Where to find cheap crickets but good quality

[Lxcky]

So I have been buying crickets for my chameleon from pangeareptile and the crickets from them are amazing always healthy and in big bulk but it is pretty pricey since I live in California they charge $25 just for shipping and I want to know if there is any other place I can buy crickets but good quality and not dead in a couple days but not as pricey if anyone knows or have suggestions let me know asap please n thank you

 

[MissSkittles]

Most places will have fair prices, but the shipping costs can be painful. There’s not much that can be done about that. Some on line vendors may have local pick up, like https://www.rainbowmealworms.net/pick-up-in-store/ or https://www.lllreptile.com/locations You can check with your local mom & pop pet stores and see if they would place a bulk order for you.

 

[Kyanite]

I get mine from Josh's Frogs, and yeah the shipping cost is high. But I make big orders and the crickets have been healthy and long lived. My last batch of 3/4 inch were chirping up a storm when they arrived so I put in a lay bin and hatched what appears to be thousands. I may just be raising my own from now!
My locally owned/independent pet store also gets their crickets from Josh's Frogs. I hadn't thought about seeing if I could save on shipping by ordering through them. That's a great idea MissSkittles!

 

[elizaann2]

I go overboard and get 1000 crickets when I do order them. Then I don’t need crickets as often. I’ve always been happy with Josh’s frogs. You could also look into picking some up a a reptile expo?

 

[Tkrd69]

I get mine from ovipost, but they're only 18 miles away from me. I also get Super worms from them. They have places all over might be one near you.

 

[jamest0o0]

IME you end up paying more for cheaper crickets as they die and aren’t taken care of as well. Like I saved money when I bought from ghanns and never had a single crickets die versus other vendors that were cheaper, but died off in less than half the time.

 

[MissSkittles]

IME you end up paying more for cheaper crickets as they die and aren’t taken care of as well. Like I saved money when I bought from ghanns and never had a single crickets die versus other vendors that were cheaper, but died off in less than half the time.

Precisely! For a while I was buying from a local mom & pop store and was paying $20 for 500 domestic crickets. It was overpriced, but no shipping costs and support local businesses and all, so I didn’t mind. But…consistently there was about 40-50% die off so it was equivalent to paying $20 for 250-300 crickets! Yikes that’s expensive! Not to mention domestic crickets stink to high heaven no matter how clean you keep them. If I’m going to end up paying so much, I may as well have little to no die off and drastically less stink with ordering banded crickets on line. As an added bonus, there so far haven’t been any surprise spiders in the boxes like there were from the mom & pop store’s supplier.

 

[chelizard]

I also get all my crickets and superworms from Ovipost and am based in CA. They outlive all the other crickets I've ordered online and I've been really happy with the quality.