Expensive crickets

[Chamycon2016]

Hello everyone. As you may know, crickets are expensive and I've been spending a ton of money on them and need to know something. How do you guys afford them? They also seem to be dying in my cricket keeper. I think it may because they don't have water. I feed them a mix of collared greens, squash, apples and carrots every week when I get new crickets but the food molds over time. How do you properly feed and hydrate them?

 

[jpowell86]

Hello everyone. As you may know, crickets are expensive and I've been spending a ton of money on them and need to know something. How do you guys afford them? They also seem to be dying in my cricket keeper. I think it may because they don't have water. I feed them a mix of collared greens, squash, apples and carrots every week when I get new crickets but the food molds over time. How do you properly feed and hydrate them?

You are probably buying them from pet stores. That is too expensive. If you go online and order them, you can get a 1000 crickets for $22.00. That is not bad at all.

 

[Andee]

That should be plenty of moisture, knitter keepers are horrible enclosures for crickets. You can either breed your own, or buy bulk from online vendors. Which will give you much better quality crickets and better prices. Crickets enclosures need to be large for the number you have, think about roaches, you need about twice the space for the amount of crickets than you do roaches even though they are much bigger. Crickets need tons of egg crated to safely establish territory and have less cannibalism. I would suggest at least somewhere around a 50 quart rubbermaid, with the top cut open and screened with a metal screen. Then cut two decent sized holes in the sides and mesh those too. See the thing is, crickets need lots of airflow and need to be kept clean.

 

[Chamycon2016]

You are probably buying them from pet stores. That is too expensive. If you go online and order them, you can get a 1000 crickets for $22.00. That is not bad at all.

Wow! That's great! How do you take care of them? Like gutloading/hydrating them?

 

[jpowell86]

What Andee said above. Gutloading is easy. Offering greens, fruits and even dry gutloads are easy ways to do this. I hydrate using water crystals. Some have their own methods, but I have found this to be the least messy. I also feed fruits like oranges that promote hydration.

 

[Chamycon2016]

What Andee said above. Gutloading is easy. Offering greens, fruits and even dry gutloads are easy ways to do this. I hydrate using water crystals. Some have their own methods, but I have found this to be the least messy. I also feed fruits like oranges that promote hydration.

Where do you find water crystals?

 

[andy27012]

Crickets at local pet stores are ridiculous, they are affordable if you feed a single animal or work at the store like myself. Online you can get them for 2 to 3 cents a piece. Food and water can be bought at petco/petsmart or online for a tenth the price. Google crickets for sale and you will find tons of stores that sell crickets, water crystals and food. I have kept crickets before and I would rather pay the extra for the pet shop to deal with them. I got tired of 100s of crickets chirping and there constant stench! Even maintained they have a foul odor. If your food is molding its in there way too long. Mold will also kill crickets in a hurry. The other thing with a larger group is you have to make sure to remove your deads in a hurry, they release ammonia and kill the other crickets.

 

[shomegirl]

I get mine online from TopHat Crickets. They are banded and last forever! I use bug burger to feed them, water crystals, also use vegetables and fruit, take those out after a day or so. I have a lot of egg crates for hiding. I keep them in a Rubbermaid tub with their lid modified with screen. Then I have an extra tub to put them in while cleaning the original enclosure. If you get the small/medium size crickets they don't make any noise and they last longer and grow. Crickets don't have a very long life span as it is, but banded crickets seem to last forever.

 

[rambonerzilla]

I get mine online from TopHat Crickets. They are banded and last forever! I use bug burger to feed them, water crystals, also use vegetables and fruit, take those out after a day or so. I have a lot of egg crates for hiding. I keep them in a Rubbermaid tub with their lid modified with screen. Then I have an extra tub to put them in while cleaning the original enclosure. If you get the small/medium size crickets they don't make any noise and they last longer and grow. Crickets don't have a very long life span as it is, but banded crickets seem to last forever.

I 100% agree

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

I've been spending$18 on 50 crickets! We're going broke

 

[shomegirl]

I've been spending$18 on 50 crickets! We're going broke

Wow!! That's expensive. Buy online if you can. Checkout the place I recommended in previous reply. 28-30 bucks would get you 500 crickets including shipping. That would last me 2 months or a little more. I feed dubia also.

 

[Chamycon2016]

Wow!! That's expensive. Buy online if you can. Checkout the place I recommended in previous reply. 28-30 bucks would get you 500 crickets including shipping. That would last me 2 months or a little more. I feed dubia also.

Is there any way to rig your cricket Rubbermaid tub so that I wouldn't have to pick up the crickets when I fed them to my Cham. I'm ashamed to say but I don't really like bugs touching me

 

[rambonerzilla]

Is there any way to rig your cricket Rubbermaid tub so that I wouldn't have to pick up the crickets when I fed them to my Cham. I'm ashamed to say but I don't really like bugs touching me

I use empty paper towel rolls and egg crates... rolls vertical and the climb up it and you just shake them out. Another thing I do is order 1000 pinhead crickets and usually you get about 3 to 4 thousand instead (they are impossible to count) along with 1000 medium crickets (all banded btw) by the time you run through the 1000 the 4 thousand are ready to go and all the right size. This is for one veiled btw. Here is my cricket set up. I don't have die offs ever and I don't have side vents I just cut the lid and place screen and feed turnip mustard and collard greens cuttings 100% of the time along with carrots and oranges. That's all I use and it is very successful as a gutload and staple. And it forces my family to eat healthy as well. In all I have like 6 bins but only use two to three at a time. The tall one for the adults (with a dish of coco fiber to make the next generation) and the shorter one for the smaller 4000. The other bins are basically extras for the cleaning process every 5 days. I hope this helps. Any other questions how I do it pm me

 

[rambonerzilla]

Basically I started my cricket stock with 30$ and I haven't had to pay for anymore since. Collard mustard and turnip greens are super cheap (1$ a bundle) oh I forgot to say I throw in some cat food for the pinheads up until the get to the adult bin to speed up there growth. After there is. The adult bin it's strictly the greens carrots and oranges diet so any or all I feed that day are good and healthy in nutrients for my cham. And I use this to dust daily with all that. I recommend this 100%

 

[shomegirl]

Is there any way to rig your cricket Rubbermaid tub so that I wouldn't have to pick up the crickets when I fed them to my Cham. I'm ashamed to say but I don't really like bugs touching me

What Rambonerzilla said. Make sure you buy banded crickets that is the most important thing. I have none that die off. I use egg crates and just pick them up and shake a few into a small container and dust and serve to the Cham. I don't ever touch the crickets... Unless I have to. Lol

 

[Extensionofgreen]

I would be careful about adding cat food to any feeder diet. It generally not recomended to use things such as dog food, fish flakes, or cat food.
The vitamin and protein levels or very hi for reptiles and can cause issues.
That being said, I add a scant amount of grain free, high quality dog, not cat food, to my dry gutload, to add vitamin A and extra protein to my roach diets, but I have years of experience and the percentage is 10% or less of my total mixture.
You need to be replacing the greens and wet food every other day, no longer, as molded food can cause poisoning to your animals.
I don't go through the lengths some do.
I use a plastic tote and I place an inch of finely ground pine park mulch, coir, or organic compost in the bottom, making sure is not wet and dry on the surface, but slightly damp, about like a wrung out sponge, 1/2" down. I stack 5 halves of egg crate or a few whole ones vertically, and replace as they get soiled, about every new batch of crickets or every month or so.
I don't screen my lids, I either leave 1/2" or so cracked or I place a section of plastic lighting baffle under the lid to allow air exchange, but prevent jumping out. I have no problems with deaths or odors.
I use eBay and often the crickets are offered with free shipping.

 

[rambonerzilla]

I would be careful about adding cat food to any feeder diet. It generally not recomended to use things such as dog food, fish flakes, or cat food.
The vitamin and protein levels or very hi for reptiles and can cause issues.
That being said, I add a scant amount of grain free, high quality dog, not cat food, to my dry gutload, to add vitamin A and extra protein to my roach diets, but I have years of experience and the percentage is 10% or less of my total mixture.
You need to be replacing the greens and wet food every other day, no longer, as molded food can cause poisoning to your animals.
I don't go through the lengths some do.
I use a plastic tote and I place an inch of finely ground pine park mulch, coir, or organic compost in the bottom, making sure is not wet and dry on the surface, but slightly damp, about like a wrung out sponge, 1/2" down. I stack 5 halves of egg crate or a few whole ones vertically, and replace as they get soiled, about every new batch of crickets or every month or so.
I don't screen my lids, I either leave 1/2" or so cracked or I place a section of plastic lighting baffle under the lid to allow air exchange, but prevent jumping out. I have no problems with deaths or odors.
I use eBay and often the crickets are offered with free shipping.

I only cat food the pinheads to speed there growth and cut them off it about two weeks before I transfer to the adult bin. Crickets grow fastest with large quantities of protien. But trust me I don't feed the adult crickets anything but greens (mustard turnip and collard) oranges and carrots. But as you said I wouldn't recommend feeding cat food or dog food to the adult crickets that you plan to feed within two weeks to your cham.

 

[Extensionofgreen]

I only cat food the pinheads to speed there growth and cut them off it about two weeks before I transfer to the adult bin. Crickets grow fastest with large quantities of protien. But trust me I don't feed the adult crickets anything but greens (mustard turnip and collard) oranges and carrots. But as you said I wouldn't recommend feeding cat food or dog food to the adult crickets that you plan to feed within two weeks to your cham.

Everyone has a different approach and I'm not is any position to tell you not to do what works for you. I keep montane species, that are more sensitive to oversupplementation and I would offer cooked egg yolks or alfalfa powder, chia, or hemp powder, or high quality fish flake or dog kibble, over cat food, just because cat food will even harm dogs if fed often.

 

[WAMBO]

I buy 500 of them on eBay for $15 to $16 , toss them in a 10 gal fish tank with a screen lid. I place egg crates that they shipped with, and toss in veggies and fruits, but also have a little sponge tray for water. They don't die.

 

[Andee]

It's honestly not recommended to feed feeder insects anything more than 15 percent protein. There is really no need for it, and even though crickets don't store excess uric acid like roaches do, they do store protein, which can cause the build up of excess uric acid in you reptile.