Where to buy crickets?

[ISA my Veiled]

I am on LLL reptile right now and I was going to purchase 1000 crickets, just curious as to if they are good or not with their feeders. Let me know

Thank you

 

[Swayne8998]

I am on LLL reptile right now and I was going to purchase 1000 crickets, just curious as to if they are good or not with their feeders. Let me know

Thank you

I would personally order from somewhere like Mulberry Farms or Great Lakes Hornworms, just 'cause I don't know how LLLReptile does it.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I would personally order from somewhere like Mulberry Farms or Great Lakes Hornworms, just 'cause I don't know how LLLReptile does it.

I was thinking that but I don't want to run into the bad cricket situation i don't know if it is resolved yet. Kinda scared to buy them online

 

[wanker]

LLL Reptile is great. I buy from them all the time.

 

[Swayne8998]

I was thinking that but I don't want to run into the bad cricket situation i don't know if it is resolved yet. Kinda scared to buy them online

I agree... I have a PetSmart 2 minutes down the road so I never order online or in bulk... I currently am looking for where to get snails.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I agree... I have a PetSmart 2 minutes down the road so I never order online or in bulk... I currently am looking for where to get snails.

Yeah we have a petco right down the road but 14 cents a piece for at average around 50 crickets a day, 500 only lasts me about a week lol so i mean just 500 from them plus tax is like $75.00 But i think i will get from LLL because they ship until after tomorrow, I have enough crickets for tonight thank goodness

 

[Swayne8998]

Yeah we have a petco right down the road but 14 cents a piece for at average around 50 crickets a day, 500 only lasts me about a week lol so i mean just 500 from them plus tax is like $75.00 But i think i will get from LLL because they ship until after tomorrow, I have enough crickets for tonight thank goodness

Holy crap man! Yeah I gotta say I HATE Petco because they have crappy supplies and super expensive prices. Our PetSmart has decent feeders (exceptional superworms), and low prices. But I am thinking of starting a cricket colony due to getting two chams and also a garden snail farm.

 

[camaleonte82]

i go to reptilefood.com. so does my friend for her frogs

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Holy crap man! Yeah I gotta say I HATE Petco because they have crappy supplies and super expensive prices. Our PetSmart has decent feeders (exceptional superworms), and low prices. But I am thinking of starting a cricket colony due to getting two chams and also a garden snail farm.

Well what I have noticed with Petco and Petsmart is weird. See, when you look at the prices of certain things you would need for lets say a chameleon, they would look more expensive at Petco. But in reality Petco has cheaper animals while Petsmart charges a little more for the same exact animal. Petcos supplies is more expensive than Petsmarts because they charge less for the Animals(reptile section specifically) So technically it all evens out because of the price difference of the reptiles and supplies sway back and fourth. I noticed this with a lot of reptiles I have purchased from both Petco And Petsmart. So all in all you pay almost the same when getting similar items. But anyway lol cricket colony is like a must for me lol can't keep spending a ton of money, What i really need is a dubia colony which i want to start but...they are indeed expensive lol and how is it going so far with getting that other chameleon?

 

[SpartyTessy]

With the 1000 you buy you should breed them. That way you know they get the best nutrition they need from when they are born making sure your Cham has the healthiest of Crickets. I just started my own colony and now have over 2000 baby crickets. Its neat watching tons more hatch everyday.

 

[Swayne8998]

Well what I have noticed with Petco and Petsmart is weird. See, when you look at the prices of certain things you would need for lets say a chameleon, they would look more expensive at Petco. But in reality Petco has cheaper animals while Petsmart charges a little more for the same exact animal. Petcos supplies is more expensive than Petsmarts because they charge less for the Animals(reptile section specifically) So technically it all evens out because of the price difference of the reptiles and supplies sway back and fourth. I noticed this with a lot of reptiles I have purchased from both Petco And Petsmart. So all in all you pay almost the same when getting similar items. But anyway lol cricket colony is like a must for me lol can't keep spending a ton of money, What i really need is a dubia colony which i want to start but...they are indeed expensive lol and how is it going so far with getting that other chameleon?

...See this lady is a little... tight on schedule and has rescheduled many, many times to bring him. Hopefully, I will be getting him in about 4 hours. I have a misting system, fogger and light timer all set up He is not in the best shape, and I do not expect him to live very long either. It appears the "breeder" she got him from was importing wild Jackson's... so there's a good chance he may have parasites IF he is indeed wild caught. But this girl is giving him to me for free, so I am using the spare money to get him what he needs and if I feel necessary a vet visit. He is a 9 month old xanth

 

[ISA my Veiled]

With the 1000 you buy you should breed them. That way you know they get the best nutrition they need from when they are born making sure your Cham has the healthiest of Crickets. I just started my own colony and now have over 2000 baby crickets. Its neat watching tons more hatch everyday.

Yeah I have definitely tried breeding believe me, but after 8 or nine different ways lol getting agitated with them a bit. But yes i totally agree, i get jealous looking at my friends colony that is like perfect lmao they have pinheads everywhere

 

[Swayne8998]

With the 1000 you buy you should breed them. That way you know they get the best nutrition they need from when they are born making sure your Cham has the healthiest of Crickets. I just started my own colony and now have over 2000 baby crickets. Its neat watching tons more hatch everyday.

I've been looking into this...

1) Do you have separate containers? I know females lay eggs in dirt, do you place the females in dirt to lay? How do you know if they laid? How much dirt do you put in?

2) How often do you clean the tank and how do you do it?

Thanks

 

[ISA my Veiled]

...See this lady is a little... tight on schedule and has rescheduled many, many times to bring him. Hopefully, I will be getting him in about 4 hours. I have a misting system, fogger and light timer all set up He is not in the best shape, and I do not expect him to live very long either. It appears the "breeder" she got him from was importing wild Jackson's... so there's a good chance he may have parasites IF he is indeed wild caught. But this girl is giving him to me for free, so I am using the spare money to get him what he needs and if I feel necessary a vet visit. He is a 9 month old xanth

Wow terrific news! hopefully you can nurse him back to health, I would though make sure you are watching his droppings and food intake as signs. But definitely do not if he does seem sick touch him and then move onto yoshi just as a precaution, I had that happen with my leopard gecko and he actually got the same parasites my other one did. But terrific! Hope it goes very well, it will be hard at first I'm more than positive but very rewarding if it works out in the end.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I've been looking into this...

1) Do you have separate containers? I know females lay eggs in dirt, do you place the females in dirt to lay? How do you know if they laid? How much dirt do you put in?

2) How often do you clean the tank and how do you do it?

Thanks

I have a couple of colony bins that i place glad ware containers filled with top soil so I don't think that I am doing that part wrong, i go through everyday and clean out the dead crickets and replace food. So My assumption is that I am not incubating correctly so I am gonna work on that tonight and get stuff ready for the crickets I am about to order form the reptile food site!

 

[SpartyTessy]

The easiest and most effective way is going by the way this guy set it up IMO. I am following it by the T and I am getting amazing results. I have more than 2000 babies in less than a week. http://www.frogforum.net/care-artic...ckets-care-breeding-common-house-cricket.html

Soon I will be selling crickets here in Hawaii. There is no way my two Chams could eat all that I am producing

 

[Swayne8998]

Wow terrific news! hopefully you can nurse him back to health, I would though make sure you are watching his droppings and food intake as signs. But definitely do not if he does seem sick touch him and then move onto yoshi just as a precaution, I had that happen with my leopard gecko and he actually got the same parasites my other one did. But terrific! Hope it goes very well, it will be hard at first I'm more than positive but very rewarding if it works out in the end.

Yeah I am planning to only hand/cup feed. Oh yeah it will be hard LMAO it will suck how hard it is!!! But TOTALLY worth it in the end, hopefully the malnutrition is not too bad. I do not expect him to live as long as a perfect captive one would though He has a broken horn, and that's how it was when the girl bought him. He was 3 months old at the time. So that means either poor care by the breeder, or, yes, wild caught.

 

[SpartyTessy]

I have a couple of colony bins that i place glad ware containers filled with top soil so I don't think that I am doing that part wrong, i go through everyday and clean out the dead crickets and replace food. So My assumption is that I am not incubating correctly so I am gonna work on that tonight and get stuff ready for the crickets I am about to order form the reptile food site!

At first mine were not hatching and was because of the lack of temp and moist dirt. It is very important to make sure the temp stays a constant 85 to 90 degrees whether its done by a heating pad under the container or a bulb. Also you need to make sure the dirt never fully dries out that the eggs are in or the eggs will not hatch. I mist the dirt twice a day now and have a heating pad I put under the breeding dirt container along with under the incubator container so two heating pads. Now I am having newborns hatch everyday

 

[Swayne8998]

The easiest and most effective way is going by the way this guy set it up IMO. I am following it by the T and I am getting amazing results. I have more than 2000 babies in less than a week. http://www.frogforum.net/care-artic...ckets-care-breeding-common-house-cricket.html

Soon I will be selling crickets here in Hawaii. There is no way my two Chams could eat all that I am producing

Lol good for you. I plan to do that once my roach colony is established, same with crickets. I don't know much about mantids, but I may look into them as a feeder. And thanks for the article!

 

[Swayne8998]

At first mine were not hatching and was because of the lack of temp and moist dirt. It is very important to make sure the temp stays a constant 85 to 90 degrees whether its done by a heating pad under the container or a bulb. Also you need to make sure the dirt never fully dries out that the eggs are in or the eggs will not hatch. I mist the dirt twice a day now and have a heating pad I put under the breeding dirt container along with under the incubator container so two heating pads. Now I am having newborns hatch everyday

I have a couple of colony bins that i place glad ware containers filled with top soil so I don't think that I am doing that part wrong, i go through everyday and clean out the dead crickets and replace food. So My assumption is that I am not incubating correctly so I am gonna work on that tonight and get stuff ready for the crickets I am about to order form the reptile food site!

Thanks guys