Question for the northern state peopl

B

benpaul

New Member
Ok so i ve had my cham for 3.5 moths now and all is going great. My question is how do you get your crickets in the dead of winter? I live in Wisconsin and its Flippin cold here for months at a time. Can i stil get crickets shipped to me? I noticed on flukerfarms.com they dont ship if its below 15 degrees at night. well id be boned up here. Anyone else from up here have any tips etc.????:confused:
 
you could see if there is a bait shop around. the bait shop where i live sells crickets SUPER cheap. 2 weeks worth of crickets for $2.50
thats just my suggestion. good luck!
 
Hi there, I live 30 miles south of Canada is that north enough?? I am on Ghann's Breeder program and they ship my crickets year round. If the temp is too low (that happens a lot in Havre, MT) they will not guarantee live delivery. I always tell them to ship any way. Only once have I had a problem and about 1/2 of my crickets were dead. I got healthy crickets in today and Ghann couldn't guarantee them as it was over 100 at their end. Again no problem.

As a backup I also have a dubia colony and raise superworms. I never have hungry children.:D
 
yeah i have been getting ghanns all summer even though they wont guarntee live delivery i figured the cold would be worse than the hot as crickets live outside in the hot but not in the winter hehe. ill just order em and pray like always.
 
yeah they got pet shops but they keep the crickets in such shitty conditions and they will only sell me like 20 at a time. i like to buy 1k at a pop plus i live to have more control over sizes that ordering from a breeder offers.


also the pet shop crickets never eat my gutload mixture. they will only eats the crappy dry stuff
 
I live in central WI and I was going to attempt to get a cricket and dubia colony up and running before the winter hits. The last winter was pretty harsh compared to the past few years so I want to make sure something like this doesn't happen to me as well. Not sure how I am going to do this as my research for feeder keeping is pretty minimal at this time. My city no longer has any mom and pop pet stores, just a Petco and a Petsmart and I really don't want to purchase anything living from them.
 
Laurie,

so you just ship em all winter? i really dont want anymore bug colonies in my house i only have 1 cham. I guess i can look into dubias but honestly they give me the freaking heeby jeebies. plus the smell of the cricket pen alone drives my nutty. cant imagine if i had worms plus roachs too :(
 
there is a Hippy pet shop really close to me. i think they raise the crickets themselves i guess ill check that out. I figure hippies gotta take good care of the crickets right?
 
Im in Canada. I can get bugs year-round. A decent bug supplier is usually willing to ship rush and include a heat pack.

But in my opinion its a good idea to breed at least one type of bug for yourself, so that if weather or anything else prevents you from buying bugs, at least you have something to hold you over. Superworms, stick bugs and roaches are good choices, as they are quiet, not smelly, and easy.
 
Oh people people people. It gets down to 40 below here many times during the winter. Crickets are shipped to me, shipped to petstores. My chameleons have never gone hungry. Superworms are *always* available, even in the great white north LOL. Order larger amounts so you have some extras on hand. I always have superworms and fruitflies on hand, just in case. Kudos to you for thinking ahead and not posting "help! My chameleon is starving and I can't get feeders!" in the middle of January. :)
 
sandrachameleon said:
Im in Canada. I can get bugs year-round. A decent bug supplier is usually willing to ship rush and include a heat pack.

But in my opinion its a good idea to breed at least one type of bug for yourself, so that if weather or anything else prevents you from buying bugs, at least you have something to hold you over. Superworms, stick bugs and roaches are good choices, as they are quiet, not smelly, and easy.
Click to expand...

I keep hearing about stick bugs. What kind is everone talking about and where are they getting them?
 
Superworms, stick bugs and roaches are good choices, as they are quiet, not smelly, and easy.[/QUOTE]

When you say, 'stick-bugs' exactly what species are you refering to? I'm in Alabama and we have this type of stick-bug that I see and 90% of the time it's a large female with a smaller male riding her breeding. I've known since I was a kid to NOT touch them, because they emit a putrid chemical that is a 10 on the disgusting scale of 1 to 10. I recently saw an episode of Mike Rowe's 'Dirty Jobs' on Discovery where he was at an insect breeding facility and they had the same exact stick-bugs and he commented on the chemical discharge. The employee told him the name of the chemical that is emitted, but it's been a year or more since i saw that episode and I can't remember what it was called. Just wondering if it's the same bug you're refering to. If it is the same, I would think a chameleon would want nothing to do with one of them after getting blasted with that chemical. Post a picture if you can.
J
 
I breed my most of my feeders and some crickets. I have enough if only feeding adult chams, but with little ones, I can't keep up!!! I put my last big cricket shipment in the week before it gets really cold!! I order a few thousand 0.5-0.75" and seperate them into bins. Keep the temps in the mid 70's and they will live about 2 months or so. I've noticed here that the middle to end of January until the begining of March is the coldest time. After that it's a little better to ship.
 
sandrachameleon said:
most people who use phasmids for feeders are using Indian Stick Insects. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

I believe these are illegal in the USA. Which doesnt mean people dont have them anyways.
Click to expand...

I thought Indian Walking Sticks are illegal in Canada as well?
Maybe I'm thinking a different type, but I was pretty sure it was the Indian ones.
 
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