Cup feeding

[susurrus]

I currently have a year old veiled in a screen cage (recently acquired) and I let the crickets free roam. Any extra treats like silks, wax, or supers I just let crawl around the branches and he normally picks them up quick. The crickets, however, dwell around the top and he's picky and only eats them if they are down at the bottom as he likes to hunt.

I'm thinking of switching to cup feeding as hopefully this will allow me to better track his diet (I lose track of some feeders under the paper towels and in the plant) as well as keep feeders at the bottom where he likes to hunt.

I've searched around the photos and looked at people's enclosures, but I haven't seen much about feeder cups.

So my questions are 1) where do you put your cups so that misting doesn't fill them up or do you take them out when he's finished and 2) what size cups do you use that keeps the feeders in as crickets can just a decent height?

 

[Docility]

i use a clear smoke cup i attach it to my screen and take it out during misting. i put red in originally, but he was terrified of the cup. he has not had any issues distinguishing the boundaries of the cup. the only cups i found were the super XL ones so i took about 1-2 inches off the top, and i have a piece of orange in there with them. when you start you may find more crickets in your cup than you started with lol. they wanted the orange, and got stuck. i introduced my guy to the cup by holding it in my hand he looked at me then went to town on the helpless crickets haha.

 

[crablady]

i switched to cup feeding to keep track of intake better as well. unfortunatley, I think my little guy prefers the hunt of having them free range. I'm keeping the cup in there, cause my roach colony is pretty much established and I just don't want to let those things crawl around. I have a deli container and I have ist attatched to one of my climbing branches just on the outer side of the basking area. I removed the bottom and hot glued some screen in there so I don't need to remove it for misitng.

 

[laurie]

i switched to cup feeding to keep track of intake better as well. unfortunatley, I think my little guy prefers the hunt of having them free range. I'm keeping the cup in there, cause my roach colony is pretty much established and I just don't want to let those things crawl around. I have a deli container and I have ist attatched to one of my climbing branches just on the outer side of the basking area. I removed the bottom and hot glued some screen in there so I don't need to remove it for misitng.

Thanks for the screen idea, you have just saved lots of cricket from drowning around here!

 

[martyllian]

Gosh, I never have a problem with leftover feeders. No matter how many I put in his cup, they are all gone. I was giving him a ton, but recently cut back as I dont want to risk impaction.

Anyhow, I used a half gallon milk container, cut a hole in it and glue screen to the backside of it.

Like in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_od47TlbXA&feature=channel_page

 

[crablady]

You must've posted that video previously, cause that's where I got the screen idea from. I just put it on the bottom of a delicup. one of those milk jugs would take up too much space right now. Maye when he's bigger! thanks for posting it!

 

[susurrus]

Thanks for all the help; I really like that youtube clip. I have a 18x18x3 enclosure right now, so a half-gallon jug is a little big. Luckily my roommate likes his carrot juice which comes in quart plastic jugs. I think these'll be great for my setup.

 

[Docility]

even if i had a screen bottom i would take it out, because wet crickets stink lol