What do you feed your crickets?

[julesee]

Hello all! Just curious what you feed your crickets..or if you feed them at all. Currently, I'm using a water pillow and Fluker's orange cubes. I'm very satisfied with this, my crickets rarely die, and they get nice n plump.

 

[LimaMikeSquared]

Tropical fish food flakes, and a thin slice of carrot.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I use the orange cubes alone...

I use the orange cubes by themselves. From my understanding the orange cubes are supposed to suppy all the water (and therefore our pets) need. I have them liberally spread out over the container bottom.

I feed my crix to leos and beardies as well. So this works out fine for me.

I AM concerned with something I read somewhere (can't find it now!) that said there may be an issue with giving our T-crickets too much calcium. I'll have to find that thread and follow it. Don't want calcified T's!

 

[Talkenlate04]

Crickets are evil stinky noisy creatures.

 

[Rounder]

Crickets are evil stinky noisy creatures.

I agree.

Lobster roaches FTW!

Gel cubes and Meow Mix for my roaches with the occasional piece of spoiled fruit.

$10 per year to keep the roaches going.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Lobster roaches are almost just as evil.

 

[AneesasMuse]

I rarely bother with crickets, but when I do... I feed them the same way I feed all my roaches and other "feeders". I offer red and green Cichlid chow, crushed Natural Balance Cat kibbles (cuz Aneesa won't eat crumbs ), fresh fruits and veggies, the occasional cooked piece of unseasoned meat (that we would eat), and rehydrated water crystals.

I have "fat" and juicy bugs... just ask my other bugs and some of the lizards

 

[Alakdan]

I give them chicken feed, oatmeal, assorted veggies and an occasional orrange slice. Basically the same stuff I give to my B. dubia colony.

 

[Mina]

I agree crickets are evil, but until we get at least one of the roach colonies really breeding, they are necessary.
We feed oatmeal, fish food, crushed premium dog and cat food, water crystals, occasional green veggies, oranges and carrots. We don't give meat but we will start as soon as we get our starter colony of orange head roaches, I have been reading that they will need more protein.

 

[P. Novak]

I gutload my crickets with dry catfood and a bunch of fruit. THey love it and are fat enough for feeding time.

Yes crickets are evil like other members have said, so if you can buy a roach colony. I have a colony of B.dubia coming in soon. I'm just getting tired of the stupid crickets so it's time to switch again. I went with lobster roaches before, but they didn't work for my Ts.

 

[Corranthe]

I went with lobster roaches before, but they didn't work for my Ts.

Yeah, I've had the same kind of problem, I think. I've tried feeding my T roaches in the past and I always find the little buggers living a happy life in my T's tank. :wall: I want to get a breeding colony going so that I don't have to keep running to the pet store for crickets, but if my Ts won't eat them, I guess I'm stuck.

 

[P. Novak]

Yeah, I've had the same kind of problem, I think. I've tried feeding my T roaches in the past and I always find the little buggers living a happy life in my T's tank. :wall: I want to get a breeding colony going so that I don't have to keep running to the pet store for crickets, but if my Ts won't eat them, I guess I'm stuck.

Go with B.dubia: can't climb or fly, good sized, medium speed moving, medium speed reproduction rate, and yummy for your Ts.

 

[Stylopidae]

I feed crickets the corpses of my enemies.

 

[Buggzter]

I agree.

Lobster roaches FTW!

Gel cubes and Meow Mix for my roaches with the occasional piece of spoiled fruit.

$10 per year to keep the roaches going.

I agree, but there's one problem.

I live in Florida.

As far as I've been able to find out, it's illegal to import roaches of any non-native sort into Florida from other states or countries. Stupid noisy crickets...



But I feed mine with a variety of fruits and veggies for liquid and good cat food for protein. I thickly coat the cat food in a mix of dry milk mix and calcium powder and vitamin powder. Never had much of a problem with deaths - some, yeah, especially the older crix. But with 35 T's, 10 lizards that eat crickets, and a scorp, I get boxes every 2-3 weeks. The lizards ALWAYS have white in their poop, and I don't dust the feeders. So if they're doing well, the T's should be.

 

[cacoseraph]

i keep colonies of roaches but used to use crix

i "bodyload" and gutload. bodyloading is making sure feeders have good access to a wide variety of safe foods so that they can contruct the most nutritious bodyparts for our pets to eat, as possible

i also gut load, which involves feeding the feeders a big meal just before i feed them out.


i feed (CAPS for staples):
peeled fruits and veges
CAT FOOD
dog food
duck heads
various non-lunch meats (lunch meats have nitrites and preservatives and what not)
f/t pinkies
oranges
BANANAS
APPLES

i do NOT feed:
leafy plants (high surface area to volume ratio is more likely to harbor pesticides)
calcium supplementals

 

[Stylopidae]

As far as I've been able to find out, it's illegal to import roaches of any non-native sort into Florida from other states or countries.

Blaberus cranniifer is native to Florida. If you can get tarantulas, you should be able to get roaches.

Crickets are as bad of feeders as you can get. Out of the four major problems problems I've had with my collection so far (nematodes, parasitic mites, phorid flies and grain mites), three have been traced back to crickets.

Many people I know who feed crickets out of neccessity (after using roaches for awhile) usually report the presence of parasitic mites or spontaneous deaths of previously healthy inverts within their collection soon after they feed crickets.

If you can help it, don't use crickets.

 

[The_Thunderer]

Crickets are evil stinky noisy creatures.

LOL. Don't I know... they really stink and all. Here in the Arizona heat, I had to keep my colony INSIDE!!! Yuck!

Now - and I know its more expensive - I feed my Leopard Geckos mealworms and occassionally other kinds of worms. I still feed my tarantulas crickets, but have gone back to buying what I need and only keeping those that aren't eaten right away. Keeping pinheads til they're gone isn't much trouble at all - even if they get to the next size levels. The really stinky ones are the sub-adult/adult crix.

What do YOU use, talkenlate04? LOL.

 

[Nitibus]

i feed (CAPS for staples):

duck heads

What the heck is that ? Poor Daffy being fed to crickets...

 

[Nitibus]

Now - and I know its more expensive - I feed my Leopard Geckos mealworms and occassionally other kinds of worms. LOL.

Mealie colonies are one of the easiest to set up and inexpensive. It took me 4 months to establish mine, but now I have more mealies than I know what do to with.

Do a search on meal worm colonies or PM me if you want to set one up. it is well worth it.

 

[The_Thunderer]

Mealie colonies are one of the easiest to set up and inexpensive. It took me 4 months to establish mine, but now I have more mealies than I know what do to with.

Do a search on meal worm colonies or PM me if you want to set one up. it is well worth it.

Oh, I know... I had a colony last year. However, it was a little tedious for me to have to move pupae to another drawer every day so that they could turn into beetles which would lay eggs in the "fresh" drawer. I had so many turning into pupae that I spent more time with "the worms" than I did with the pets EATING the worms. LOL.

If you've got a better plan, please share! :?

OOOPS! I'll PM you so I don't hijack the thread.