they have to be eating it. Is it diminishing at all? Or is it all still there?
Maybe they want caviar and steak?
Sounds like youve got a great mix going on though.

 

[MantisFTW]

Here is a picture of it if it helps any. Dry on the left and wet on the right:

I dont really notice it diminishing.. but I dont know if I just cant tell or not. I dont know how much crickets eat and if im putting too much. Like I said, this is my first time owning a cham, and also my first time with crickets.

 

[Solid Snake]

Well how many crickets are having at it?

 

[MantisFTW]

I usually make frequent trips to Petco and pick up 50 or so at a time of the smallest they have, which is the length of my pinkie fingernail.

I really dont see them stay on the gutload much at all to tell how many are eating. I think what im going to do is try putting a little in a much smaller bottlecap or something so that I can actually tell if its diminishing or just drying out. The diameter of the jar lid im using now is about two and a half inches wide.. I guess thats too much?

 

[Solid Snake]

Not too much no. It would be easier to tell if you used smaller amounts, with that many crickets. 50 crickets arent going to eat that whole lid full in a day.
1000 maybe

 

[sdheli420]

mine dont eat till nightime, in the morning i will notice a big difference..in one week a full bowl of "chow" will be demolished..but i have more than 1000 crickets eating at it (also i use bug burger, it works really well, they go after it, and you can see the bite marks in it)

 

[Whatcamo]

I've noticed that my crickets eat better with a heat lamp on they constantly eat while it's on also I've noticed my crickets to be attracted more to gut loads with pollen

 

[Davonat]

I too only keep a small mount of crix at 1 time.....Prolly 200 at the most...Your gut load sounds like its full of good stuff... I just use Bug Burger mixed with DinoFuel-Raptor, the crix fresh from the pet store attack it, but once they are full of the good stuff they slow down some.
My mix is....Bug Burger.& 2 tbl sp. Dinofuel to the amount of 1/4 cup, Then add 3/4 cup water and Nuke 3 minutes.

 

[gratefulj]

I'm having the same problem, I can't get em to eat my bug burger even though ... It's startin to be a problem cause they haven't eat very much at all in about a week so I know my guys nutrition has to be affected

 

[MantisFTW]

I think I may be just over paranoid. Im going to try and watch the crickets a little more now to observe if they're really eating. I just bought a new fresh batch of crickets, and I see them eating more than the last one did. Weird, huh?

Im still seeing them swarm over the water pillow though, a large noticeable difference more than the gutload. Is this normal..?

Maybe Ill try to get my hands on some bee pollen to throw in. Ill also use a smaller amount to see if it diminishes.

 

[Solid Snake]

Haha, you have a chameleon, overly paronoid is normal!
IMO the main things that crickets need are hydration and ventilation.
I heard others say this, and it makes since. If they are hydrated, they dont eat each other. If there well ventilated, the dead ones dont kill the others(dead crickets give off a gas that kills crickets) So I think its normal for them to be all over the water.
I have found that orange works best to hydrate them, JMO.