About to buy first tarantula but cricket/roach situation is stopping me from pulling the trigger

[Octagon]

Yes super worms are quite active buggers and the sound of them eating/moving through the wheat is something like stepping on very dry leaves, on a much smaller scale, and laced with malice. There's just SOMETHING unsettling about the sounds they make.

"Laced with malice" - what a good phrase!

 

[Poec54]

Only adult male crickets are noisy. If you buy medium/small crickets and feed them off before they mature you wont have any problem. You could always just feed the males off first, or clip their wings off.

If you get juvenile/subadult crickets, they'll last for a couple months if you keep them DRY. I put mine in a plastic storage container with a screen lid. No substrate, just a layer of paper towels on the bottom, along with a few egg crates. I feed them lettuce, romaine, shredded carrots, and potatoes. That meets all their food and water requirements. Don't give them water in any other form. Moisture kills crickets almost as fast as pesticides. That's where most people screw up.

 

[Formerphobe]

Crickets chirping doesn't bother me.
Madagascar hissing cockroaches can be a little noisy thumping around.
I hardly hear the superworm colony.
I have a few adult female Ts that get to drumming periodically and wake me up.
Then there are the random tarantulas that decide to pluck at their vent holes, or start doing noisy laps of their enclosures, or play tiddly winks with their water bowls. Not the quietest of animals.

 

[vancwa]

I buy just what I need for feeding. Kitty gets the escapees and the left overs if any get tossed outside in the flower bed.

 

[DragonizedGlory]

If the bloke is living in a flat I doubt he'd want to throw money out the window like that.

 

[EulersK]

If the bloke is living in a flat I doubt he'd want to throw money out the window like that.

Large crickets are $0.10 max - if that breaks the bank, then there are bigger problems here

 

[darkness975]

Large crickets are $0.10 max - if that breaks the bank, then there are bigger problems here

Tell me about it. Here they are $0.15. >_>

 

[Jeff23]

Tell me about it. Here they are $0.15. >_>

My prices are dependent on how many I buy. If I only buy 10 or so, they are they same prices as yours. But if I am willing to buy over 50 then the price drops down a few cents each.

They are only 4 cents a piece if I buy from the internet, but the overnight shipping then makes them 12 cents a piece (not worth the trouble).

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I usually buy (no way I will breed those singing/smelly thugs) Acheta domesticus (of all sizes, from millimeter ones for slings to adult ones) but you can try Gryllus assimilis, I've tried those and they are pretty noiseless if compared to others.

 

[louise f]

singing/smelly thugs

OOhh my, why does this remind me of the good old Jack sparrow

 

[WeightedAbyss75]

Hi all. Great forum. Anyways, I live in an apartment and don't want to hear crickets chirping in my place. I can't stand the sight of a roach, so roaches are a no-go.

Am thinking of getting a Grammostola pulchripes but not sure what to feed it other crickets and roaches. I suppose I could just buy a couple of crickets every few days (or however often it needs to be fed) and drop them in the tank with it so I don't have to maintain a colony of them. Seems cumbersome to have drive every few days to pick up two crickets but I guess I could do it.

Any ideas?

Just getting crix on need is probably best for you. Since you only have one, you'll only probably need 5 crix a month (and that's almost too much, mine doesn't eat much :/) Like others said, it won't break the bank and you can keep them alive for a few days- a week when it needs food. Just as a warning, the female crix will have babies in the sub if left in for too long. That is probably THE worst, is having to rehome a T due to baby crickets in the enclosure. Roaches are the way to go, but if you're adament then I'd say small batches of crix every few weeks. Personally, not a big fan of crushing the heads of food couldn't personally advise it

 

[_scorpio_]

The simple solution of course is to get more tarantulas, then you can get rid of the crickets quicker!

 

[cold blood]

You either have cupboard doors that are 10 feet thick, or you are hard of hearing I keep mine in a cabinet, in a separate room with the cabinet closed and the room door closed. The place is carpeted which absorbs noise. I can them in the living room, and the place I live in while not large is in excess of 1200 sq ft. There's noise 24/7. Maybe I have super hearing, and yours is normal



For crickets? There is noise.

I thought the same at first...then I thought...hmmm, I'd bet his cabinets are just cooler....keeping crickets cooler (not cold) really reduces the noise factor...as does buying banded crickets...although they're not readily available everywhere....their chirp is more muffled. They're also 100 times hardier...almost hard to kill.

@OP I used wax worms, then meal worms, and now super worms as my main food for my two G. pulchripes. Every now and then I feed them crickets like how @EulersK describes. Not sure if the variety helps or not, my Ts take either.

Wax worms are great feeders, but unlike supers and mealies, they will only keep for a few weeks till they pupate...although they do pupate into moths, which are stellar feeders.

The simple solution of course is to get more tarantulas, then you can get rid of the crickets quicker!

duh! Captian obvious over here.

 

[EulersK]

They're also 100 times hardier...almost hard to kill.

Give me five minutes.

My hatred of crickets runs deep.

 

[Jeff23]

I thought the same at first...then I thought...hmmm, I'd bet his cabinets are just cooler....keeping crickets cooler (not cold) really reduces the noise factor...as does buying banded crickets...although they're not readily available everywhere....their chirp is more muffled. They're also 100 times hardier...almost hard to kill.

Wax worms are great feeders, but unlike supers and mealies, they will only keep for a few weeks till they pupate...although they do pupate into moths, which are stellar feeders.


duh! Captian obvious over here.

Maybe the temperature thing is why I don't hear mine (mid 70's).
I was visiting Petsmart to get more crickets last weekend and noticed a stack of containers with horned worms that are about to turn into moths. I wonder if the T's will like the moths.

 

[EulersK]

Maybe the temperature thing is why I don't hear mine (mid 70's).
I was visiting Petsmart to get more crickets last weekend and noticed a stack of containers with horned worms that are about to turn into moths. I wonder if the T's will like the moths.

They will, yes, but the moths of that species are far, far smaller than their larval form. On top of that, that species of moth is of the family sphingidae - their primary characteristic is how they fly. Their wings bat at extreme speeds, and they're often mistaken for a hummingbird because of it. Fascinating creatures, but I think that they'd freak a tarantula out with those wings.

 

[cold blood]

IMO if moths were more readily and cheaply available, they would be the single best feeder option on the planet...nothing gets a t going like beating wings, its simply incredible IME. I've even seen my G. potato...errr, porteri, snatch a moth out of the air.....for faster species the response is just amazing....I wish I could have a consistent supply, but I just get the one here and there from the wax worm container.

 

[Meng Lee Khaw]

Hi Sid,

Roaches: Depending how deep your fear is...I hate the sight of roaches(American, Asian and Aussie roaches...you know the big brownish hairy legged bastards) but Dubia roaches look like big pill bugs. Not intimidating/gross looking at all.

Crickets, well only the adult males chirp, so if you buy juvies and feed regularly they'll be fine...or as someone said, you can pull a Children of the Corn move and sacrifice any of them who become adults lol