Price of crickets v's value/quantity/quality

[jojackson]

If any of you guys from US/CA/UK etc purchase crickets from online/shop/company etc, would you please post prices you paid, quality, quantity and pics of the original packaging if possible. Along with any notes
on how they were packaged/deleivered etc as you like.
Im intrested to see what constitutes value for money in your neighbourhood.

Here if we buy from a petstore, there is no bulk. Crickets come in chinese food containers (reg fried rice size) with approx 200 pinheads (12 days old)
150 small (1/3 size) 100 med (1/2 size) or 50-60 large (full sized)
These tubs regardless of size go for between $8-$10 depending on the store.

From a private breeder such as mine, same tubs are $3 or you can buy bulk 1000 (lrg) - 4000 (pin) cricks (several hundred grams) for $30.

Recently a freind recommended an organisation that alledgedly donates to
conservation of endangered frogs, who are online and offer a variety of sizes.
So since we beleive conservation of frogs a worthy cause, we ordered three bulk packs of differing size at $33 each.
It took them a week to send them and when they did arrive they came in three small poster mail tubes, the bulk content of which, was mostly folded newspaper.
There were no more of each than can be bought in the petstrores in the tubs mentioned above for $10. I thought it had to be a joke or a mistake, but I emailed them and got the following response.

Hi Dan, sorry for not getting back to you sooner.
We had a staff meeting yesterday and I printed your email out to show Gerry.
He selected the crickets to be packed himself so he is 100% certain that all sizes are correct.
Also we pack the crickets in bulk so that if I have 50 orders for a small pack of 1/3 and 20 orders for a Medium pack and 4 orders for a bulk pack, all are packed then set aside, we then go through each size until all packs are done.
Each order is then complied together if requiring multiply sized crickets and or packs.
The crickets are checked regular for pack size. For example we weigh up five lots of 10grams of a certain size and then count how many crickets per that 10grams. They are usually within one or two crickets per 10 grams, we then average it out and pack the required grams to meet the amount requirements. We allow extra grams to be 100% certain that we are supplying over the requirements.
We have had no other complaints from any of our customers.
The only explanation would be damage to the packaging material with escapes but this has been ruled out.
We are sorry you have been dissatisfied with our product.
Thank you
Ann

10grams for $33 !!! No wonder the frogs are still endangered!
Not a satisfied customer.
Sent the following response...

10 grams of crickets, $33? You have to be kidding! When I first got them, I had to check the calendar to be sure it wasn't an April fools joke! I have no idea How you have managed to stay in biz to date if this is what you call value and especially if this is your attitude. Pity those who don't know better.
You just lost much more than one customer, you just potentially lost up to 60 NSW keepers with whom we are in touch, some of whom recommended you in the first place.
We will be sending out email's to all of them recommending
A switch to a private local breeder of crickets we have used to date, who while he doesn't donate to frog causes, does know what value for money means and also provides a cheaper 'to the door' delivery price.
For $30 his crickets weigh several hundred grams and come packed properly, with no newspaper padding.
The only reason we gave you a go was because we think research to conserve endangered frogs a worthy cause.
I had no issue with the fly pupae earlier, but I just cannot conceive how you feel your crickets are good value, I'm genuinely shocked to hear there was no mistake.
I feel I've just wasted $108 that otherwise would have fed my animals for at least 2 weeks, from our regular breeder. yours are already gone.
Your product couldn't be further from value for money if it caught the space shuttle, this is not 1975.
Thanks for nothing, no future orders, ever.

Im not so annoyed by the lack of value so much as their attitude and the fact that I now have to double order from my local guy to ensure enough food for all my animals including a clutch of dragons and one of ackies.

Anyone else ever been unfortunate to do their money on a breeder living in fantasy land?

Putting my guy on our christmas card list!

{end rant, thanks for reading}

 

[Julirs]

I order about 3000 every 2 weeks at $12 per thousand. They are excellently packed and I have few die off. At petstores here, crickets are .10 to .15 per cricket regardless of size.

 

[pssh]

At the local mom and pop pet store you can get 1000+ for 17 bucks. At another mom and pop pet store you can buy them for 10 cents each but they give you at least double what you asked for. 50 large crickets will get you 100-150. 50 small will get you 120-150. They give a LOT of extras. Not as cheap as the first, but WAY cheaper than pet no and petstupid.

 

[laurie]

OK I admit it, I cheat, I am on a breeder program with my cricket co (Ghann). It is only cheating because it is so smart. I order crickets in Bulk. There are a couple of rules lots of people don't like. The minimum order is 4,000 crickets. You can break that done into 4 sizes but each size has ti be at least 1000. So if you order 5 sizes you order 5000 instead of the required 4000. On average my crickets cost $6.00. Now what does cost me is shipping. Due to my weather, colder than colder or hotter than whatever. all my crickets come overnight. Shipping for 6000 to 8000 crickets will cost $30. So for 6000 crickets it is 6 x 6 = 30 + 30 or 60 so average to my door is $10. They are very well packaged and arrive alive in below zero theps and 100 degree temps. Cricket are gut loaded and in good shape. I am a happy camper.

I can go into the packing if you need me to. Only super worms have newspaper in the cloth bag they are shipped in. Bag is in a box.

 

[jojackson]

Sounds like more realistic breeders over there. Mine come in eggcrate towers inside cloth bags, very few deaths ever, always gutloaded carrots/greens and come to the door no charge.
Definately staying with my breeder after this experiment!

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I buy a cricket card at my local reptile shop.
3,000 is $108. with tax, which puts each cricket at between 3 and 4 cents each, however, they are very nice to me and I usually get more than double what I ask for (1 to 2 cents per cricket)
I have switched to this arrangement so that I don't have to keep thousands at a time and I don't pay shipping.
I just go every week and get exactly how many I need. The store receives cricket shipments twice a week and they are healthy.

Hey
Laurie, 6x6=36.

-Brad

 

[chams1]

As Laurie said, the cricket program is good through Ghann's and very cheap (assuming of course you normally purchase oodles of them). I have used them and I know plenty of other people who are on that program and it really does save money in the long run, even with the price of cold weather shipping.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Wow i got 250 shipped for 15.00 i thought that was a good deal. But I have only one cham at the moment so I cant buy in bulk.

 

[jeanjacket812]

I get 500 for 16.00 including shipping although right now its a 2 dollar added charge for a heat pack. And its like another 2 bucks per extra 500. I only have one cham right now but no where around here has any crickets under 1/2" size so I gotta order out.