Food for crickets?

[skully23]

I was wondering if pineapples and peaches are good for feeding crickets? Both wet and dry.. Also cucumbers...

Are these things good? I have never seen it listed for crickets nor have I seen it listed for the bad stuff either.
and is the very tall grass good to dehydrate and give as a dry food? It hasn't been fertilized and its tall since we live out in the country.
and are goldfish flakes good?
and I have a box of plain corn flakes, can I add that too?

Edit: Here are more questions out of the threads I have posted so far.
-Can banana peels, orange peels, and fresh cut pineapples be fed to crickets in a dry mix?
-Are cucumbers good?
-Can I use (Quakers Instant, original) Grits to mix with the fruit/veggies for a dry cricket food mixture?

I need answers asap before the stuff is ready to blend up into a mix. Sorry for all the questions, maybe I should make a new thread about "cricket food making"???

 

[kinyonga]

I don't generally use fruit to feed to the crickets other than apple and pear once in a while. With "juicy" things like peaches and pineapple you really have to watch for mold. I don't think cucumber would hurt, but I wouldn't use it too often and only along with other more nutritious things. The dandelion flowers should be fine as long as you collect them from a pesticide-free area. (Turtles/tortoises and uromastyx can eat them...so they should be fine.)

 

[skully23]

It wont be wet. I am dehydrating fruits/veggies to make cricket food while I wait to come up with some money to buy cricket crack.
Are banana peelings good for crickets?

This will all be dehydrated and turned into dry cricket food..not wet. I need answers asap because I am cutting up stuff to dehydrate now.

 

[mc9423]

I don't keep crickets, but I wouldn't use canned fruit of any kind. Its *really* high in sugar and preservatives.

 

[skully23]

I don't keep crickets, but I wouldn't use canned fruit of any kind. Its *really* high in sugar and preservatives.

Thanks. I was kind of wary of that but ya I haven't. Right now I have cut up bananas, apples, carrots and oranges. I think I will add cucumbers if its ok.

Does anyone know if banana peels, orange peels, fresh cut pineapples and cucumbers are ok?

 

[skully23]

I also found some (Quaker instant) Grits (original) in the the fridge that we don't eat. Can I add that to the dry mix when the fruit/veggies are done dehydrating and blended?

Please answer all my questions best as you can

 

[jrh3]

Yeah dehydrate and blend them up, but try to add fish oil and a multivitamin. You sould go and get some bee pollen it is a great health food for gut loading. I do see that crickets are more of a veggie eater and dubia is more fruit os if ur making for crickets then more veggies than fruit. U r gonna send me a sample when your done right? You can add 1 tablespoon of protien the kind you use for weight lifting per gallon of feed also.

 

[skully23]

Yeah dehydrate and blend them up, but try to add fish oil and a multivitamin. You sould go and get some bee pollen it is a great health food for gut loading. I do see that crickets are more of a veggie eater and dubia is more fruit os if ur making for crickets then more veggies than fruit. U r gonna send me a sample when your done right? You can add 1 tablespoon of protien the kind you use for weight lifting per gallon of feed also.

Send you some? lol well my dad has fish oil pills but can't use them..and I don't know where to get bee pollen, where can I get some?
Will the plain corn flakes and fish flakes work too?

With the next dehydrating batch I will add all the dandelion leaves, greens, and veggies I have atm...a whole cucumber too?
I can't wait to get more money so I can go out and buy a bunch of veggies and powders/oils/nutrients to add to this cricket food I am trying to make. That way it will be twice as good

 

[jrh3]

tell him to give you one or two, gnc has bee pollen i think

 

[skully23]

tell him to give you one or two, gnc has bee pollen i think

gnc? Who or what is that?

 

[mc9423]

GNC is a vitamin store.

 

[kinyonga]

Crickets are from the family orthoptera. Most orthopterans eat plants....seedling plants, organic material, decaying plants, etc. So...feed them fruit even though its high in sugar and you have been told that.

I feed my crickets greens (dandelions, collards, kale, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.).

As for cucumber...I already told you that it would be okay once in a while but that there are more nutritious things to feed the crickets. (BTW...the only reason I use cucumber at all is for the moisture content of it.) Look at the calcium to phos. ratio and the sugar content, etc. on these...
Cucumber...Sugar 0.9...calcium 8.3...phos. 12.5...vit. A 54.6
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2439/2
Dandelions...sugar 0.4...calcium 103...phos. 36.3...vit. A 5588...
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2441/2
Collards...sugar .2...calcium 52.2 ...phos. 3.6 ...vit. A. 5400...
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2410/2
Peaches...sugar 11.7...calcium 4.4...phos. 24.4...vit. A 26...
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1991/2
The vitamin A in the above is prOformed and won't build up in the system.

Fish oils contain prEformed vitamin A and D3...both of which are fat soluble....so they can build up in the system.

Bee pollen...
http://www.envirobee.com/beepollen2.htm
http://www.appliedhealth.com/nutri/page6991.php
http://www.nutritional-supplements-health-guide.com/bee-pollen-benefits.html

Oatmeal...sugar .8 ...calcium 42.1....phos. 332 ....
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/breakfast-cereals/1597/2

 

[skully23]

GNC is a vitamin store.

Whats the normal price for bee pollen? Edit: Just found some prices at GNC...over $8 for bee pollen. Won't happen right now.

Also I forgot to add potatos! I will do that the next time I dehydrate. I have vitamins, calcium with d3 and without d3. Those are my supplements, can I add some of that two the cricket food?? Is there a certain amount I need to add?

So Grits, cornflakes and fishflakes are okay to add? (wont be using cucumber)
I'm still not getting answers for banana peelings and orange peelings...they good?

 

[jrh3]

If your worried about 8 bucks for bee pollen then you need to just buy cricket food. Its cheaper for you to buy it then to make it in small abounts. I dont think your gonna be makeing 20 pounds of it, if so you need a giant blender or a grinder which is more than bee pollen. Plus unless your feeding around 10 or more chameleons then its wastefull to make 20 pounds worth, you will never use it all.

 

[pssh]

Why are you using so many fruits? Don't use the fish food. Honestly, I would use more plants than fruits. Plus the stuff you're using generally has a poor calcium to phos ratio... Do what you want though, it's your Cham.

 

[skully23]

Why are you using so many fruits? Don't use the fish food. Honestly, I would use more plants than fruits. Plus the stuff you're using generally has a poor calcium to phos ratio... Do what you want though, it's your Cham.

I was gathering what I could find at home that was on the list for crickets. I thought all that stuff was good? I have alot of dandelion leaves dehydrating..even the flower part.. I try to get help but people don't directly answer me or just negatively put me down. The stuff that I dehydrated I will blend and I will feed.. after that I guess I wont make more.
I am going to buy some cricket crack but I can't atm. I still don't know if I can add the plain corn flakes and original grits..

 

[skully23]

If your worried about 8 bucks for bee pollen then you need to just buy cricket food. Its cheaper for you to buy it then to make it in small abounts. I dont think your gonna be makeing 20 pounds of it, if so you need a giant blender or a grinder which is more than bee pollen. Plus unless your feeding around 10 or more chameleons then its wastefull to make 20 pounds worth, you will never use it all.

I am not making it to last me the life of my cham. I am making it to pass time so I can buy cricket crack instead of the store cricket food.

 

[skully23]

I just blended it. I don't like the smell of it but will it work or do I have to throw it out...?

It contains bananas, apples, oranges, dandelions, romaine lettuce, carrots.
I still have plain corn flakes and grits to add if someone will tell me its ok.



Edit: I blended up the oranges and its alittle wet. I don't think I will be adding that..

 

[jrh3]

you could have bought 6 months worth of cricket food for the price you paid for a dehydrator.

 

[skully23]

you could have bought 6 months worth of cricket food for the price you paid for a dehydrator.

Wrong. I didn't buy the dehydrator Borrowed it.