I’m quitting crickets!

L

Lindasjackson

Chameleon Enthusiast
After reading about crickets being carriers of coccidia and a member here having their Cham come down with it I’ve decided no more crickets. I’m going to look into another breed of roaches to replace them. I’m currently feeding dubias, Bsfl and occasionally wax and meal worms as treats. In the summer I hope to be able to get a few silk worms. Do discoid roaches climb the sides of bins? Are they too closely related to dubia to serve as another staple?
 
Lindasjackson said:
After reading about crickets being carriers of coccidia and a member here having their Cham come down with it I’ve decided no more crickets. I’m going to look into another breed of roaches to replace them. I’m currently feeding dubias, Bsfl and occasionally wax and meal worms as treats. In the summer I hope to be able to get a few silk worms. Do discoid roaches climb the sides of bins? Are they too closely related to dubia to serve as another staple?
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Discoid are like dubia…they don’t fly and if your bin has smooth sides, they can’t climb. I’m not sure if they’re closely related to dubia, so I can’t help you there. This may help you find another type of roach. https://www.roachcrossing.com/category/for-sale/cockroaches/roach-type/non-climbing/. I love silkworms as a staple. You could try breeding them to save a little cash and for the fun & experience of it.
 
Crickets can't "carry" coccidia unless they have eaten or lived in the feces of an infected chameleon. They are not part of the coccidia life cycle. There are many reasons to get rid of crickets but if they are bought from a clean source that doesn't mix loose crickets back in to their bins then coccidia is not a risk.
 
JacksJill said:
Crickets can't "carry" coccidia unless they have eaten or lived in the feces of an infected chameleon. They are not part of the coccidia life cycle. There are many reasons to get rid of crickets but if they are bought from a clean source that doesn't mix loose crickets back in to their bins then coccidia is not a risk.
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Thanks jacksjill! I thought someone here said they carried it but if you say they dont then I believe you. Another reason I don’t like crickets is they don’t do well shipping in winter even with a heat pack. I lost nearly my whole shipment this last month! A few came in dead and a week later nearly all were dead. I can’t afford that! My dubia that came in the same shipment did fine.
 
kinyonga said:
Aren't all cockroaches nocturnal too?
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That's why my main food source is locust supplemented with a variety of other feeders.
Here is panthers wild diet:
Screenshot_20220224-072036.png
(Source madcham.de)
 
Don't get your crickets or any other feeder from a dirty source and your fine... For example. Petco or a local pet store that carries reptiles. I have literally watched them clean out an enclosure and take the crickets and toss them back into the cricket for sale bin..... This is where your risk comes from.
 
Early on I was getting them from petco but then was introduced to rainbow mealworms and have been getting the crickets from them but in winter it’s hard to get them without them being effected by the extreme cold when shipping, even with heat packs. Nothing against rainbow mealworms, they are a great source for insects but they have no control once they leave them. They are awesome at replacing orders that come in damaged or dead when it’s something that’s their fault but I can’t ask them to replace The crickets when it’s weather related and not their fault.
 
Lindasjackson said:
Early on I was getting them from petco but then was introduced to rainbow mealworms and have been getting the crickets from them but in winter it’s hard to get them without them being effected by the extreme cold when shipping, even with heat packs. Nothing against rainbow mealworms, they are a great source for insects but they have no control once they leave them. They are awesome at replacing orders that come in damaged or dead when it’s something that’s their fault but I can’t ask them to replace The crickets when it’s weather related and not their fault.
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Uggg I feel ya on the cold weather... Their boxes have big holes in them too. Sucks so much for cold weather shipping. I had all my fly spikes die off because they put the heat pack right against their package in the box. Like spike soup so nasty. lol
 
Lindasjackson said:
Early on I was getting them from petco but then was introduced to rainbow mealworms and have been getting the crickets from them but in winter it’s hard to get them without them being effected by the extreme cold when shipping, even with heat packs. Nothing against rainbow mealworms, they are a great source for insects but they have no control once they leave them. They are awesome at replacing orders that come in damaged or dead when it’s something that’s their fault but I can’t ask them to replace The crickets when it’s weather related and not their fault.
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That's good to know. I've been recommending them because of their quality. But I live in California, same as Rainbow Mealworms, so I never really factored in the cold. When I recommend Rainbow Mealworms from now on, I'll add a disclaimer about how weather can severely affect a shipment of crickets.

Beman said:
Uggg I feel ya on the cold weather... Their boxes have big holes in them too. Sucks so much for cold weather shipping. I had all my fly spikes die off because they put the heat pack right against their package in the box. Like spike soup so nasty. lol
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Hahaha so true! Who thought the holes were a good idea for shipping in the winter lol?!?! Makes no sense now that this have been brought to my attention. Seems like a practical seasonal shipping method in the summer but makes no sense in the winter. Seems to decrease the odds of survival.
 
Mendez said:
That's good to know. I've been recommending them because of their quality. But I live in California, same as Rainbow Mealworms, so I never really factored in the cold. When I recommend Rainbow Mealworms from now on, I'll add a disclaimer about how weather can severely affect a shipment of crickets.


Hahaha so true! Who thought the holes were a good idea for shipping in the winter lol?!?! Makes no sense now that this have been brought to my attention. Seems like a practical seasonal shipping method in the summer but makes no sense in the winter. Seems to decrease the odds of survival.
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It does! Like I said, my last shipment of 50 came in with 17 dead and then the rest died within a week. I can’t fault rainbow mealworms when it’s the weather that killed them but I wish they’d use boxes with no holes when shipping them to northeastern states in the winter. I even ordered a heat pack to be put in with them.
 
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